FCC Draft Order Expands Tribal E-Rate Access, Defends 988 Reporting Requirements
A draft FCC order would update several E-rate rules to ensure tribal colleges and university libraries are eligible to receive program support, according to a draft released Thursday (see 2306280064) for consideration during the commissioners' July 20 open meeting. The agency in its draft 988 outage reporting order defended the reporting requirement as requiring nominal action, requiring only clicking on a checkbox in its national outage reporting system (NORS) to indicate if a reported outage potentially affects a 988 facility.
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The draft order would include a definition of "tribal" as a school receiving Bureau of Indian Education funding, or a school or library operated by a tribe that's "recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians." The expanded eligibility would depend on whether the entity is "also serving as a public library in their community," the draft said. The draft would also add a tribal community representative to the Universal Service Administrative Co.'s board and increase the category two discount rate to 90% and the minimum amount of funding available to $55,000 for tribal library applicants. The item would adopt a competitive bidding exemption for libraries that make category two purchases of $3,600 or less per funding year.
A draft NPRM released with the draft tribal E-rate order would seek comment on program revisions that would apply to all E-rate participants. The item would seek comment on, among other things, allowing "all eligible multi-year software-based services that are purchased with category two equipment" to be requested and reimbursed the same way internal connections software-based services are treated. It would also seek comment on whether applicants "need the services requested from multiple providers" or if such services are duplicative. The FCC would seek comment on expanding the competitive bidding exemption that tribal libraries would receive to all libraries with funding requests under $10,000. Comments would be due 45 days after Federal Register publication, 75 days for replies.
Originating service providers aren’t covered 988 service providers, but those cable, satellite, wireless, wireline and interconnected VoIP providers also would need to report 988 system outages to NORS under the draft order. It said having the same requirements for covered service providers and OSPs ensures timely information. It said a person in crisis who can’t get through to a crisis center is still at risk whether the outage comes before or after the call reaches the Lifeline. Outage reporting in original service providers’ networks is “essential” to improving Lifeline resiliency, it said. The agency said OSPs don't have the capability to distinguish outages that prevent 988 call completion from outages that prevent completion of other calls, but that’s “immaterial” because any outage that prevents completion of all calls potentially affects 988. It said setting the same outage reporting thresholds for 988 that already exist for 911 balances the need for awareness about outages “against the burden of reporting those outages."
An agency draft order authorizing existing FM6 stations to continue broadcasting in analog as an ancillary service limits that permission to existing stations and doesn’t take up proposals to do away with channel 6 interference protections or to allow channel 6 spectrum to be repurposed for FM radio services (see 2306280064). Since the 1980s, FM6 low-power TV stations “have maintained a close connection with the communities they serve,” said the draft order. “Listeners have tuned to existing FM6 LPTV stations for foreign language, religious and sports programming; programming intended to support historically underserved populations such as native Spanish speakers, immigrant populations; and programming designed for niche music audiences.”
Under the order, the 13 stations already broadcasting their analog signal as an ancillary service would be able to continue doing so, along with a 14th station that had its application for special temporary authority to do the same delayed over cross-border interference concerns. No additional stations would be allowed to do so, but the order does allow the 14 stations to be transferred to new owners, as long as they maintain the same contour. “We find that the benefits of preserving existing FM6 LPTV stations outweigh concerns that FM6 operations are an inefficient use of spectrum or could cause interference to their own television service or other licensed users,” said the draft.