More stakeholders want acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to begin moving forward on USF funding revisions (see 2102010059). The current mechanism is unsustainable, experts said in recent interviews. Many disagree on changes.
NARUC's Telecom Committee unanimously agreed the FCC should closely review Rural Digital Opportunity Fund long-form applications to ensure RDOF providers have what's needed to deliver on promises. The committee cleared that proposed resolution Wednesday at NARUC's virtual meeting. Earlier, an analyst raised concerns about young companies winning bids. Committee Chair Karen Charles Peterson urged the new FCC to revisit broadband reclassification and net neutrality rules, revamp USF contribution and restore Lifeline voice support.
The USF contribution factor continues to shatter records. Universal Service Administrative Co. released its quarterly demand projections Friday, and the contribution factor will increase from 31.8% in Q1 to a historic 32.7% for Q2, said analyst Billy Jack Gregg. It raises several questions about the fund’s sustainability (see 2012310027). Even if demand stays at the current level, the factor will continue to rise because the contribution base continues to decline, Gregg said.
Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction winners must follow through on broadband promises, NARUC Telecom Committee members said in interviews last week. NARUC plans to vote at its Feb. 4-5 and 8-11 meeting on a draft resolution urging the FCC to scrutinize RDOF long-form applications (see 2101260033). Some commissioners raised doubts about fixed wireless and said they’re unfamiliar with entities that won federal dollars.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission aims to spur broadband with its first pole-attachment dispute resolution since the state asserted authority in March by reverse preempting the FCC, Chairman Gladys Brown Dutrieuille said at Thursday's virtual meeting. Commissioners voted unanimously to reduce telecom attachment rates FirstEnergy charges Verizon. In other states that day, California Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D) announced a second go at her Broadband for All bill and Colorado’s Broadband Advisory Board held its first meeting.
USF contribution reform could still be a long way off, said FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and former Chair Mignon Clyburn at NARUC’s virtual annual conference Tuesday. O’Rielly, co-chair of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, slammed that body as dysfunctional. Earlier in the day, state officials cited the COVID-19 pandemic as they urged national broadband action.
State commissioners can influence broadband policy even with limited telecom authority, said NARUC broadband task force members at the association’s virtual annual meeting Thursday. Utility regulators’ telecom role “has diminished significantly” in most states, but they can still “play the role of honest broker,” said Idaho Public Utilities Commissioner Paul Kjellander, who next week becomes NARUC president. Collaboration with federal government is a must, said other commissioners.
State commissioners can influence broadband policy even with limited telecom authority, said NARUC broadband task force members at the association’s virtual annual meeting Thursday. Utility regulators’ telecom role “has diminished significantly” in most states, but they can still “play the role of honest broker,” said Idaho Public Utilities Commissioner Paul Kjellander, who next week becomes NARUC president. Collaboration with federal government is a must, said other commissioners.
The lawyer for the Tri-County Telephone Association challenging the FCC’s nearly $1 billion USF telecom rebuild program for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands faced questions Thursday as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral argument in TCT's case (docket 20-1003 in Pacer). Judges challenged the group’s argument that the FCC doesn't have authority to use high-cost USF support dollars for disaster relief.
Increasing the Lifeline benefit would require USF contribution changes, AT&T Executive Vice President-Regulatory Joan Marsh blogged Wednesday. Lifeline “needs to be reformed from its current provider-centric structure to one that instead puts the beneficiary at the center of a more digital approach, as modeled after the Department of Agriculture’s successful and evolving [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] program,” Marsh said. Congress must "ensure that funds are directly appropriated to support any benefit increase or otherwise ensure that the USF funding mechanism is significantly reformed,” she said. Carriers, state regulators and public industry groups united in opposition to an FCC proposal to raise the Lifeline wireless broadband minimum service standard (see 2009150072). In Sept. 3 letters replying to Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and other members of Congress, posted Tuesday, Chairman Ajit Pai said the commission “is faced with wildly divergent requests." The "subscribers shouldn’t receive second-class service, so the status quo is unacceptable,” but a dramatic increase “is likely to disrupt the market,” he wrote. Pai proposed a “modest increase to 4.5 GB.”