The FCC rural healthcare USF annual budget should be increased to $600 million, from its current $400 million, "merely to account for the past two decades of inflation," Alaska Communications told Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and aides. To account for changes in the rural healthcare environment and scope of the program, an increase to $800 million is justified, said the telco's filing posted Tuesday in docket 02-60. The pool of eligible applicants is expanding to include skilled nursing facilities, rural healthcare demand is growing, and provider costs are rising to address privacy, security, bandwidth and other needs, said company, which called the USF support "essential" for serving remote rural areas in Alaska. It urged more program transparency on Universal Service Administrative Co. review of funding requests, and it cited its concerns about, and proposed conditions for, Liberty Interactive's planned buy of General Communication (see 1706200044).
Business data service rules "impose lopsided and burdensome costs" on many rural telcos, said ITTA and USTelecom, defending their petition for an FCC rulemaking to consider allowing rate-of-return RLECs receiving model-based USF support to opt into price-cap BDS relief. "The inflexibility of the regulations preclude such carriers from offering beneficial rates, terms, and conditions to their BDS customers, including institutional customers like schools, universities, and hospitals," said the two ILEC trade groups' reply comments Friday in docket 17-144. The current rules "deter rate-of-return carriers from making the investment necessary to meet the modern communications needs of American businesses and other enterprises," they said. "The toxic mix of burdensome and unnecessary costs, inflexible rules straightjacketing BDS terms of service, and disincentives to broadband investment, often make the costs of traditional rate-of-return regulation exceed the benefits." The groups said there's ample support for the need to "modernize" the rules and "the single opposition lacks support and is misguided." In initial comments, RLEC interests generally backed the petition, Sprint filed opposition and AT&T raised some issues (see 1707070030).
Some parties urged the FCC make cybersecurity an E-rate eligible service in its USF school and library telecom discount program for funding year 2018. "School districts around the country are increasingly becoming the targets of cyberattacks against government infrastructure," commented Hewlett Packard Enterprise's Aruba in docket 13-184, asking the FCC to expand the eligible service list. A public notice sought comment on a proposed list and two issues in particular: whether further clarification is needed to assist applicants seeking support for on-premise network equipment, and "the category of service that should apply to inside wiring between different schools or libraries sharing a single building " (see 1706210069). The K-12 National Advisory Council on Cybersecurity said millions of students "are connecting to unprotected broadband services -- jeopardizing their online safety and the integrity and reliability of public schools local and wide area networks." It asked the FCC to make eligible certain secure web gateway network capabilities "to make Category One broadband service functional." Iboss had similar comments. Kellogg & Sovereign, which manages E-rate applications, supported the FCC's proposal "regarding the eligibility of on-premises Network Equipment with both Category One and Category Two functionalities to clarify that on-premises Network Equipment that interfaces with a Category Two-eligible local area network (LAN) is eligible for Category One support if it is necessary to make a Category One broadband service functional." ApplianSys proposals included implementing "a balanced approach of smaller increments of bandwidth upgrades with caching, or caching in lieu of bandwidth upgrades," and adjusting "actual bandwidth targets for schools by using caching to achieve the same classroom Internet performance with a smaller Internet connection." AdTec asked the FCC to allow applicants to seek funding under either category for inside wiring between different schools or libraries sharing a single building.
The tone of the House Communications Subcommittee’s Tuesday FCC oversight hearing is likely to turn on the degree to which Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and other Republicans focus on Blackburn’s draft FCC reauthorization bill at the expense of other hot-button policy issues, communications sector lobbyists told us. House Democrats are likely to air pent-up grievances about controversial topics, particularly the May NPRM examining 2015 net neutrality rules and reclassification of broadband as a Communications Act Title II service, lobbyists said. Senate Commerce Committee Democrats repeatedly referenced their concerns about a potential rollback of the rules amid a confirmation hearing last week for Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner nominees Brendan Carr and Jessica Rosenworcel (see 1707190049). Pai and FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Mike O’Rielly are to testify at the hearing, which will begin at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
A draft FCC item on advanced telecom capability deployment is a notice of inquiry, a spokesman told us Friday. Chairman Ajit Pai in January withdrew a draft report on broadband-like ATC deployment under Telecom Act Section 706 (see 1701300058), which previous Chairman Tom Wheeler had circulated to conclude an inquiry begun in 2016. "It sounds like this is a reset, and they're basically going to skip a report," said an informed source.
Pennsylvania locality groups asked the FCC to approve the state's petition for rule changes to secure $140 million in Connect American Fund Phase II broadband support that Verizon declined and is scheduled to be auctioned. The USF support was based on an "FCC cost model to be used in underserved areas of Pennsylvania" and it's "critical" the funds remain in the state "for broadband deployment in those rural areas that desperately need it," said filings posted Thursday in docket 10-90 by the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs (here), Pennsylvania State Association of Township Commissioners (here) and two other groups. They cited Pennsylvania's commitment to broadband deployment, and noted the FCC granted a New York request to retain CAF II funds in-state. "While the type of commitment to broadband deployment in New York is different from that of Pennsylvania, the level of commitment, not to mention the level of need, is similar," the filings said. Three asked the FCC "to modify the auction formula for bids in Pennsylvania to the extent resources are made available through the state on a non-discriminatory and technology-neutral basis." The Wireless ISP Association opposed the Pennsylvania petition (see 1706210019), while Verizon was supportive (see 1705190044).
Work of the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee remains a top focus of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, senior Pai adviser Nick Degani told the group Thursday as it held its second public meeting. BDAC's work “is central to the mission of the commission” and is being closely watched on the eighth floor of the FCC, Degani said. But BDAC members complained repeatedly that the group has been given an unrealistically quick timeline.
Not everyone is taking sides in the brawl over whether the FCC should undo its Title II broadband regime undergirding net neutrality rules. Some commenters seek strong protections under other statutory authority, while others are focused on targeted broadband objectives such as ensuring Lifeline USF support, rural telecom advances or privacy.
SAN DIEGO -- FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly’s visit to NARUC's meeting re-energized federal-state joint boards on Universal Service and Jurisdictional Separations, state commissioners said. But the boards established by the 1996 Telecom Act may be losing relevance, they said. O’Rielly has been federal chair of the boards since February. He participated Tuesday in separate closed-door meetings in San Diego, with each lasting about an hour, NARUC attendees said.
The Senate Commerce Committee's Wednesday confirmation hearing on FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner-nominees Brendan Carr and Jessica Rosenworcel featured plenty of grievances on policy issues and criticisms against Pai and Carr, as expected (see 1707180041). Despite some Senate Commerce Democrats' misgivings, nothing changed perceptions that all three nominees will advance easily out of the committee, although maybe not unanimously, industry lobbyists told us.