FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said playing defense in the minority at the agency is a "very interesting" experience. "Playing the entire field has been a little exhausting but exhilarating at the same time,” she said in an interview on C-SPAN's The Communicators set to air Saturday and Monday. There have been "more than a couple" 2-1 votes, with her dissenting, but she said she still cares about the same things, including putting "consumers first." Asked if she was rallying net neutrality advocates to try to change Republican colleagues' plans to roll back Title II broadband regulation, put pressure on Congress, or build a record in court, Clyburn said, "All of the above." Without Communications Act Title II broadband classification, "What backstop authority do we have?" she asked, citing USF, broadband deployment barriers and pole attachments as areas that would suffer without Title II. “Right now we have certainty that we will be the referee on the field enabling and answering the calls of people who say ‘I want choice, I want connectivity.’'' she said. "All of these things are made possible with connectivity, and if we do not have all of the tools in our regulatory belt to be able to say that we have authority to enable all of these wonderful opportunities, then who does and how does it get done?" She also addressed inmate calling service charges, AT&T/Time Warner, broadband infrastructure pre-emption and other subjects.
The Senate Commerce Committee unanimously advanced legislation reauthorizing the FAA through 2021, adopting 56 amendments en bloc without discussion, including several on drones and one requiring that passengers be barred from talking on their cellphones during flights. “Our committee has acted to continue advancing unmanned aircraft systems and other aviation innovations while offering airline passengers new protections,” said a statement from Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., whose substitute amendment was approved during the Thursday markup.
GAO found continuing "weaknesses" in Lifeline USF program management despite FCC and Universal Service Administrative Co. efforts to improve controls over finances and enrollment by low-income consumers. There are also broader problems in USF contribution system oversight and the commission's use of a private bank account rather than the Treasury Department to store $9 billion in USF net assets, said a May 30 GAO report released Thursday. Policymakers and others disagreed on the extent to which the previous FCC's actions already were addressing some of the issues, but Chairman Ajit Pai made it clear he plans to do more.
If the FCC doesn't act by Wednesday, a proposed USF contribution factor will take effect July 1, a spokesman told us. The Office of Managing Director proposed a Q3 contribution rate of 17.1 percent of carrier revenue from interstate and international telecom end users, said a public notice released June 13 (see 1706130072). "If the Commission takes no action regarding the projections of demand and administrative expenses and the proposed contribution factor within the 14-day period following release of this Public Notice, they shall be deemed approved by the Commission."
Three more Alaska entities asked the FCC not to use a rural healthcare reserve fund to lower the Q3 USF contribution factor, as proposed. Community Connections, Cross Road Health Ministries and the Native Village of Savoonga made filings posted Friday and Monday in docket 96-45. The FCC's proposed Q3 USF contribution factor of 17.1 percent of end-user interstate and international telecom revenue is to be deemed effective Tuesday, absent commission action. An FCC spokesman didn't comment Monday.
FCC staff updated Lifeline minimum service standards and slightly increased its budget, implementing aspects of a 2016 order overhauling the agency's USF low-income broadband/telecom subsidy program. Starting Dec. 1, the Lifeline minimum service standard for fixed broadband speed will be 15/2 Mbps (down/up), as calculated from Form 477 data, with an exception for providers that don't offer any generally available residential fixed broadband packages meeting the standard at a subscriber's residence (those providers must offer at least 4/1 Mbps), said a Wireline Bureau public notice Monday in docket 11-42. It noted the fixed broadband data-allotment minimum will be 250 GBs per month, as calculated from urban rate survey data. The PN said the 2016 order included an automatic increase in Lifeline's mobile broadband data-allotment minimum to 1 GB per month, while retaining a 3G technology minimum speed standard. The order also included an automatic update of the Lifeline mobile voice minimum to 750 minutes per month on Dec. 1. To incorporate inflation indexing, as required by the order, the Lifeline budget for calendar year 2018 will increase from the current $2.25 billion to $2.279 billion, the PN said.
Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., urged FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to “move forward” with the Remote Areas Fund (RAF) to “appropriately target limited [USF] support towards the most difficult to serve areas in our states that remain unserved.” The senators told Pai they are “encouraged” by the March Connect America Fund II auction order, which committed to prioritized funding in an RAF auction, to occur one year after the CAF II auction, for states where large telcos declined funding offers (see 1703020029). Many RAF-eligible communities “still lack access to a viable broadband option,” the senators wrote. “We believe the RAF must be structured to reach these extremely high-cost areas throughout rural America.” Tech-neutral rules for RAF “will encourage broad and robust provider participation and will increase the likelihood that these remote areas will be served and deliver the most value per limited resources spent,” the senators said: "Providers, regardless of technology," should be able to "compete to serve unserved or underserved areas that have the greatest need for new broadband deployment.”
The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition backed Alaska Communications' request the FCC provide "full funding" for the USF rural healthcare (RHC) subsidy support program (see 1706200049). "Even though the demand for RHC funding has increased substantially in the past year -- exceeding the $400 Million cap -- the Public Notice issued by the Office of Managing Director (OMD) proposes to collect less than $0 for the third quarter of 2017 for the RHC program," said an SHLB filing Friday in docket 96-45. "Without taking public comment or going through a rulemaking proceeding, the Public Notice proposes to change existing policy and to use reserve funds from prior years to cover the RHC demand for the upcoming quarter. This policy change is a dramatic departure from prior practice." Peninsula Community Health Services of Alaska, Ninilchik Traditional Council and Kenaitze Indian Tribe said (here, here, here) the reserve fund shouldn't be used to lower the USF contribution factor in Q3 at the long-term expense of the RHC program. Two other Alaska entities made similar filings recently (see 1706220020). A proposed USF contribution factor of 17.1 percent of carrier interstate and international telecom end-user revenue takes effect Tuesday absent FCC action. Meanwhile, the Wireline Bureau Friday waived an invoice filing deadline under the Healthcare Connect Fund for about 50 healthcare providers listed in an order Friday in docket 02-60.
Direct broadcast satellite and cable interests, which clashed over DBS regulatory fees in FY 2015 and 16 (see 1507080013 and 1607060023) are doing so again with the FCC FY 2017 fee proposal, as expected (see 1706050038). wireline interests -- saying they bear a disproportionate regulatory fee burden compared with other industries -- are backing FCC plans for reallocation of Wireline Bureau full-time equivalents (FTE), though the satellite industry is opposing. Comments on the fee proposals were due Thursday, replies July 7. The FCC Received support for its plan to hike the de minimis regulatory fee threshold and pushback on hiking the submarine cable regulatory fee.
Two more Alaska entities asked the FCC not to use a rural healthcare (RHC) reserve fund to reduce the USF contribution factor to 17.1 percent of carrier interstate and international telecom end-user revenue. "While using RHC program reserve funds may help lower the contribution factor in the near term, that decision could have negative long-term implications on rural health care services across our country," said a Sitka Counseling and Prevention Services filing Wednesday in docket 96-45. "We urge the FCC to fully fund the RHC program and not to use previously collected RHC reserve funds to reduce the universal service contribution factor. ... We now face having to pay 7.5 percent of our approved FY 2016 application. For many of us, that equals hundreds of thousands of unbudgeted dollars, which in turn means a loss of telemedicine services and layoffs, negatively impacting healthcare in our communities." Chugachmiut, a tribal organization, made an identical filing. Alaska Communications previously made a similar request (see 1706200049). The proposed 17.1 percent contribution factor takes effect Tuesday absent commission action.