FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler disavowed knowledge of any agency advocacy of municipal broadband project outreach, as Senate Republicans had suggested. “At this time, I know of no fiscal year 2016 outreach plans focused on municipal-owned broadband networks,” Wheeler told a group including presidential contender Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Senate GOP Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, in a Jan. 15 letter the FCC released Monday. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., had led the GOP letter with eight senators’ signatures in December. Wheeler, in answer to their questions, told them no municipal provider receives support through the USF rural broadband experiments funding. Under FCC rules, “if a municipally-owned provider deployed a voice and broadband network covering 100 percent of a rate-of-return incumbent telephone company’s service area with service that meets the Commission’s minimum requirements, that could result in a loss of support for the rate-of-return company,” said Wheeler, saying no such situation currently exists. Wheeler also declined to name any “additional policies” on municipal broadband that may be coming, saying last year’s action was in response to specific petitions, and no petitions are now pending. “Commission officials and staff have regular contact with both private and public sector parties around the country about broadband deployment and competition,” Wheeler said when asked about outreach plans.
AT&T urged the FCC to update Lifeline USF to give eligible users more autonomy and to remove service providers from program administration obligations, including verifying the low-income status of users and delivering benefits to consumers. In a filing on a meeting with aides to two FCC commissioners posted Friday in docket 11-42, AT&T said, "We discussed ideas for reform that would benefit Lifeline recipients and strengthen the program such as establishing a third party verifier and replacing the current ETC designation process with a voluntary registered Lifeline service provider certification process." AT&T also addressed the commission’s legal authority to provide USF support to providers that aren't eligible telecom carriers (ETCs). In a separate meeting with FCC officials, Public Knowledge and other consumer groups asked the agency to modernize Lifeline to cover broadband service and allow providers to participate in the program without being ETCs. They said the commission has legal authority to authorize non-ETCs to offer Lifeline service and suggested a centralized, streamlined process to certify broadband providers in the program, including cable companies and community anchor institutions, a filing said. Without non-ETCs, there's a "very real concern that millions of Americans" needing Lifeline service, particularly in urban areas, will be left out, they said. Fixed and mobile voice providers should also continue to receive support, they said. Also at the Public Knowledge meeting were officials for the Benton Foundation, National Consumer Law Center, the Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition and United Church of Christ. Comcast and NCTA also met with FCC officials to support expanding Lifeline to broadband and simplifying the process for certifying providers, said filings last week (here and here). As the FCC considers covering broadband, CTIA said in a filing on an FCC meeting, "mobile wireless must continue to be an integral part of the Lifeline program and eligible low-income consumers should have choice and control over the mobile wireless service that meets their needs." The FCC plans to act on Lifeline modernization this quarter, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said last week (see 1601210031).
AT&T and Verizon officials discussed possible accounting rule changes with FCC staffers last week in a proceeding that appears to be heating up after being quiet for most of 2015. AT&T’s meeting discussed “the impact of replacing Part 32 rules with GAAP [generally accepted accounting principles] in two areas: materiality and pole attachment costs,” said a company filing posted Friday in docket 14-130 on a recent meeting. Verizon also discussed materiality and pole-attachment issues, said a Thursday filing on the company's meeting with FCC officials.
Large telcos are seeking renewed USF voice support in remote areas where funding was cut off but their obligations to provide phone service continue under a transition to broadband-oriented mechanisms. Representatives of AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier Communications, Verizon, Windstream and USTelecom jointly discussed the issue with FCC officials in a series of recent meetings, and Frontier sought relief in separate meetings with two commissioners, according to filings in docket 14-192. “It will happen, with some sort of path to broadband,” USTelecom Senior Vice President Jon Banks told us.
The Supreme Court could eventually review USF False Claim Act (FCA) litigation, a lawyer in one of the cases said at an FCBA seminar Wednesday. Vinson & Elkins attorney Jeremy Marwell said fraud allegations against recipients of USF support don’t qualify under the FCA, but he acknowledged it’s a “close question,” particularly in light of mixed court rulings to date. While Marwell was on the winning side of a July 2014 E-rate decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled the FCA doesn’t apply to USF programs (United States ex rel. Shupe v. Cisco, No. 13-40807), other cases are pending in the 7th Circuit and D.C. Circuit, which could create a circuit split. Marwell said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the cases go to the high court.
Comments to the FCC are due March 21 under the Paperwork Reduction Act regarding reporting and record-keeping duties of recipients of USF Mobility Fund Phase I support. The FCC estimates it will take respondents up to 15,874 hours collectively to comply with requirements in submitting Form 690, according to a notice Wednesday in the Federal Register.
AT&T's and T-Mobile’s lobbying punch rose in Q4 compared with the same period last year. T-Mobile, which transitioned from the fourth-largest carrier to the third, spent $1.97 million in 2015’s Q4, well up from the $1.3 million it spent in Q4 a year earlier. AT&T, the largest carrier and now owner of DirecTV, continued its heavyweight spending at $3.49 million, up from the $3.06 million in the same quarter last year. Sprint and Verizon, meanwhile, spent less on lobbying. Sprint dropped to $635,313 this year from $772,658 in that quarter a year earlier, and Verizon spending was $2.52 million, down from $2.97 million a year ago.
Two wireless companies asked the FCC to delay use of an Oklahoma map that will reduce the scope of areas in the state eligible for enhanced tribal Lifeline USF support. Assist Wireless and Easy Wireless backed a request by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (see 1511190020) for an extension of the Feb. 9 FCC deadline for applying the Oklahoma Historical Map to tribal Lifeline support, which offers a $34.25 monthly subsidy for low-income subscriber service instead of the general $9.25/month subsidy. But instead of the OCC's proposed 90-day extension, the FCC should provide a 180-day extension, Assist and Easy said in a filing posted Monday in docket 11-42. "The new map contains poorly-defined borders that have made it impossible to implement," the wireless companies said. "The Commission’s post-hoc consultation with Tribal Nations also has made it futile to even attempt to transition to the new map because the Commission has yet to announce publicly whether that consultation will result in modifications to the boundaries (poorly) depicted in the new map." The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently denied Assist's request to stay implementation of the deadline pending further judicial review (Assist Wireless v. FCC, No. 15-1324). In an order, the court also set a schedule for briefs, with petitioners' brief due Feb. 9.
The Alaska Telephone Association called on the FCC to adopt the group's proposals to encourage broadband deployment in the state (the "Alaska Plan"). The commission should approve the Alaska Plan when it overhauls USF support mechanisms for rural rate-of-return carriers, the ATA said in a filing posted Monday in docket 10-90. "In adopting the Plan, the Commission should freeze support at 2011 levels adjusted to account for corporate operations expense limits and the $250 cap per line per month, and include both the incumbent LEC and CETC [competitive eligible telecom carrier] components," said the group, which called the proposals a "carefully coordinated and unified approach" to reforming support for both wireline ILECs and mobile CETCs. General Communications backed the Alaska Plan, the company said in a filing posted Friday on a meeting with agency officials.
Lifeline USF rules in a June FCC order will become effective as early as Feb. 4, said a Wireline Bureau public notice posted Friday in docket 11-42. The rules strengthen document retention requirements, ensure only Eligible Telecom Carriers directly serving low-income customers receive Lifeline reimbursement, and require ETCs to use a uniform snapshot date to request reimbursement, the PN said. Related FCC information collection requirements were modified and approved by the Office of Management and Budget Jan. 5 after a Paperwork Reduction Act review, the PN said, noting parties should expect 10 listed rules “to become effective on or after" Feb. 4. Rural telco groups recently urged the FCC to reconsider the snapshot rule that requires ETCs to report their Lifeline subscriber numbers as of the first of each month. The requirement will at times prevent rural ETCs from being reimbursed for providing Lifeline benefits, said John Staurulakis Inc., NTCA and WTA in a filing posted Wednesday. “To eliminate the need for costly billing system changes or the use of burdensome manual processes ... the Commission should allow RLEC ETCs to take a ‘snapshot’ of their number of subscribers as of their carrier-specific billing dates,” they said. Addressing the FCC’s current rulemaking to modernize Lifeline, the rural groups voiced concerns about proposed use of a third party to verify consumer low-income eligibility. Saying rural consumers were accustomed to ETCs taking care of such administrative details, they asked the commission to allow them to collect and forward eligibility documents to any third-party verifier. In a filing posted Friday, Public Knowledge repeated support for expanding Lifeline to broadband coverage and further explained why it believed the FCC has legal authority to allow service to be provided by non-ETCs. FCC officials have said they could act soon on the rulemaking. “We’re hopeful for February, and if not February, then we’re very hopeful for March,” Phillip Berenbroick, PK counsel-government affairs, told us.