The FCC sought comment Friday on the Competitive Carriers Association's request for a 60-day extension of a requirement to apply the affordable connectivity program discount to all internet plans by April 15. Comments are due April 8, said a Friday Wireline Bureau notice in docket 21-450. “While CCA’s member companies who participate in the ACP have worked diligently to be ready for the … deadline, the deadline has not provided enough time for all members to make the necessary modifications to their systems,” CCA said: “Work is underway, but some necessary adjustments will not be complete. … A limited, temporary extension of the deadline by 60 days will allow providers to ensure that all their internet plans are ready and will have little impact on consumers.”
Industry groups and ISPs participating in the FCC’s affordable connectivity program sought more time to comply with the program’s non-usage tracking rule. Comment posted Friday in docket 21-450 backed a USTelecom petition for an additional 60 days after the April 15 deadline (see 2203230041).
The Treasury Department is reviewing state and territory plans for the Capital Projects Fund on a “rolling basis,” said the fund's director, Joseph Wender, during a Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition webinar Thursday (see 2105100060). “We’re hoping to make awards in the pretty near future,” Wender said, noting tribal applications are due by June 1 and all grant and program plans by Sept. 24.
House Communications Subcommittee members largely but not completely avoided using a Thursday FCC oversight hearing to make partisan points, amid the commission’s focus on bipartisan issues during the ongoing 2-2 split, as expected (see 2203300001). Lawmakers instead focused on questions about the FCC’s work to produce improved broadband connectivity data maps, its handling of the affordable connectivity program and Emergency Connectivity Fund programs, and how commissioners believe Congress should structure a renewal of the commission’s spectrum auction authority.
ACA Connects backed USTelecom's request for a 60-day extension of the April 15 deadline for affordable connectivity program providers to comply with the non-usage tracking rule, in a meeting with FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington and staff, said an ex parte letter posted Wednesday in docket 21-450 (see 2203230041). The group said its members face similar challenges in meeting the deadline. ACA Connects also asked the FCC to allow fixed broadband providers to follow the agency's 2011 enforcement guidance on reporting actual speeds and latency in the forthcoming consumer broadband labels.
Continued uncertainty about the prospects for Senate confirmation of Democratic FCC nominee Gigi Sohn and its implications for ushering in a 3-2 Democratic majority are unlikely to be a major factor at a Thursday House Communications Subcommittee oversight hearing on the agency, lawmakers and other observers told us. Subpanel members instead plan to focus on the FCC’s successes since the beginning of 2021 and telecom policy items that lawmakers believe they can reach a bipartisan consensus on before the coming midterm election campaign. The partly virtual hearing will begin at 10:30 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
The FCC Wireline Bureau wants comments by April 5 on AT&T's request for an additional 120 days beyond the April 15 deadline to apply the affordable connectivity program benefit to its AT&T Mobility and New Cingular Wireless postpaid mobile broadband plans, said a public notice Tuesday in docket 21-450 (see 2202110055).
Getting Congress to approve rules that include wireless as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was one of the “greatest moments” in his long career in Washington, Jonathan Adelstein, president of the Wireless Infrastructure Association, said at the South Wireless Summit, streamed from Nashville Tuesday. Wireless came very close to being left out of the broadband spending in the act, he said. Adelstein sees a continuing bias in the White House in favor of fiber over wireless, he warned.
The Senate appeared highly likely Tuesday to vote this week on discharging Democratic FTC nominee Alvaro Bedoya from the Commerce Committee’s jurisdiction, lawmakers and aides told us. The chamber may also do a discharge vote this week on FCC nominee Gigi Sohn, but that’s less likely since leadership is prioritizing action on Bedoya over her, officials said. Senate leaders previously eyed initial votes on Bedoya and Sohn last week (see 2203220058) but scuttled that plan when it was clear all 50 chamber Democrats wouldn’t be present to ensure their advancement.
The FCC Wireline Bureau wants comments by March 31 on separate petitions filed by USTelecom and Verizon on affordable connectivity program rules, said a public notice Wednesday in docket 21-450. USTelecom sought a 60-day extension for participating providers to comply with the program's non-usage tracking rule. Verizon sought a 60-day extension for its subsidiary Tracfone to prepare its systems to offer the monthly benefit for "certain prepaid mobile broadband services priced below $30 and above $30" (see 2203220051). It didn't seek additional time for plans priced at $30.