House Commerce Committee members divided on broadband and next-generation 911 language in Democrats’ Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s (Lift) America Act during Monday's hearing. Republicans indicated they may not support HR-1848 without significant changes. A similar partisan divide was on display last week during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on federal connectivity programs (see 2103170068).
The FCC's recent infusion of money from Congress will likely help millions of students and low-income households stay connected during the pandemic, experts said in recent interviews. They said the commission must overcome longstanding institutional barriers to find a solution to shore up USF financially over the long haul (see 2102010059).
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the FCC requirement Blanca Telephone to repay $6.75 million in USF support. The court previously denied Blanca's petition for a writ of mandamus (see 1801020038). "Blanca was apprised of the relevant law and afforded adequate opportunity to respond to the FCC’s decision, and the FCC was not arbitrary and capricious in its justifications for the debt collection," said a three-judge panel in an order posted on the commission's website Tuesday. Blanca didn't comment.
The FCC Public Safety Bureau published a list Friday of communications equipment and services “deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security” of the U.S., as directed by the Secure Networks Act. This equipment can’t be used in networks that receive USF funding. The list bans gear by Huawei, ZTE, Hytera Communications, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology and Dahua Technology. “The inclusion of these entities on the Covered List extends both to subsidiaries and affiliates of these entities, as well as to ‘telecommunications or video surveillance services provided by such entities or using such equipment,’” the bureau said. The Chinese Embassy and ZTE didn’t comment; Huawei declined comment. The others couldn’t be reached.
The Q2 USF contribution factor is 33.4% (see 2103020032), confirmed the FCC Office of the Managing Director Friday. The Universal Service Administrative Co. projected collection for Connect America at $1.4 billion; E-rate, $634.6 million; Lifeline, $254.8 million; Rural Health Care, $149.4 million; and the Connected Care pilot, $8.8 million.
Congress and the FCC should “explore how to improve” the Telecom Act as a way to revamp “our system of universal service contributions,” acting commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in letters to Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., released Friday. The GOP leaders wrote Rosenworcel in February to raise concerns about long-term funding sustainability. The current USF funding mechanism “is based on assessments to the interstate portion of carriers’ end-user telecommunications revenues” that are “born out” of the 1996 law, Rosenworcel said. The FCC recognizes its “important responsibilities as a steward” of USF and its Wireline Bureau is exploring reinterpreting statute to allow program funding to be used for remote learning (see 2102080054). “We will be mindful” of the senators’ concerns, “including how this effort could complement other sources of funding, the need to engage in reasoned analysis by experts at the agency including the Office of Economics and Analytics, how to account for school needs in light of remote learning and re-opening plans, and how to develop smart programmatic controls,” Rosenworcel said.
Meetings make states hopeful about closer FCC rapport under President Joe Biden, said officials from NARUC and the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates in recent interviews. Local officials seek a louder voice at the federal agency. “The relationship between state commissions and the FCC over the last four years” under then-President Donald Trump was “less than an example of cooperative federalism,” said NARUC President Paul Kjellander. FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel reacted favorably to states' hopes.
California Public Utilities Commissioners all OK'd a rulemaking asking if the state should switch to a connections-based USF contribution mechanism. Meeting virtually Thursday, they also all supported requiring open access for middle-mile infrastructure funded by the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) and a $1.3 million fine for Frontier Communications for 2019 service-quality failures. Commissioner Darcie Houck, at her first CPUC meeting, supported all three items.
Q2 USF revenue will be around $9.9 billion, Universal Service Administrative Co. reported Tuesday. The sequential drop of about $163 million makes it the "lowest quarterly revenue" ever, said analyst Billy Jack Gregg. The contribution factor, as expected, will increase from 31.8% to 33.4% (see 2102010059).
California could switch to connections-based USF contribution by Jan. 1. The California Public Utilities Commission said Friday it plans to vote Thursday on a proposal to open a rulemaking seeking a “straightforward and flexible" mechanism to fund California universal service public purpose programs (PPPs). The current mechanism based on a percentage of intrastate revenue “is not sustainable due to the continuing decline of intrastate revenue billing base being reported by service providers,” said the proposal. The current surcharge is about 7.75%, and the intrastate revenue base declined by more than 58% to $6.43 billion in 2020, from $15.41 billion in 2012, it said. The proposal contributes the decline partly to the FCC classifying text messaging as an information service, which stymied a 2019 CPUC plan to assess SMS (see 1901310023). The CPUC last year doubled surcharges for two USF programs. It also plans to vote Thursday on a proposal to require open access for middle-mile infrastructure funded by the California Advanced Services Fund (see 2102230018) and a $1.3 million proposed fine for Frontier Communications for 2019 service-quality failures (see 2101140058).