The FCC Friday released the full text of three items it adopted at its meeting Thursday. A combined order/NPRM blocks hikes in a rural telco USF-related rate floor while the commission considers possible policy changes (see 1705180061). Another order makes broad changes to the Part 95 personal radio service rules for Citizens Band radios; walkie-talkies; radio-controlled toy cars, boats and planes; hearing assistance devices; and more sophisticated apparatus including medical implants and personal locator beacons (see 1705180040). A separate NPRM aims to harmonize various mobile earth station rules and open up the conventional Ka-band to those earth stations in motion (see 1705180042).
FCC commissioners voted 2-1 to freeze and review a rural rate floor that requires rate-of-return carriers to charge customers a certain monthly amount for basic voice service to avoid losing USF support. While voting in favor, Commissioner Mike O'Rielly suggested "means testing" the high-cost program so USF support better targets consumer need. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn dissented, saying the commission should have addressed other rural USF issues, particularly waste, fraud and abuse. NTCA and WTA applauded the freeze and criticized the rate floor.
California utility commissioners may decide if text messaging can be assessed USF fees, perhaps making it the first state to rule on whether texting is a telecom or information service. Public Utilities Commissioners could vote as soon as June 15 to open a rulemaking on whether text messaging is a telecom service that may be included in revenue-based surcharges for CPUC’s public purpose programs (PPP), which include California LifeLine, the Advanced Services Fund and other state programs, the agency said Friday. CTIA petitioned for a ruling that texting is an information service not subject to the fees, but consumer groups urged the CPUC to classify texting as a telecom service that may be assessed.
The FCC told a court it reasonably denied SureWest Telephone a waiver from a federally mandated USF state certification deadline the company missed in 2012 (see 1610260025). "This Court has repeatedly stressed that agencies should not waive their rules except where special circumstances warrant deviation and a waiver is in the public interest," said an FCC/DOJ brief Wednesday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that responded to arguments raised by Consolidated Communications, which took over SureWest. "SureWest’s confusion regarding the Commission’s rules -- which caused a filing error not remedied for many months -- is not the kind of special circumstance that can justify a waiver." In a 2016 concurring statement, then-Commissioner Ajit Pai agreed SureWest wasn't entitled to a waiver due to a simple mistake but said the decision to withhold $2.9 million in interstate common line support "for this minor filing error -- as we are required to do under our rules -- is exceedingly harsh." The case is Consolidated Communications of California v. FCC, No. 16-1431.
The Competitive Carriers Association and ITTA asked Congress to treat USF disbursements as nontaxable. The groups sent a joint letter Thursday to the Senate Finance and the House Ways and Means committees. “Congress clarifying the federal tax code to treat disbursements from federal broadband programs, including the USF, as non-taxable not only will further the public interest, but also spur investment in infrastructure and help create jobs,” CCA President Steve Berry said. ITTA President Genny Morelli agreed: “Making broadband support non-taxable will ensure that every dollar is used for investment in rural America that will expand broadband services and create new jobs.”
The solution to fake news is for mainstream media outlets to do a better job convincing the public of their utility and the thoroughness of their content, said Commissioner Mike O'Rielly in a speech on media content regulation at a Media Institute luncheon Thursday. Steps like hiring fact checkers and use of algorithms intended to give lower priority to fake online news run the risk of limiting discourse or catching up legitimate news coverage in the net, he said. Some media outlets and social networking organizations announced plans in recent months to tackle fake news (see 1701040025).
One legislative goal Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., wants to address before the August recess is Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization, he said in an interview Thursday. “It’ll get into the drone stuff,” he said. “There are some areas where you’ll have some telecommunications issues that intersect with that agenda, too.” Those topics have spurred interest from other lawmakers, with Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., taking a stab at drone privacy legislation earlier this year (see 1703200029). The horizon for the Senate, full with debates over healthcare overhaul and the firing of FBI Director James Comey, doesn't appear loaded with telecom legislative action, at least immediately.
NTCA and WTA urged the FCC to act on intercarrier compensation (ICC) and USF issues they had raised in petitions for reconsideration and in comments on a 2016 Further NPRM. The commission should reconsider soon a "requirement that carriers impute Access Recovery Charges (ARCs) to standalone broadband connections" in place before a 2011 USF and intercarrier compensation overhaul, said the rural telcos groups' filing posted Wednesday in docket 10-90 on their discussion with Wireline Bureau staffers. Participants "discussed various means of striking an appropriate balance" to ensure that eliminating the duty won't harm the budget for ARC-related Connect America Fund and ICC support. NTCA and WTA also urged the FCC to reconsider, or for the bureau to clarify, "how competitive overlap will be validated" (unsubsidized competitive overlap makes an area ineligible for CAF support). The groups asked the FCC "to at least specify as soon as possible the 'dataset' that will be used as the preliminary baseline for competitive overlap determinations" for CAF-BLS (broadband loop support) eligibility, even if the determinations take longer. They offered further suggestions on competitive-overlap specifics. Following up on comments in the 2016 rulemaking, the groups sought prompt guidance to "dispel lingering uncertainty and ambiguity" on whether certain expenses are recoverable through USF support and how they would be recovered. They proposed draft rules modeled on language in the FNPRM.
Comments on broadband healthcare solutions are due at the FCC May 24, replies June 8, said a commission public notice in docket 16-46 published in Wednesday's Federal Register after being issued last month (see 1704240068). The FCC seeks "information on a variety of regulatory, policy, and infrastructure issues related to the emerging broadband-enabled health and care ecosystem," said an FR summary of the item. The commission "seeks to ensure that consumers -- from major cities to rural and remote areas, Tribal lands, and underserved regions -- can access potentially lifesaving health technologies and services, like telehealth and telemedicine, which are enabled by broadband connectivity." A Connect2HealthFCC Task Force will use the information to make recommendations to the agency, the item said. Accompanying it was an FR summary of another FCC notice seeking comments by Tuesday, replies by May 26 on petitions for reconsideration of USF Mobility Fund rules filed by the Rural Wireless Association; CTIA; Blue Wireless; Panhandle Telephone Cooperative and Pine Belt Cellular; Blooston Rural Carriers; Rural Wireless Carriers; and T-Mobile.
Windstream will respond to a state probe by the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) into complaints about poor service and billing issues, it said Monday. Commissioners voted 5-0 last week to open the investigation and consider sanctions and fines for any violations found, the PRC said in a Friday news release. The agency received service complaints about the carrier from rural areas around the state, the PRC said. Windstream is subject to the agency’s quality-of-service standards, requiring that at least 85 percent of a telecom company’s service outages be rectified within 24 hours. Also, the commission probe will investigate whether Windstream misused USF support and if the company charged city franchise fees to customers not from that city, the PRC said. “Windstream is committed to serving its customers in New Mexico, and we look forward to working with the PRC to address their concerns,” a company spokesman said. “Since 2013, we have invested more than $48 million to enhance our network in the state. We strive always to promptly address any customer issues that may arise, even in remote areas where distance and terrain can complicate such efforts.”