Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Backers of a bid to fully fund the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program believe appropriations legislation, including a likely continuing resolution to extend federal payments past Sept. 30, is the most viable vehicle for formally allocating the additional money, due to concerns about delayed action on the House-passed (see 2207280052) Spectrum Innovation Act (HR-7624). Senate Commerce Committee leaders are grappling during the August recess with how to respond to HR-7624, which would allocate some proceeds from a proposed auction of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band for rip and replace reimbursements, given disagreements on spectrum policy priorities (see 2208090001).

Tech and antitrust staffers on the Senate Commerce and Senate Judiciary Committees top the list of potential successors to FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips, former officials and industry representatives told us.

With more than 13 million households now enrolled in the FCC’s affordable connectivity program, commissioners approved an order Friday establishing an outreach grant program to further boost participation (see 2207150063). Commissioners at the monthly meeting also adopted an order establishing a one-year pilot program to increase ACP enrollment among households receiving federal housing assistance and a notice of inquiry seeking comment on space innovation and operations.

The FCC “reopened” for in-person meetings in June, but the agency hasn’t seen a wholesale return to them, and most meetings between staff and industry remain virtual, as they have been since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, based on a review of ex parte filings and interviews with lawyers and FCC officials. Some expect more in-person meetings starting after Labor Day, depending on what happens on COVID infection rates during August.

Senate Commerce Committee Democratic and Republican leaders divided along party lines during a Tuesday Communications Subcommittee hearing on their preferences for extending the FCC’s spectrum auction authority, the dominant focus during the panel, as expected (see 2208010030). Communications Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., strongly backed a longer-term renewal than the House proposes in its Spectrum Innovation Act (HR-7624). Commerce ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Communications ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., back HR-7624’s proposed 18-month renewal.

Senate Commerce Committee leaders remain intent on pursuing their own spectrum legislative package before a Tuesday Communications Subcommittee hearing, despite House Commerce Committee heads’ call for their colleagues to just concur with the chamber-passed (see 2207280052) Spectrum Innovation Act (HR-7624) given the Sept. 30 expiration of the FCC’s auction authority. That deadline is expected to be a focus during the hearing, with the subpanel likely to get divided opinions from witnesses on the wisdom of HR-7624’s proposal for an 18-month auction authority renewal that would last through March 31, 2024. The hearing is to begin at 2:30 p.m. in 253 Russell.

Democratic leaders on the House and Senate Commerce committees aren’t fully discounting the possibility the panels could devote some time to evaluating the newly filed Net Neutrality and Broadband Justice Act during the remaining months of this Congress, but some acknowledge any serious consideration of the measure will likely have to wait until 2023 at the earliest. Democratic leaders bristled at some Republicans’ view that lawmakers unveiled the measure as a reaction to FCC nominee Gigi Sohn’s stalled Senate confirmation process (see 2206230066).

The Senate Communications Subcommittee plans a Tuesday hearing on renewing the FCC’s spectrum auction authority and related legislative issues, as expected (see 2207180067). The House is expected to vote as soon as Wednesday night on the Spectrum Innovation Act legislative package (HR-7624) to extend the FCC's authority past its current Sept. 30 expiration date. The measure's backers argued on its behalf Tuesday (see 2207260063). Witnesses set to testify Tuesday include Public Knowledge CEO Chris Lewis, who opposes HR-7624’s proposal to extend the FCC’s remit by 18 months, to March 31, 2024, and CTIA President Meredith Baker, whose group backs a short-term renewal. The upcoming renewal deadline means “Congress has a unique opportunity to set future spectrum priorities and coordination goals to encourage efficient spectrum use,” the Senate Commerce Committee said: “Past disputes” between the FCC and other federal agencies on spectrum issues (see 2010260001) “have demonstrated the importance of strong leadership at” the commission and NTIA “to ensure coordinated agency management of this important resource. This coordination will become even more important as developing technologies lead to better spectrum sharing in the future.” Also on the witness list: Brattle Group principal Coleman Bazelon and GAO Director-Physical infrastructure Andrew Von Ah. The hearing will begin at 2:30 p.m. in 253 Russell.

The Michigan Public Service Commission is preparing for telcos to opt out of the state Lifeline program later this year due to a 2020 state law. Providers may give customers 90 days' notice starting Aug. 30. “There’s always worries” about customers who may be using the state discount, but the number of customers receiving the discount is “very small and continuing to diminish pretty drastically,” and getting people enrolled in the FCC’s affordable connectivity program (ACP) could have bigger impact, Commissioner Tremaine Phillips told us last week at the NARUC meeting in San Diego.

The California Public Utilities Commission needn’t delay investigating T-Mobile’s MetroPCS while related litigation is pending at U.S. District Court in San Francisco, the CPUC’s Consumer Protection and Enforcement Division (CPED) said Thursday in docket I.22-04-005. The CPUC said in April that Metro faces up to $230 million in possible fines for failing to remit California USF payments for prepaid phone service, but Metro asked in May to dismiss the probe due to the pending court case (see 2205190013). The CPUC investigation "seeks only to determine the intrastate surcharges owed by MetroPCS on intrastate communications under the Prepaid Act and in no way seeks to impede the regulation of interstate communications by the FCC,” CPED said. “This issue is separate and distinct from the Federal Litigation." Metro disagreed: "The Commission should not move forward with any portion of the [investigation] until the MetroPCS Litigation concludes."