New America's Open Technology Institute asked FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to consider revising emergency broadband benefit program rules, said a filing Thursday in docket 20-445. Require participating providers to make all plans eligible, include a broadband label to disclose services and ban data caps, it said. OTI questioned Verizon's buying Tracfone, asking that “rigorous enforcement mechanisms” be applied (see 2107210054). “Given the likelihood that any violation of Verizon/TracFone conditions would only harm low-income consumers and not implicate an aggrieved third-party company, it is imperative that the Commission create strong, independent enforcement mechanisms,” the group said.
An Aug. 12 FCC Broadband Data Task Forcewebinar at 2 p.m. EDT will provide information on “proposed technical requirements for the mobile challenge, verification, and crowdsourcing processes required under the Broadband DATA Act,” said a Thursday notice.
Viasat asked the FCC to deny SpaceX's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction long-form application, in a letter posted Wednesday in docket 19-126. SpaceX "has made every effort to duck critical questions" about its ability to satisfy RDOF requirements, Viasat said. SpaceX provisionally won $900 million to serve 23 states (see 2104090039). Viasat questioned SpaceX's financial capabilities and whether it had enough spectrum. SpaceX didn’t comment.
FCC staff are examining Rural Digital Opportunity Fund waiver requests (see 2106040058), an agency staffer told NARUC Monday in Denver. Some eligible telecom carrier applications “are still being worked on” and “we will be processing through those waiver requests,” said Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force Chief of Staff Audra Hale-Maddox. Staff also are "diligently reviewing those long-form applications” for RDOF, she said virtually on a panel with in-person and remote participants. Some ISPs sought additional time beyond the June 7 FCC ETC deadline, and states have also supported such requests, panelists noted. They said there likely will be some safe harbor for those companies to get their ETC extension requests granted and/or not face adverse action. Joseph Witmer, counsel to Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Chairman Gladys Brown Dutrieuille, later asked about possible challenges to RDOF funding awards: “What happens if a lawsuit spins out of this.” He wondered if it could slow things. Hale-Maddox declined to comment on possible legal or policymaking issues. Long-form applications “are a, shall we say, controversial issue,” said Witmer, noting he spoke only for himself. “Interested stakeholders” want to examine details of broadband deployment plans and want to ensure bidders can provide speeds and latency as promised, he said. “I know ETC is burdensome, I know it takes time” and “some bidders don’t want it at all,” the PUC staffer said: “We are talking here about scarce public capital” however, and ETC status is a vehicle for oversight. Some 15 companies have sought ETC-deadline delays, Witmer estimated in an interview. He thinks the FCC might treat those requests as it did in a previous auction, Connect America Fund Phase II, with safe harbor when there are good-faith compliance efforts. Although there aren’t RDOF deadlines here, Hale-Maddox said staffers “anticipate that will be moving forward with completing those reviews” and that CAF II and RDOF time frames may be similar. “There’s a lot of concern at the state level” about “untested technologies” potentially getting RDOF money, said Tilson Vice President-Utilities Elin Swanson Katz. States understand why the FCC must be technology-neutral in its funding decisions, she added. States hope dollars will go to fiber-based tech whether wireless, wireline or otherwise, and utilities want to play a role, said Katz.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau issued a citation against New Visions Communications for failing to file Form 477 27 times and filing late four times, said an order Friday. The bureau also issued a citation against Wayvz Tech for failing to file two times and filing late once.
The FCC Wireline Bureau gave AT&T, C Spire, WideOpenWest and Radiate one-month extension to submit reimbursement claims for emergency broadband benefit program newly enrolled subscribers, said an order Thursday. The bureau denied Radiate’s additional request to claim reimbursement for services provided to households that aren’t enrolled in the national Lifeline accountability database. It denied Point Broadband’s petition for extension until Aug. 16 to make reimbursement claims for May, June and July. Point's petition posted Thursday in docket 20-445. Point said it faced “multiple issues accessing the EBB program claims system” and spent “considerable time” seeking help from Universal Service Administrative Co. FCC staff previously granted EBB providers a one-month extension to submit May claims (see 2106080046).
FTC Chair Lina Khan should recuse herself from decisions in the agency’s antitrust case against Facebook, the company wrote the commission Wednesday. Khan’s prior work and public statements show she already made up her mind about material facts in the case before joining the commission, the company argued. Facebook cited her work with the Open Markets Institute, the House Judiciary Committee, her academic writing, her public appearances and her Twitter posts. Khan tweeted about the substance of the agency’s complaint hours after the commission filed it, the company contended. Khan “presumed that Facebook has a monopoly in ‘social networking’ and has a ‘copy-acquire-kill’ strategy, calling on ‘enforcers’ to stop Facebook,” the company wrote. The agency declined comment. Amazon previously requested Khan’s recusal in the e-commerce platform (see 2106300044).
The FTC scheduled an open meeting at noon EDT July 21, to vote on a new policy statement on right to repair restrictions. See our bulletin here. President Joe Biden’s executive order Friday encouraged the FTC to issue rules against "anticompetitive restrictions" on using independent repair shops or doing do-it-yourself repairs of devices and equipment. The vote follows the "Commission's ‘Nixing the Fix’ report which was unanimously agreed to and announced on May 6,” Chair Lina Khan announced Monday. The commission also expects to vote on whether to rescind a policy statement issued in 1995 on “‘prior approval’ and ‘prior notice’ remedies in merger [and acquisitions] cases.” Speaker registration and comment submission is open through 8 p.m. EST July 18. Tech industry associations didn't comment. The agency is continuing to hold open meetings virtually due to the pandemic. Agendas are posted at least seven days before the next meeting.