USTelecom petitioned the FCC to give ILECs a break on various legacy rules so they can concentrate on the buildout of fiber and modern communications networks. The Monday petition has a list of rules for which it seeks commission forbearance.

Calls by education and library groups, and FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel in a speech Wednesday, to increase E-rate funding are running into opposition from telcos, in comments filed in the E-rate modernization Further NPRM. The Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance and USTelecom said they worry expanding E-rate could cut into other USF programs like the Connect America Fund.

Calls by education and library groups, and FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel in a speech Wednesday, to increase E-rate funding are running into opposition from telcos, in comments filed in the E-rate modernization Further NPRM. The Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance and USTelecom said they worry expanding E-rate could cut into other USF programs like the Connect America Fund.

An FCC order on circulation would generically ask the agency’s Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service to examine changes to USF contribution methodology without recommending how the group should proceed, said agency and industry officials in interviews this week.

An FCC order on circulation would generically ask the agency’s Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service to examine changes to USF contribution methodology without recommending how the group should proceed, said agency and industry officials in interviews this week.

The FCC must address the overall spending of the USF, not use “savings” from universal service reform to expand other USF programs, FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said Friday in remarks to the commission’s Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC). O'Rielly said he wanted to lay down this marker as the agency takes up Lifeline reform. He also suggested that at least one of the CAC members should come from a group representing taxpayers.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has sidestepped likely partisan Capitol Hill battles surrounding E-rate for now due to the nature of his overhaul, apparently focusing on Wi-Fi and not immediately touching the fund’s contribution rate and size, lobbyists and observers told us. They predict political rancor will come in later phases of the E-rate revamp when those parts will be inevitably addressed. The prime Hill critics now are Democratic architects of the original 1996 Telecom Act E-rate provisions, who question the proposal in more granular ways and urge the agency to listen as E-rate beneficiaries express fears, sending a critical letter Tuesday. The FCC will vote on Wheeler’s item Friday, and it’s been controversial among FCC Republicans. (See separate report in this issue.)

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has sidestepped likely partisan Capitol Hill battles surrounding E-rate for now due to the nature of his overhaul, apparently focusing on Wi-Fi and not immediately touching the fund’s contribution rate and size, lobbyists and observers told us. They predict political rancor will come in later phases of the E-rate revamp when those parts will be inevitably addressed. The prime Hill critics now are Democratic architects of the original 1996 Telecom Act E-rate provisions, who question the proposal in more granular ways and urge the agency to listen as E-rate beneficiaries express fears, sending a critical letter Tuesday. The FCC will vote on Wheeler’s item Friday, and it’s been controversial among FCC Republicans. (See separate report in this issue.)

A draft E-rate order attempts to tackle the “Wi-Fi gap” in schools and libraries, Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a blog post Friday (http://fcc.us/1w7OuSm). He said he circulated the order Friday, for a vote at the July 11 FCC meeting, as expected (CD June 12 p1). The plan commits $1 billion toward Wi-Fi in 2015, with which the agency expects to connect more than 10 million students across the country, officials said. Another $1 billion will go toward Wi-Fi in 2016, with “predictable” support in future years, a senior official told reporters on a conference call on condition of anonymity Friday. That money, in addition to the current $2.4 billion E-rate budget, comes from $2 billion recently found unspent (CD Feb 4 p7).

A draft E-rate order attempts to tackle the “Wi-Fi gap” in schools and libraries, Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a blog post Friday (http://fcc.us/1w7OuSm). He said he circulated the order Friday, for a vote at the July 11 FCC meeting, as expected (WID June 12 p5). The plan commits $1 billion toward Wi-Fi in 2015, with which the agency expects to connect more than 10 million students across the country, officials said. Another $1 billion will go toward Wi-Fi in 2016, with “predictable” support in future years, a senior official told reporters on a conference call on condition of anonymity Friday. That money, in addition to the current $2.4 billion E-rate budget, comes from $2 billion recently found unspent (WID Feb 4 p4).