Don’t release state USF support to Frontier Communications until oral argument over last month's 24-day outage, the South Carolina Public Service Commission directed the Office of Regulatory Staff. Commissioners voted 5-1 Monday for the directive. The PSC clerk and parties should coordinate to schedule argument, it said. Frontier has used state USF money “for the purpose intended by law -- making affordable telephone service available to our South Carolina customers," and the company will cooperate with any audit, a spokesperson emailed Tuesday.
Potential cost impacts on Lifeline providers and subscribers played into an FCC decision to increase the program's broadband usage standards from 2 GB per month to only 3 GB on Dec. 1, instead of the 8.75 GB that had been outlined in a 2016 Lifeline order, said an order released Wednesday in docket 11-42. In deciding to waive, in part, the new broadband minimum service standards in answer to an industry petition, the FCC found it "reasonable to anticipate that a more than four-fold increase in the minimum usage allowance would require substantially greater network resources, and, in turn, the associated costs would be passed along to resellers and/or end-users," the agency said.
Potential cost impacts on Lifeline providers and subscribers played into an FCC decision to increase the program's broadband usage standards from 2 GB per month to only 3 GB on Dec. 1, instead of the 8.75 GB that had been outlined in a 2016 Lifeline order, said an order released Wednesday in docket 11-42. In deciding to waive, in part, the new broadband minimum service standards in answer to an industry petition, the FCC found it "reasonable to anticipate that a more than four-fold increase in the minimum usage allowance would require substantially greater network resources, and, in turn, the associated costs would be passed along to resellers and/or end-users," the agency said.
FCC Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks dissented in an order released Tuesday (and adopted last Friday) that updates rules for the USF Lifeline program's minimum mobile broadband service standards. The FCC said it would waive the increase in minimum standards, but only in part, to require mobile broadband Lifeline carriers to offer more than 3 GB per month Dec. 1-Nov. 30, 2020, and the agency denied industry petitions to pause a phase-down in voice-only support from $9.25 to $7.25 per month, as expected (see 1911150062).
FCC Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks dissented in an order released Tuesday (and adopted last Friday) that updates rules for the USF Lifeline program's minimum mobile broadband service standards. The FCC said it would waive the increase in minimum standards, but only in part, to require mobile broadband Lifeline carriers to offer more than 3 GB per month Dec. 1-Nov. 30, 2020, and the agency denied industry petitions to pause a phase-down in voice-only support from $9.25 to $7.25 per month, as expected (see 1911150062).
Regulators shouldn’t approve Google’s buy of Fitbit (see 1911010054) until various antitrust investigations are complete, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told us. Other concerned senators in interviews urged antitrust regulators to respond to a platform facing mounting scrutiny.
Decreasing a $9.25 monthly Lifeline subsidy for voice Dec. 1 "will immediately restrict the availability of voice-only services to low-income Americans, and ultimately result in services being withdrawn," cautioned Prepaid Wireless Group and StandUp Wireless in an FCC filing posted Tuesday in docket 11-42. The companies support this summer's industry petition to pause the FCC plans that also would impose new Lifeline minimum broadband standards (see 1906280012). The companies back proposals from TracFone Wireless and CTIA (see 1911060040) and from Q Link and the National Lifeline Association (see 1911070018) to lower coming broadband standards. Prepaid Wireless CEO Paul Greene and StandUp Chief Operating Officer Eric Schimpf had calls Thursday and Friday with Wireline Bureau Telecom Access Policy Division staff and an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai.
The FCC must take caution not to disrupt critical infrastructure as it opens the 6 GHz band to unlicensed users, said two state utility commissioners in support of a proposed NARUC resolution. State commissioners plan to vote on the 6 GHz statement at their meeting next week in San Antonio (see 1911050040). Senators and wireless carriers are also warning the FCC.
Regulators shouldn’t approve Google’s buy of Fitbit (see 1911010054) until various antitrust investigations are complete, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told us this week. Other concerned senators in interviews urged antitrust regulators to respond to a platform facing mounting scrutiny.
Regulators shouldn’t approve Google’s buy of Fitbit (see 1911010054) until various antitrust investigations are complete, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told us this week. Other concerned senators in interviews urged antitrust regulators to respond to a platform facing mounting scrutiny.