FCC members and others ramped up rhetoric on a draft NPRM on a potential USF budget, which hasn't been made public. The commission declined to comment. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, the point person on the rulemaking, is "troubled by early critiques of this item," he tweeted Thursday. "Beyond not having read it, these people don’t seem to have any idea what they are talking about. Shocking for DC, I know." Three of four "USF programs already have hard spending caps & the other has a soft cap requiring Commission action if it were exceeded," he said. "An overall cap doesn’t add new budgetary pressures than those that already exist!" He said, "Instead, an overall cap will force the Commission to seriously grapple with the consequences of raising an individual program’s cap for the total fund, and more thoughtfully confront how it spends consumers’ hard-earned dollars." Commissioner Geoffrey Starks tweeted, "How can we talk about capping our Universal Service programs at a time when the Commission doesn’t seem to have a good handle on who currently has broadband and who does not?" The reported proposal (see 1903270042) "to cap USF funding directly contradicts Chairman [Ajit] Pai’s oft-repeated mantra that his primary focus is to close the digital divide," said Public Knowledge Communications Justice Fellow Alisa Valentin. "Congress has long directed the Commission to ensure that every American has access to essential communications services." Benton Foundation Executive Editor Kevin Taglang said, "We can’t extend broadband’s reach throughout rural America with a USF cap." It's "premature" to consider capping Lifeline, one part of USF, said National Consumer Law Center Staff Attorney Olivia Wein. This would "unnecessarily ration Lifeline support," she added.
Ian Cohen
Ian Cohen, Deputy Managing Editor, is a reporter with Export Compliance Daily and its sister publications International Trade Today and Trade Law Daily, where he covers export controls, sanctions and international trade issues. He previously worked as a local government reporter in South Florida. Ian graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Florida in 2017 and lives in Washington, D.C. He joined the staff of Warren Communications News in 2019.
The "measly" amounts the FCC is receiving in fines from robocallers are ineffective in addressing the problem, so it's time for other commissioners to call on carriers to make tools freely available to consumers to block such calls, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel tweeted Thursday. The Wall Street Journal reported the agency has levied $208 million in such penalties, collecting $6,790.
The FCC told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit it should reject as untimely a March 5 petition seeking judicial review, after the agency denied a Sandwich Isles Communications request to reconsider a 2016 order saying the Hawaiian telco must repay $27.3 million in improper USF payments it received 2002-2015 (see 1901030024). SIC said in a March 5 petition the FCC wrongly ignored a report from an independent consulting firm that it owed only $4.1 million in overpayments. “By ignoring the evidence, the FCC acted arbitrarily and capriciously,” SIC said (in Pacer, docket 19-1056). The FCC said in a filing posted Thursday that regardless of the merits, the petition for review was due at the court 60 days after the FCC released an order rejecting the telco’s claims. The window closed March 4, the regulator said: “Because Sandwich Isles failed to file its petition within the statutory filing period, this Court is ‘constrained to dismiss the untimely petition for review for want of jurisdiction.’”
An NTCA official met with aides to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks on a proposal to end USF rate floor, circulated for a vote at the April 12 commissioners' meeting (see 1903220055). “If the rate floor were to increase dramatically in coming months due to a stalled debate over how otherwise to proceed, this would cause significant harm to rural consumers,” NTCA said Thursday in docket 10-90. The harms would come from “voice telephony rates that could increase by nearly 50 percent per month” and “suppressed network investment,” the group said: “The public interest … necessitates prompt action, and the draft report and order provides the best vehicle for such action.”
Representatives of Best Doctors met with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai on a December petition for declaratory ruling on FCC Telephone Consumer Protection Act rules (see 1812210038). Best Doctors asked the FCC to clarify that a faxed request “to verify contact information and operational status of a medical practice for inclusion in a database of practicing physicians when the request does not state the commercial availability or quality of property, goods or services is not an advertisement" under the TCPA, said a Thursday filing in docket 02-278. Best Doctors discussed “the proliferation of TCPA cases concerning faxes and the need for the Commission to provide courts with clear guidance.”
CenturyLink has a role in 911 delivery issues even when the problem isn’t in the carrier’s dedicated network provided by West Safety Services, said the Minnesota Commerce and Public Safety departments. The agencies disagreed Wednesday with CenturyLink's saying in docket 18-542 that a Public Utilities Commission probe into an Aug. 1 outage should focus on 911 and not address separate network issues separate. CenturyLink agreed to be 911 system coordinator in Minnesota, the departments said. “The Agencies are not suggesting that CenturyLink’s task is to ensure that problems never occur, only that CenturyLink agree to assist the public safety agencies in working toward the goal of eliminating failed 9-1-1 calls, no matter the cause.” The investigation’s purpose is to ensure a responsive 911 system, they said. “If a call does not reach the [public safety answering point] or cannot deliver necessary information, then that uncompleted call constitutes a public safety failure, and every effort must be made by the providers of the network and providers of the public safety services to ensure that calls never fail for any reason.” When 911 fails, communication to all parties involved in emergency call delivery and to the public “must be prompt, regular, and as complete as possible,” they said.
Telecommunications Industry Association representatives encouraged the FCC to require compliance with provisions in Kari’s Law, meeting Public Safety Bureau staff. Commissioners approved 4-0 an NPRM on those issues with 911 calls from multiline telephone systems (MLTS) at their September meeting (see 1809260047). “Industry needs to know as soon as possible what the requirements will be in order to meet” a Feb. 16, 2020, deadline, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-261. “We raised potential issues with requiring MLTS solutions to dial directly to 911 ‘out of the box,’ particularly for MLTS where there is no physical equipment to purchase and configure.” Staff from Cisco, Panasonic and the Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications Forum also attended.
Rural Health Care and E-rate programs should be able to run concurrently, allowing combined requests for proposals and schedules for healthcare and K-12 education applicants, Utah Education and Telehealth Network CEO Ray Timothy told the FCC, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 17-310. UETN and CenturyLink met Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and an aide to discuss rural healthcare, the telco said. “UETN encouraged the FCC to develop methods to reduce administrative complexities and to increase efficiencies between the RHC and E-rate programs.”
Questions of what end-office switching rates apply when calls involve a competitive LEC and an over-the-top VoIP provider, whether a competitive LEC can charge for end-office switching when it hasn't assigned the calling party's phone number, and whether end-office switching rates apply to Teliax will be referred to the FCC, U.S. District Court Judge Raymond Moore of Denver said in an order Friday (in Pacer). It responded to a motion by defendant by MCI Communications Services asking for a stay while the FCC considers near-identical issues through an open proceeding and for primary jurisdiction referral. Moore said he wasn't referring an MCI question of whether Teliax can charge tandem switching rates since Teliax hasn't charged those, and he's staying only issues pending before the FCC but otherwise the case can proceed. MCI outside counsel didn't comment Monday.
Sprint met Wireline Bureau staff on its proposal the FCC defer Lifeline de-enrollments and national verifier "hard" launches until Universal Service Administrative Co. gets more automated access to Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program databases (see 1903190048). Sprint said Monday in docket 17-287 its proposal was discussed in greater depth in the ex parte filing last week. Texas regulators are also reviewing Lifeline issues (see 1903250043).