Commissioners OK'd rules 4-0 for round two of the COVID-19 telehealth program, the FCC announced Tuesday. They denied an American Hospital Association petition for reconsideration to include for-profit hospitals as eligible providers. Nearly $250 million will be awarded during the second round. The commission created an application filing window rather than a rolling basis for accepting applications because "smaller providers with more limited resources may have faced difficulties quickly compiling their applications." The filing window is expected to open within 30 days. The FCC will announce this start date "very shortly," said acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Round one applicants that didn't receive funding must submit a new application for round two and "will receive an increase in points in Round 2 which are not available to other Round 2 applicants," the order said. Universal Service Administrative Co. will administer funds again, prioritizing applications from the hardest-hit and low-income areas, unfunded round one applicants, tribal communities, critical access hospitals, federally qualified health centers, healthcare provider shortage areas, new round two applicants and rural counties. Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said the rules give "significant weight to applications proposing to serve low-income communities" and included some of his proposed edits. Rules "strike the right balance between ensuring a wide and equitable distribution of funding and promoting the widest possible participation of health care providers," said Commissioner Brendan Carr. Commissioner Nathan Simington didn't release a statement. The FCC extended from six to 12 months the time applicants may receive funding, saying "providers will likely continue to rely on telehealth and connected care services as a critical means of addressing the COVID-19 pandemic through at least a good portion of 2022." Funds will be awarded in two phases, as expected (see 2103170047). The first $150 million goes to highest-scoring applicants. After a 10-day period, USAC will re-rank the remaining applicants and disburse the remaining funds. The commission kept in place eligibility requirements for providers from round one, and applicants needing to obtain approved eligibility determination must do so only for the "lead health care provider" listed on the application. If an applicant has multiple sites on their application, they must certify only that all sites listed are eligible. The order said its eligible services list is broad enough to provide "the flexibility needed to respond to rapidly evolving situations" and includes guidance on ineligible services.
Comments are due April 8, replies April 15 on the NFL’s request for waiver of citizens broadband radio service rules to use its “coach-to-coach communications systems” during an internet outage, said a public notice in Tuesday's Daily Digest on docket 21-111. The organization needs the waiver for situations when internet service goes down just before a scheduled game but after a spectrum access system administrator has granted authority to operate the NFL’s CBRS system for that game, the PN said.
Acconeer asked the FCC to approve its request for a waiver allowing marketing of its 60 GHz short-range radar system at higher power than specified in agency rules. Acconeer cited support from other commenters in its Monday filing in docket 21-48. The system would be used for passenger detection, seat belt and intruder alarms, and gesture control for vehicle access, the company said.
National Lifeline Association members faced "push back" from those reviewing applications for the FCC's $3.2 billion emergency broadband benefit program, attorneys for NaLA told the Wireline Bureau, per a posting Friday in docket 20-445 (see 2102260058). Members are being told they "cannot seek an alternative verification process because they do not have a preexisting low-income program and can use the National Verifier instead," attorneys said. Members say having a preexisting program wasn't required to receive approval for an alternative verification process, and NaLA's attorneys asked the commission to provide clarification to application reviewers. An attorney for NaLA couldn't be reached for further comment.
The FTC created a rulemaking group within the General Counsel’s Office with the goal of strengthening existing rules and creating “new rulemakings to prohibit unfair or deceptive practices and unfair methods of competition,” acting Chair Rebecca Kelly Slaughter announced Thursday. Rulemaking is “a critical part of the FTC’s toolbox to stop widespread consumer harm and to promote robust competition,” especially given threats to the agency’s FTC Act section 13(b) authority (see 2102040049), the agency said. The FTC’s “rulemaking power under section 18 has gotten a bad reputation for being too hard to use, but longstanding FTC rules, such as the Funeral Rule and the Eyeglass Rule, have provided significant benefits to consumers,” Slaughter said. The agency should “activate its unfair methods of competition rulemaking authority” due to the concentrated economy, she added. The commission wouldn't disclose now the names of those who comprise this group. The panel “will streamline rulemaking at the FTC, resulting in rules that are faster, more efficient, and more effectively address anticompetitive conduct than antitrust litigation alone,” said Public Knowledge Competition Policy Director Charlotte Slaiman, saying it's "a much-needed change.” Consumer Reports thinks this “sends a clear message that the FTC is going to prioritize rulemaking going forward, which we hope will lead to stronger consumer protections and greater corporate accountability,” said Senior Researcher-Technology Competition Sumit Sharma.
Proponents urged the FCC to allow client-to-client operations in the 6 GHz band, and incumbents opposed the C2C change, in replies posted Wednesday in docket 18-295. This was consistent with initial comments (see 2102230056). “The record in this proceeding supports the need to make the band even more useful by facilitating the applications that client-to-client communications will support,” said the Wi-Fi Alliance. Many opponents seek "to re-litigate the Commission’s sound decision to permit unlicensed device access to the 6 GHz band,” the alliance said. C2C will become the standard worldwide, said Apple, Broadcom, Commscope, Facebook, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel, Microsoft and Qualcomm. “Peer-to-peer use cases like those that would be facilitated … are standard in other bands for many consumer electronic devices in the United States,” the companies said: “They include onboarding smart home equipment using smartphones, sharing streaming video from one device to another, and sharing files among users or devices quickly and efficiently.” Low-power indoor C2C would “improve the performance of current" uses and enable new ones, the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance said. Comments “overwhelmingly oppose allowing client-to-client communications, and the proponents have failed to provide sufficient technical information to show that such operations would not cause harmful interference to licensed microwave systems,” said utility and public safety groups, led by APCO, the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council, Edison Electric Institute and Utilities Technology Council. C2C would “significantly increase the interference potential to licensed microwave systems,” they said. CTIA urged caution, noting that, working with Southern Co., it did some of the only 6 GHz interference testing. Results “provide prima facie evidence that even devices operating in compliance with the existing rules will cause harmful interference to incumbent users,” the group said. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation said the proposal poses a risk to vehicle-to-everything uses of the band and could also affect the 5.9 GHz band.
Commissioner Nathan Simington advocated Wednesday for a light regulatory touch for broadcast regulation, despite not having a model for it, as a way the FCC can help tackle the business woes facing local journalism. "The wolf is now at the door" for stations, and the commission "can get out of the way" as they try to find new sustainable business models when faced with advertising dollar competition from tech giants like Google, he said at a Media Institute talk. He said diversity of ownership is important, but there won't be such diversity "in a world of collapse." Concerns about consolidation can be misguided, as modern broadcast group owners look to maximize the value of individual stations, "not turn each ... into a mouthpiece," Simington said: They seem to see strong local journalism as an asset and aren't prone to acquiring an outlet "only to gut it and make it a clone," because that would be against the group's business interests. "I want finality" from the Supreme Court in its awaited Prometheus decision, he said. Then, the FCC likely will be "eager to take up" the 2018 quadrennial review, Simington said. He said there needs to be a discussion about media ownership reflecting that some parties the agency had hoped to see invest are opting to put their money elsewhere. He said "sensible, slimmed-down regulation" will promote investment in the broadcast industry. Asked about politics at the FCC, Simington said the agency so far in his tenure has "engaged in .... strongly bipartisan and thoroughly reasoned policy. I’m very happy with the spirit of compromise ... among current leadership," and he expects it will continue once there's a 3-2 Democratic majority. A spokesperson for acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel emailed she "values collaborating with her colleagues in support of carrying out the mission of the FCC and appreciates the unique perspective they each bring to the agency.” Simington called President Joe Biden administration's infrastructure plan, with its 5G and broadband components, "very ambitious," and some aspects are worth study. He's concerned about any infrastructure plan that determines where infrastructure should be allocated. He said a 100/100 Mbps standard for broadband makes sense in much of the country but also flies in the face of digital divide issues such as markets that have never been able to attract a provider and urban areas where infrastructure isn't the chief problem.
The FCC should stand firm on rules opening the 5.9 GHz band to Wi-Fi, Citizens Against Government Waste officials urged Commissioner Nathan Simington. CAGW warned of “efforts to thwart the progress the FCC has made on opening up portions of the 5.9 GHz band for unlicensed use,” said a Tuesday posting in docket 19-138. Remain vigilant on 911 fee diversion, the group said.
AT&T's DirecTV and U-verse are challenged by the rise of online video distribution and the decline of MVPDs, and a New DirecTV spinoff with more autonomy will be in a better position to improve technology, optimize marketing and fortify "the overall value proposition for ... customers," said AT&T in an FCC International Bureau application Monday. It seeks approval of transfer of control of a variety of its satellite, earth station and private land mobile radio licenses as part of the planned $7.8 billion spinoff of its video distribution business (see 2102240046). It said the deal will give New DirecTV the dedicated management focus needed to deal with changing consumer preferences and investment capital aimed solely at improved tech and marketing. AT&T TV "will be rolled out more broadly and marketed more consistently and evenly," it said. It said the deal raises no horizontal or vertical competitive concerns, as investment firm TPG, which will have a minority stake in New DirecTV, is under contract to relinquish control of its only pay-TV business interest -- Astound, a cable overbuilder with video subscribers in 10 states and Washington, D.C.
The E-rate funding cap for FY 2021 is $4.3 billion, and the Rural Health Care program's funding cap is $612 million, the FCC Wireline Bureau announced in Monday's Daily Digest. These are a 1.2% inflation-adjusted increase from 2020.