Rural telcos asked the FCC to increase their USF support and take other steps to ensure subsidy flows meet statutory mandates and help carriers improve broadband service. Tribal groups said the agency had to do more to support tribal carrier broadband efforts and operations expenses. But NCTA opposed proposals to increase Connect America Fund spending for rate-of-return (RoR) telcos without offsets, and both it and the Wireless ISP Association suggesting using reverse auctions to award some support. Comments on an NPRM attached to an order providing $545 million in new support for RLECs (see 1803230025) were posted Friday and Tuesday in docket 10-90.

The FCC approved enhanced USF support for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to help them recover from 2017 hurricanes Irma and Maria, as expected (see 1803060039). Commissioners voted 4-1 May 8 to adopt an order and NPRM, which was released Tuesday, with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel partially dissenting and departing Commissioner Mignon Clyburn participating. The agency will make available $750 million in subsidies through an "Uniendo a (Bringing Together) Puerto Rico Fund" and $204 million through a "Connect USVI Fund." About $256 million of it is additional funding, the rest repurposed; and about $64 million will be provided immediately and almost $900 million over the mid-to-long term.

It’s premature to revamp Indiana USF, the telecom industry said in a settlement agreement last week at the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. The state regulator March 21 opened its triennial review process for the state USF in docket 45064, with questions including if VoIP should contribute to IUSF and if the fund should support broadband deployment. IUSF is accomplishing universal service objectives and the fund's operation and administration is "adequate and efficient" for contributors and recipients, said the joint filing Thursday by the Indiana Exchange Carrier Association, the Indiana Broadband and Technology Association, CenturyLink and Frontier Communications. “As it remains too soon to determine the full impact of the FCC’s comprehensive USF and ICC reform, the Commission should issue an Order concluding this triennial review and maintaining the status quo with respect to the IUSF.”

Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., filed the Reprioritizing Unserved Rural Areas and Locations for Broadband (Rural Broadband) Act (S-2970) to prioritize federal broadband funding for unserved areas over underserved ones. “We must work to close the rural-digital divide so our rural communities can be part of the 21st Century economy,” Daines said. “Our bill ensures that these critical funds be used for the communities who need them most.” NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield praised S-2970 as a “thoughtful bill to ensure that necessary federal resources are coordinated for maximum impact in high cost rural areas in need of broadband.” ITTA urged the Senate Agriculture Committee to attach S-2970's text to its version of the 2018 farm bill, saying it would “protect against overbuilding of networks already supported by the Universal Service Fund.”

Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., filed the Reprioritizing Unserved Rural Areas and Locations for Broadband (Rural Broadband) Act (S-2970) to prioritize federal broadband funding for unserved areas over underserved ones. “We must work to close the rural-digital divide so our rural communities can be part of the 21st Century economy,” Daines said. “Our bill ensures that these critical funds be used for the communities who need them most.” NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield praised S-2970 as a “thoughtful bill to ensure that necessary federal resources are coordinated for maximum impact in high cost rural areas in need of broadband.” ITTA urged the Senate Agriculture Committee to attach S-2970's text to its version of the 2018 farm bill, saying it would “protect against overbuilding of networks already supported by the Universal Service Fund.”

Element Electronics, which bills itself as the only company assembling LCD TVs in the U.S., previously urged the U.S. Trade Representative’s office to stand firm in its proposal to levy 25 percent tariffs on finished flat-panel sets imported from China (see 1804270040). Now Element, doubling down, also wants the agency to impose “strong anti-circumvention provisions to address evasion activities that have already begun” as suppliers of finished Chinese-made TVs seek alternative production sources to avoid the tariffs, said the company in comments posted Friday in docket USTR-2018-0005.

The FCC Wireline Bureau directed Universal Service Administrative Co. to extend the deadline for the Utah Education and Telehealth Network to complete special construction and begin use of a leased lit fiber network that used 2016 E-rate funding. A Tuesday order granted a waiver to UETN and asked USAC to extend the deadline to Oct. 1, 2020, from June 30 of this year. “We emphasize the limited nature of this decision,” the bureau said. “The applicant and service provider have furnished compelling evidence of the complexity of the build, unforgiving topography of the build route, and very short annual construction season due to weather.”

The FCC Wireline Bureau directed Universal Service Administrative Co. to extend the deadline for the Utah Education and Telehealth Network to complete special construction and begin use of a leased lit fiber network that used 2016 E-rate funding. A Tuesday order granted a waiver to UETN and asked USAC to extend the deadline to Oct. 1, 2020, from June 30 of this year. “We emphasize the limited nature of this decision,” the bureau said. “The applicant and service provider have furnished compelling evidence of the complexity of the build, unforgiving topography of the build route, and very short annual construction season due to weather.”

FCC staff denied 14 requests for review of Universal Service Administrative Co. Lifeline decisions on duplicative support in the low-income program. The Wireline Bureau upholds "USAC’s decision to combat program waste by recouping funds from eligible telecommunications carriers who impermissibly enrolled and then sought funding for the same customer more than once," said an order Monday in docket 11-42. Petitions were filed by Assist Wireless, Boomerang Wireless, Easy Wireless, Global Connection, Head Start Telecom, iWireless, Nexus Communications, Telrite and True Wireless. "Petitioners have not presented sufficient evidence indicating that the subscribers at issue were separate eligible Lifeline subscribers and not duplicates," said the bureau. "Nor have Petitioners presented any evidence that they investigated any of the nearly identical or substantially similar records flagged by USAC prior to seeking compensation or that they had in place internal procedures designed to flag such records for investigation." Representatives of some of the providers didn't comment Tuesday. Separately, the National Lifeline Association told bureau staffers of "the nearly complete lack of support in the record for [an NPRM] proposal to ban resellers from the Lifeline program," said an NaLA filing. NaLa cited other "troubling proposals in the NPRM that could effectively eviscerate the Lifeline program’s ability to address the affordability aspect of the digital divide," including to require resellers to pass through the full $9.25 monthly subscriber subsidy to underlying carriers. It said instead of "perpetuating the paternalistic mandatory family-sized service plans" and phasing out support for voice services, the FCC should allow consumers to choose among voice and data options, including bundles. NaLa said the new national verifier will help prevent program abuse but criticized the FCC's 2017 decision not to institute an application programming interface, which it said would force USAC to screen all applicants, wasting resources. Telrite, Boomerang and Global Connection petitioned to extend by 30 days a May 30 deadline for recertifying the Lifeline eligibility of certain subscribers in Puerto Rico.

FCC staff denied 14 requests for review of Universal Service Administrative Co. Lifeline decisions on duplicative support in the low-income program. The Wireline Bureau upholds "USAC’s decision to combat program waste by recouping funds from eligible telecommunications carriers who impermissibly enrolled and then sought funding for the same customer more than once," said an order Monday in docket 11-42. Petitions were filed by Assist Wireless, Boomerang Wireless, Easy Wireless, Global Connection, Head Start Telecom, iWireless, Nexus Communications, Telrite and True Wireless. "Petitioners have not presented sufficient evidence indicating that the subscribers at issue were separate eligible Lifeline subscribers and not duplicates," said the bureau. "Nor have Petitioners presented any evidence that they investigated any of the nearly identical or substantially similar records flagged by USAC prior to seeking compensation or that they had in place internal procedures designed to flag such records for investigation." Representatives of some of the providers didn't comment Tuesday. Separately, the National Lifeline Association told bureau staffers of "the nearly complete lack of support in the record for [an NPRM] proposal to ban resellers from the Lifeline program," said an NaLA filing. NaLa cited other "troubling proposals in the NPRM that could effectively eviscerate the Lifeline program’s ability to address the affordability aspect of the digital divide," including to require resellers to pass through the full $9.25 monthly subscriber subsidy to underlying carriers. It said instead of "perpetuating the paternalistic mandatory family-sized service plans" and phasing out support for voice services, the FCC should allow consumers to choose among voice and data options, including bundles. NaLa said the new national verifier will help prevent program abuse but criticized the FCC's 2017 decision not to institute an application programming interface, which it said would force USAC to screen all applicants, wasting resources. Telrite, Boomerang and Global Connection petitioned to extend by 30 days a May 30 deadline for recertifying the Lifeline eligibility of certain subscribers in Puerto Rico.