State regulatory commissioners reiterated concerns about quantile regression analysis -- currently used to calculate high-cost USF funding but expected to be phased out over time -- with FCC Wireline Bureau officials during a conference call last week, according to a NARUC ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1jQYTfw). “Several commissioners did express strong support for elimination of the QRA, as well as specifically endorsing the release of the data underlying the average urban rate calculation, and not allowing the new benchmark calculation to go into effect this year,” the ex parte filing said. The conference call included Wireline Bureau Deputy Chief Carol Mattey along with NARUC Telecom Committee Chair Chris Nelson, committee co-vice chairs Paul Kjellander and Catherine Sandoval, ex-NARUC President Philip Jones, Universal Service Joint Board State Chair Jim Cawley, Joint Board on Separations State Chair John Burke and other state commissioners. “There was also a brief discussion of closer collaboration on pending ETC [eligible telecom carrier] designations involving carriers seeking State designations that are under investigation by the FCC for non-compliance with the FCC’s rules,” the filing said.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler reassured Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., that he plans to end quantile regression analysis in determining high-cost USF support, as he’s previously told Congress. “I directed the Wireline Competition Bureau to prepare an Order for the Commission’s consideration that would eliminate the WRA,” Wheeler said in an April 11 letter, released Friday (http://bit.ly/1mkg5v2). “That Order, which will also address SNA [safety net additive] support, is now on circulation for my colleagues’ consideration at our April 2014 open agenda meeting.” Landrieu worried that the November 2011 USF order, which instituted quantile regression analysis, contained rules that “may hamper investment” in Louisiana, as she wrote in a Feb. 25 letter to Wheeler.
The Competitive Carriers Association asked the FCC to pause the phase-down of legacy USF support for wireless carriers until Phase II of the Mobility Fund is operational. The request came in a filing at the FCC Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1md24z2). “We are very concerned that the FCC’s draft Report and Order on USF will be detrimental to wireless carriers and the consumers they serve, especially those in rural areas where USF support is absolutely necessary,” CCA President Steve Berry said in a statement. “To avoid furthering the dominance of the legacy twin Bells, the FCC must act immediately to put USF reform efforts back on track to promote competition and benefit consumers who are choosing wireless services more and more each day.” Berry also urged the FCC to eliminate the right of first refusal for incumbent price-cap carriers. “Price-cap carriers already have been given the opportunity to accept support, and giving them another ‘first opportunity’ would allow them to take advantage of the process to maximize their own revenues, to the detriment of consumers,” he said. “The FCC has the opportunity to put USF reform on the right track again. Wireless carriers got the short end of the stick the first go-round -- with a 60 percent reduction of funding despite contributing more than half of the high-cost support funding -- and it’s time the FCC focused on restoring competition rather than further skewing USF support in favor of wireline carriers."
CTIA spent more on lobbying Capitol Hill in Q1 of 2014 than in it did in Q1 of 2013 -- $3.08 million this year compared to $2.95 million before, not counting outside firms it hired. This spending is substantially down from 2013’s Q4, however, when the association spent $3.57 million. CTIA lobbed widely this quarter, on issues from spectrum reallocation to data security, net neutrality to government surveillance. Quarterly lobbying disclosure reports are due April 21, but several lobbying firms, companies and associations have already begun filing theirs. Spending dipped for CEA, which spent $570,000 in the latest quarter lobbying on Internet regulation and provisions that would have killed the set-top box integration ban, and $660,000 the same time the year before -- and steeply below the $940,000 CEA spent in 2013’s Q4. The Computer & Communications Industry Association spent $200,000 in 2014’s Q1, up from $70,000 during the same period the year before. CCIA reported lobbying on several topics, from FCC spectrum auction rules to NSA surveillance to wireless competition issues. The Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance spent $35,200. Even when companies and associations have not filed, the reports by firms they hired have begun showing up. Comptel paid Capitol Resources $27,500 and the Cormac Group $30,000 in Q1. The latter’s report showed lobbying priorities included IP-to-IP interconnection, USF overhaul and net neutrality. Reports from several of Comcast’s many lobbying firms have appeared, many citing lobbying on the Comcast/Time Warner Cable proposed deal (CD April 14 p3). Aereo paid Bingham McCutchen $110,000 to lobby on issues “pertaining to antennas and broadcast television,” one form said. More reports will be filed in the days ahead.
The Rural Wireless Association said the FCC should “immediately halt” the phase-down of USF support for high-cost wireless carriers because the Mobility Fund Phase II won’t be “operational” or “implemented” by June 30. “It is highly unlikely for Phase II to be ‘operational’ or ‘implemented’ by June 30, 2014, given the time it has taken the FCC to disburse Phase I funding,” RWA said in a filing at the commission (http://bit.ly/1jIfJNz). “In addition, carriers are now in the second quarter of 2014. There is not enough time between now and June 30, 2014 for the Commission to adopt final Phase II rules, have them published in the Federal Register, hold an auction, authorize payments, and disburse funds before the next scheduled phase-down of legacy support.” RWA said carriers need “predictability to formulate their business decisions, and currently there is no predictability with regard to the continued availability of USF funding ... as of July 1.” U.S. Cellular told the FCC it should be concerned about keeping funding flowing and the FCC should “fully implement Mobility Fund II at the earliest possible date,” in meetings with staff for the FCC commissioners, said an ex parte filing. Both mobility fund auctions to date demonstrated the need for funding, the carrier said (http://bit.ly/1eFA3R7). “In each case, demand for support far exceeded available funding,” it said. “In Mobility Fund II, when the standard will be areas that lack 4G service, many additional areas will be eligible and the resulting demand will be even higher."
How much money the FCC should devote to the rural broadband experiments -- and which criteria it should use to judge applications -- were debated in reply comments posted Monday and Tuesday. The agency received more than 1,000 “expressions of interest” in participating in the experiments. Other sticking points include whether incumbents should get right of first refusal; how to ensure high-cost support mechanisms like Connect America Fund (CAF) II still get the attention ILECs say they deserve; and whether to run experiments in areas that already see extensive broadband service.
The defeat of 911 funding bills in Kentucky, Wisconsin and Mississippi this year has left those in charge of operating emergency services worried about aging equipment, and wondering how to fund upgrades for next-generation 911 (NG-911), even as they struggle to pay for current-generation systems. The bills were among at least six nationwide that sought additional funding to make up for a decline in 911 fees collected from the dwindling number of landline customers.
U.S. broadband investment, both public and private, has paid off in recent years, with access numbers much improved, but much work on broadband adoption remains, said observers and stakeholders during a congressional briefing Tuesday. The National Urban League Washington Bureau hosted the Capitol Hill event on what future steps may be necessary.
The FCC needs to make continued Lifeline program overhaul a priority, the “Lifeline Reform 2.0 Coalition” told the agency in a letter Monday. The coalition is comprised of Telrite, Blue Jay Wireless, Global Connection of America and i-wireless. The Lifeline program would benefit from a rule change permitting eligible telecom carriers (ETCs) to retain proof of eligibility for audit purposes, and to “respond to negative media stories that claim an ETC did not require proof of eligibility, the coalition said. ETCs should be required to do a non-commission-based review and approval of all enrollments, the group said. Minimum standards for state eligibility databases would enable real-time enrollment and “guard against denying Lifeline service to eligible consumers,” the group said. The coalition also asked for a safe harbor from enforcement actions for alleged duplicate enrollments for Lifeline subscribers that have been submitted to the National Lifeline Accountability Database (NLAD) or a similar state database. Commission rules don’t define a “duplicate” for purposes of the one-per-household rule, the coalition said. “Despite the lack of clarity regarding duplicate accounts prior to NLAD implementation, the Commission has undertaken a misguided and harmful process of proposing multi-million dollar fines against ETCs for failing to eradicate 100 percent of end-user fraud allegedly perpetrated in the form of intra-company duplicate enrollments in the Lifeline program,” it wrote. “The Commission should establish a safe harbor reflecting a minimum level of due diligence that a Lifeline ETC should employ to screen for duplicates.” A Lifeline provider that has conducted appropriate due diligence to identify duplicates should not be liable for retroactive reimbursements to USF, the coalition said.
The FNPRM on potential quantile regression analysis (QRA) replacements proposes several new mechanisms to more efficiently disburse limited USF money, agency and industry officials told us. A Connect America Fund order on circulation (CD April 8 p1) would eliminate the QRA benchmarks rule, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a blog post Wednesday (http://fcc.us/1iq7vHP). The QRA was “well-intentioned” but hasn’t had “the desired effect,” Wheeler wrote. The order also deals with the local rate floor, timing, amounts, and does some “cleanup” on reporting dates, agency and industry officials said.