The FCC committed more than $65 million in additional Emergency Connectivity Fund support Monday. The new funding will support more than 200 schools, 20 libraries and two consortia from the third application filing window, said a news release. "With this new round of funding, more kids will have the digital tools they need to connect with teachers and online assignments after school,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.
The FCC said it's ready to authorize an additional 1,764 winning Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction bids. Letters of credit and bankruptcy code opinion letters are due by Jan. 9, said a public notice Friday in docket 19-126. Hughes Network Systems and Resound Networks' bids were ready to be authorized. The FCC also listed one bid from Resound and several bids from Xiber in default.
The FCC authorized Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction support for GigaBeam Networks and Pear Networks' winning bids, said a public notice Thursday in docket 19-126 (see 2210120043).
No major changes were made to the E-rate program's final eligible services list for FY 2023, said an FCC Wireline Bureau order Wednesday in docket 13-184. The bureau clarified that fixed wireless services are eligible for category one support. It declined to add specific software products to the eligible services list, but noted Extreme Networks' request that its specific software is eligible for support. Also Wednesday, the bureau sought comments on requests that E-rate funding be used to "support advanced or next-generation firewalls and services, as well as other network security services," said a public notice. Comments are due by Feb. 13, replies by March 30.
The Southeastern Rural Broadband Alliance asked the FCC to reform the Connect America Fund-Broadband Loop Support. The group backed proposals that would give CAF BLS recipients the option to commit to 100% deployment at 100/20 Mbps in exchange for a five-year waiver of the budget control mechanism, per an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 10-90 (see 2210280060). "Under this approach, carriers would be permitted to use alternative technologies to reach the most expensive locations above a certain threshold," the group told Wireline Bureau staff. It also asked the FCC to permanently update the high cost support budget "to its current level" instead of evaluating the budget control mechanism waivers on an annual basis.
The FCC Wireline Bureau extended its waiver of letter of credit rules for Connect America Fund Phase II recipients until Dec. 31, 2023 (see 2208230066). The waiver applies to recipients that have met their deployment obligations, said an order Monday in docket 10-90.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau proposed fines against 12 phone companies for failing to timely submit phone number disconnection information to the reassigned number database, said a news release Monday. The bureau issued notices of apparent liability to BendTel, Claro Puerto Rico, Communications Plus, Data Network Solutions, Fort Mojave Telecom, Integrated Path, Local Access, Palo Communications, Point Broadband Fiber, Salsgiver Telecom, Stratford Mutual and Swayzee FiberHawk. “We are using every tool we can to combat illegal robocalls. For our efforts to be successful, carriers need to play their part and follow the rules,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel: “When they fail to do so, we will not hesitate to act as these first-of-their-kind enforcement actions make abundantly clear.”
The FCC Enforcement Bureau ordered telecom companies to stop carrying robocall traffic from UrthAccess after a cease-and-desist letter the bureau sent the company on apparent illegal robocall traffic about student loans (see 2211100079). The bureau also partially waived reporting obligations if a provider terminates a "customer relationship with the student loan robocall operation or blocks all traffic from Urth Access," said an order Thursday. “We will continue to deploy all of the tools in our arsenal to eliminate bad actors’ access to U.S. communications networks in furtherance of their schemes," said Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan Egal.
OMB approved additional information collection for a May FCC order on gateway providers and foreign-originated robocalls, said a notice for Monday’s Federal Register (see 2211170035). Rules requiring gateway providers to accept calls from foreign providers using North American numbering plan resources only if that provider's filing appears in the robocall mitigation database, plus rules requiring intermediate and voice service providers to accept calls from a gateway provider if their filing appears in the database, are effective Jan. 11. Compliance with the rules takes effect April 12.
An FCC order requiring inmate calling services providers to provide access to all telecom relay services in jurisdictions with an average daily population of at least 50 incarcerated individuals takes effect Jan. 9, said a notice for Friday's Federal Register. Commissioners adopted the order during the agency's September meeting (see 2209290017).