Officials in President Donald Trump's administration and the FCC spoke optimistically about the U.S. path forward on rural broadband and spectrum policy during a Monday NTCA event, citing 2018 successes and actions slated for this year. The FCC's plans to follow up the USF Connect America Fund with a new $20.4 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (see 1904120065) received some attention at the event, but more focus was on upcoming spectrum auctions and ways to increase rural broadband deployments.

Wireline butted heads with wireless and cable on an Oregon USF bill (HB-2184) to establish a broadband fund and expand the definition of retail telecom service to include wireless and VoIP (see 1903120015). Expanding the contribution base to wireless and VoIP would reflect customer usage changes, Rep. Pam Marsh (D) said at a House Revenue Committee hearing Tuesday. Oregon now has the lowest fees in the U.S. for cellphone providers, she noted. Broadening the base means the state may cap the surcharge at 7 percent through the bill, lower than 8.5 percent today, while increasing the USF fund size by $12 million yearly, Marsh said. Compared with using general fund revenue, state USF provides a consistent, predictable flow of funding over the years to come, she said: “This is a multiyear mission.” CenturyLink and other wireline providers supported the bill. Wireless carriers rely on wireline networks without compensating them, said Oregon Telecommunications Association (OTA) Executive Vice President Brant Wolf. “The wireless carriers are just off scot-free.” The “regressive” tax would fall “disproportionately hard on wireless customers of modest means,” countered Verizon Director-State Tax Policy John Cmelak. It "does not make tax policy sense" to tax cellphones to subsidize a competing service, rural landline, he said. Oregon should pay for broadband instead through its general fund, he said. Having a low cellphone tax in Oregon isn’t a good reason to raise it, said Tootie Smith of the Taxpayer Association of Oregon. The Oregon Cable Telecommunications Association also opposed. The bill would help close Oregon’s “stark digital divide” between rural and urban areas, said Sam Pastrick, Oregon Citizens Utility Board outreach manager. Local government groups also supported. The Senate Business and General Government Committee plans a Thursday vote on the similar SB-300.

Stakeholder frustration at the FCC not releasing a draft USF NPRM on setting a budget for the fund mounted after Tuesday’s blog post by Commissioner Mike O'Rielly defending the rulemaking. That evening, 16 groups wrote him to request he release "the text of the item prior to any consideration or approval of it on circulation." The groups "appreciate your recent attempts to clarify a few points regarding the item, but we need to know more."

AT&T “will have no other choice” but to sue certain Florida local governments the carrier claims are flouting the state’s 2017 small-cells law and FCC infrastructure rulings, unless the Florida legislature passes a bill to tighten the law pre-empting local governments, said AT&T Senior Counsel Tracy Hatch Tuesday. Some members at the livestreamed House Ways and Means Committee hearing questioned the extent of problems. Oregon lawmakers weighed different ways to spur broadband deployment in another hearing Tuesday.

As frustrated stakeholders watch an FCC drafting process that they want to be more transparent for an NPRM circulating on USF budgets, concerns about the document's details (see 1903270042) are mounting (see 1903280050). All stakeholders we interviewed this week and last wish the rulemaking had been set for consideration at a monthly commissioners' meeting, so it would be public three weeks beforehand. Or, they wanted it released another way in advance.

NARUC's Telecom Committee unanimously cleared an amended Lifeline resolution urging the FCC and Universal Service Administrative Co. ensure the national verifier accesses state databases required to automatically check users are eligible. USAC is responding to concerns and committed to making the NV work, South Dakota Commissioner Chris Nelson told us after the vote.

NARUC's Telecom Committee unanimously cleared an amended Lifeline resolution urging the FCC and Universal Service Administrative Co. ensure the national verifier accesses state databases required to automatically check users are eligible. USAC is responding to concerns and committed to making the NV work, South Dakota Commissioner Chris Nelson told us after the vote.

An FCC declaratory order to clarify wireless messaging as a Title I information service, rather than a more regulated telecom service, appears headed to a 3-1 vote Wednesday, with a dissent expected by Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, industry officials said. Twilio sought Communications Act Title II classification for texting in 2015, after the FCC classified broadband as a Title II service (see 1510130040).

An FCC declaratory order to clarify wireless messaging as a Title I information service, rather than a more regulated telecom service, appears headed to a 3-1 vote Wednesday, with a dissent expected by Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, industry officials said. Twilio sought Communications Act Title II classification for texting in 2015, after the FCC classified broadband as a Title II service (see 1510130040).

The FCC approved revised rules for the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band, as expected (see 1810160068), over a dissent by Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, who crafted the revised rules, said changes were necessary to spark interest in the priority access licenses that will be sold as one tier of the band.