Computer matching programs to verify the eligibility of applicants to and subscribers of the USF Lifeline program that the FCC and Universal Service Administrative Co. will conduct with Florida and Minnesota will start Nov. 4 and conclude May 5, 2022, says Monday's Federal Register. The verification is to see that applicants or subscribers in Florida and Minnesota are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program and/or Medicaid programs, it said. Comments are due Nov. 4.
The FCC monthly meeting's livestream had technical difficulties just under two hours after it started Wednesday, and Chairman Ajit Pai considered approving the remaining items on circulation, according to a text transcript generated on the FCC Live webpage while video and audio were frozen and unavailable. The virtual meeting paused for about half an hour. The FCC Live page transcribes audio from FCC meetings as they take place and, while the glitch was happening, showed Pai consulting with General Counsel Tom Johnson and other agency staff about legal and technical workarounds. Johnson told Pai it may not be legal for the FCC to continue the meeting without the public being able to observe, and Pai asked about switching to the audio-only format of previous pandemic-era FCC meetings. “I guess we could circulate an ad hoc notice,” the transcript showed Pai saying. “We were making such good time.” The transcript showed FCC staff mentioning a Comcast service upgrade and issues with connectivity to YouTube as related to the malfunction. The FCC didn’t respond to requests for comment Thursday. “It’s the nature of the beast, I’m afraid.” Pai said on the transcript. The meeting stream experienced similar glitches in February (see 2002280054). The agency responded to our Freedom of Information Act request on the February matter with no documents. We continue seeking details.
DOD, DOJ and five other departments must better implement OMB-mandated activities aimed at “preventing, identifying, and reducing duplicative” IT contracts, GAO reported Wednesday. Six of the seven “fully implemented” requirements to identify a senior accountable official and train workforces on IT contracting, GAO said. “Almost half the agencies had fully implemented the activity associated with sharing contract information.” Until “agencies fully implement the activities in OMB’s category management initiative, and make greater use of spend analyses to inform their efforts to identify and reduce duplicative contracts, they will be at increased risk of wasteful spending,” GAO said. “Agencies will miss opportunities to identify and realize savings of potentially hundreds of millions of dollars.” The seven agencies, which also include Agriculture and State, concurred with recommendations.
E-rate support for broadband won’t matter in a security breach, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction said in a Tuesday letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai posted in docket 13-184. The state agency supported Cisco’s waiver petition to permit schools and libraries to use E-rate Category Two funding for network security costs (see 2009080026). Granting a waiver for the 2020 program year might be tricky, but the FCC could grant Cisco’s petition for 2021 and seek comments on a waiver for 2022, the department said.
A USTelecom proposal to exempt some small voice service providers from a proposed two-year extension of caller ID authentication requirements is raising ACA Connects concerns. The group said in a docket 17-97 posting Friday that it backs the goal of clamping down on providers that knowingly originate big volumes of illegal robocalls, but there's not enough time to see if the USTelecom proposal could also entangle legitimate voice providers that the FCC plainly is including in the small provider exemption in the draft order. It urged the FCC to get comment on the proposal. USTelecom, in meetings with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and the commissioners, said the secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) and secure handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) implementation draft order on Wednesday's agenda (see 2009090048) proposed the two-year extension exception for small voice service providers that originate a disproportionate amount of traffic relative to their subscriber base. USTelecom recommended the FCC expand its robocall mitigation program requirement to all domestic traffic and on intermediate providers and get more comment on restricting intermediate providers from taking traffic from foreign voice service providers while not disrupting legitimate calls. CTIA urged its own modifications. They included seeking further comment on barring providers from accepting voice traffic from foreign voice service providers that haven't registered or certified and extra time between the filing deadline for robocall mitigation program certifications and the effective date of not accepting traffic from providers that don't appear in the database.
The Competitive Carriers Association had a series of FCC calls to seek action on the proposed 5G Fund. “The record establishes near-universal support for conducting a mapping process to identify unserved areas before allocating funding,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 20-32. “Ensure that rural areas are on track for 5G deployment by allowing carriers to use 5G Fund resources either to build 5G networks immediately, or to invest in the building blocks towards 5G.” CCA spoke with staff from the Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force, Office of Economics and Analytics and Wireline Bureau, and with aides to Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Brendan Carr. The FCC Consumer Advisory Committee was briefed on the fund Friday (see 2009250056).
Commissioner Geoffrey Starks’ top issue is "internet inequality," he told the “Black Is Tech” virtual conference in a speech posted Friday. According to Pew data, “34% of Black people in America do not have a home broadband connection, a disproportionately higher percentage than their white counterparts,” Starks said: “That is why we need to solve the issue of affordability and expand the Commission's Lifeline and E-Rate programs that are designed to meet the connectivity needs of low-income households and students across the nation.”
SpaceX, facing skepticism from Hughes and Viasat about its preliminary Starlink latency claims (see 2009210012), consistently sees latency in its beta testing of less than 40 milliseconds, CEO Gwynne Shotwell told FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, per an International Bureau posting Wednesday. Shotwell argued against a rulemaking to change 12.2-12.7 GHz band rules. Viasat told aides to Rosenworcel and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks that SpaceX's latency and speed claims are based on selective anecdotes that wouldn't back a conclusion that such performance would let the company meet Connect America Fund metrics.
FCC technical rules for 5.9 GHz should focus on protecting vehicle-to-everything and other safety-critical intelligent transportation system messages, NCTA said in an FCC filing posted Wednesday in docket 19-138. Don't "consider non-safety-critical ITS applications, or another round of promised future ITS applications that history suggests will never emerge,” the group said. “Static analyses based on hypothetical corner cases are not useful in assessing the real world impact of adjacent-band Wi-Fi.” Commissioners are expected to consider an order as early as October (see 2009090058).
The pandemic "is becoming a tipping point for telehealth," with the Veterans Administration going from 7,400 remote mental health consultations weekly in early April to 52,600 by April's end, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai told the Health Innovation Alliance Wednesday, per prepared remarks. VA virtual primary care visits went from 1,100 to 13,000, and specialty care and rehabilitation visits went from 1,200 to more than 21,000, he said. Other health providers are also having big demand increases for telehealth services, he said, saying the agency has awarded funds.