Pai, Starks Questioned on Mobility Fund II at House Rural Caucus
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks faced questions on the outlook for the Mobility Fund Phase II program in a closed-door meeting with the House Rural Broadband Caucus, said attendees. Work on the fund has stalled since last year when the FCC launched an investigation of potential wrongdoing in MF-II and scheduled an auction.
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Pai announced in early December the agency is investigating if top wireless carriers submitted incorrect coverage maps in violation of MF-II rules (see 1812070048). The FCC is looking into the accuracy of carriers’ coverage maps after a preliminary review of the 20.8 million speed tests filed at the agency as part of the challenge process that ended in November.
The investigation “has stopped everything,” an FCC official said. Other officials said the FCC seems focused on getting the carriers to fix the data they submitted, and that fines or other enforcement actions seem less likely. Officials at the meeting said despite the questions about the Mobility Fund, mapping and other issues, the mood was mostly friendly. The commission didn't comment, nor did Broadband Caucus members.
Phase I launched eight years ago. In February 2017, commissioners approved 3-0 a second phase (see 1702230042), which provides $453 million in annual support for winning bidders to preserve and extend 4G LTE in areas where the market otherwise wouldn't support wireless broadband. The support will run for 10 years.
Starks tweeted about the meeting. “We must connect 100% of rural America to broadband,” he said. “I am ready to help Congress advance that goal. We can’t leave folks behind.” Pai tweeted, “Enjoyed partnering with @GeoffreyStarks this morning in supporting the efforts of the congressional Rural Broadband Caucus to extend digital opportunity to all rural Americans.”
NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield also took part in the discussions, but didn’t comment to us. Bloomfield thanked Starks for “constructive dialogue ... on nationwide broadband deployment.”
“Accurate, reliable data is the key to ensuring unserved and underserved areas have access to critical Mobility Fund II support,” emailed Steve Berry, president of the Competitive Carriers Association. Berry appreciates support from Starks on the issue and said current maps aren’t sufficient for distributing funds. “Lessons learned from the investigation must be applied to collect reliable data,” Berry said. “All Americans, especially those in rural areas, will benefit from a program based on good data.”
“It is absolutely critical” that maps are accurate, said Carri Bennet, counsel to the Rural Wireless Association. Pai and the FCC “did the right thing by calling for an investigation to ensure that rural areas in need of support are not included in areas that appear covered simply because a nationwide carrier chooses to overstate its coverage,” she said. “With $4.3 billion at stake, hitting the pause button to investigate the coverage maps shows the FCC takes its fiduciary responsibility for awarding universal service support seriously and has acted in the public interest.”
Meanwhile, Reps. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., and Rodney Davis, R-Ill., circulated a dear colleague letter seeking funding for rural broadband. “According to the FCC’s 2018 Broadband Deployment Report, more than 30 percent of Americans in rural areas lack access to fixed terrestrial broadband at speeds of 25 Mbps/3 Mbps, compared to only 2 percent of Americans in urban areas,” the letter says. The letter targets funding for the Agriculture Department’s ReConnect and rural broadband loan and grant programs.
BroadbandNow Research reported Tuesday that about 146 million people in the U.S. don’t have access to a low-priced plan for residential wired broadband. “Zip codes in the bottom 10 percent of population density pay up to 37 percent more on average for residential wired broadband than those in the top 10 percent,” it said. Nationwide, fiber has the lowest average price at 48 cents/Mbps, compared with cable's 65 cents, and DSL at $1.53.