ASPEN, Colorado -- More data on what works and what doesn't and on costs, stepping up consumer education, coordination among many stakeholders, and ISPs increasingly working with community groups were among suggestions from experts of different political and corporate stripes on ways to further narrow the digital divide. Responding to our questions at a Technology Policy Institute panel Tuesday, the group generally agreed there are no simple solutions, and more data plus maps of current efforts are needed. Getting the roughly one quarter of Americans without residential broadband online at home -- many in rural areas and many poor, elderly or not English-speaking -- isn't as simple as providing cheap or government-subsidized service with high speeds, they said.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., highlighted Missouri stakeholders’ concerns about the FCC’s rules for the upcoming CAF II auction, in a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai released Monday. McCaskill said she and Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., discussed rural broadband deployment issues during a roundtable last week at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia. Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives members at the roundtable are concerned the FCC’s CAF II auction proposal as currently structured “lacks sufficient upfront review to prevent bidders from winning and ultimately failing to deliver the service at the appropriate speeds,” McCaskill said. “Such a result would not only lead to waste and fraud of scarce universal service funds but, more importantly, would leave communities in rural Missouri without access to broadband.” Areas of rural Missouri need to have “access to reliable, high speed broadband networks capable of delivering 1 Gig service, which is comparable to services in urban areas,” McCaskill said. The CAF II auction “presents a tremendous opportunity to connect those unserved Missouri areas,” but the FCC must “adopt safeguards to ensure that entities only bid in the auction if they are capable of delivering the requisite speed and capacity.” AMEC members believe the FCC could ensure those safeguards by directing the Universal Service Administrative Co. to “hire a third-party to review the short-form applications,” McCaskill said.

NTCA again urged the FCC "to address the shortfall" in high-cost USF support "undermining" the "effectiveness of recent reforms" as "RLECs are being asked to do more with less." Lack of funding for a model-based mechanism means 71,000 rural locations will receive lower-speed broadband, "and 50,000 may see no broadband investment," said the group's filing Tuesday in docket 10-90 on a meeting with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai. It said a shortfall of $173 million-$283 million over the next year "for cost-based USF recovery will severely harm rural American consumers and businesses in the form of higher prices, lower speeds, and reduced investment." Some 183 NTCA carriers indicated they plan to cut broadband investments over the next year by nearly $950,000, on average, the group said. NTCA said it understood Universal Service Administrative Co., as of now, will cease next year to collect for the overall high-cost USF annual budget of $4.5 billion, instead collecting only what is needs to meet "current demand," which for RLECs, "would include a budget control mechanism that artificially 'suppresses' USF support demand." The group urged the FCC to direct USAC to collect at least the $4.5 billion in support, pending completion of a budget review the agency promised a federal court. The FCC should use reserves to help fill the shortfall, NTCA said, citing USF cash balances that overall "may approach $8 billion as of year-end," including up to $2.2 billion for high-cost support, about $445 million of which is unallocated.

Four Senate Homeland Security Committee leaders urged GAO Monday to refer its May report on continued “weaknesses” in the Lifeline USF program’s management to the FCC Enforcement Bureau and Office of Inspector General “for further investigation and possible enforcement action.” Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., ranking member Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and ranking member Tom Carper, D-Del., sought the additional action in a letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro. GAO said the Lifeline program’s management remains deficient despite FCC and Universal Service Administrative Co. efforts to improve controls over finances and enrollment by low-income consumers. The report also identified broader problems in USF contribution system oversight and the commission's use of a private bank account rather than the Treasury Department to store $9 billion in USF net assets (see 1706290037). “GAO found numerous examples of [Lifeline] program funds being used to subsidize ineligible or fraudulent subscribers,” the senators said. “Addressing systemic weaknesses in Lifeline management and oversight, along with the referral of each instance of potential fraud identified by GAO, will ensure that the waste, fraud and abuse that [the GAO] identified is eliminated.” They also sought GAO results from undercover testing of Lifeline providers. The FCC and USAC didn’t comment.

NTCA again urged the FCC "to address the shortfall" in high-cost USF support "undermining" the "effectiveness of recent reforms" as "RLECs are being asked to do more with less." Lack of funding for a model-based mechanism means 71,000 rural locations will receive lower-speed broadband, "and 50,000 may see no broadband investment," said the group's filing Tuesday in docket 10-90 on a meeting with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai. It said a shortfall of $173 million-$283 million over the next year "for cost-based USF recovery will severely harm rural American consumers and businesses in the form of higher prices, lower speeds, and reduced investment." Some 183 NTCA carriers indicated they plan to cut broadband investments over the next year by nearly $950,000, on average, the group said. NTCA said it understood Universal Service Administrative Co., as of now, will cease next year to collect for the overall high-cost USF annual budget of $4.5 billion, instead collecting only what is needs to meet "current demand," which for RLECs, "would include a budget control mechanism that artificially 'suppresses' USF support demand." The group urged the FCC to direct USAC to collect at least the $4.5 billion in support, pending completion of a budget review the agency promised a federal court. The FCC should use reserves to help fill the shortfall, NTCA said, citing USF cash balances that overall "may approach $8 billion as of year-end," including up to $2.2 billion for high-cost support, about $445 million of which is unallocated.

Four Senate Homeland Security Committee leaders urged GAO Monday to refer its May report on continued “weaknesses” in the Lifeline USF program’s management to the FCC Enforcement Bureau and Office of Inspector General “for further investigation and possible enforcement action.” Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., ranking member Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and ranking member Tom Carper, D-Del., sought the additional action in a letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro. GAO said the Lifeline program’s management remains deficient despite FCC and Universal Service Administrative Co. efforts to improve controls over finances and enrollment by low-income consumers. The report also identified broader problems in USF contribution system oversight and the commission's use of a private bank account rather than the Treasury Department to store $9 billion in USF net assets (see 1706290037). “GAO found numerous examples of [Lifeline] program funds being used to subsidize ineligible or fraudulent subscribers,” the senators said. “Addressing systemic weaknesses in Lifeline management and oversight, along with the referral of each instance of potential fraud identified by GAO, will ensure that the waste, fraud and abuse that [the GAO] identified is eliminated.” They also sought GAO results from undercover testing of Lifeline providers. The FCC and USAC didn’t comment.

With FCC cybersecurity and IT the topic of criticism, spending in recent years doesn’t seem outside what would be expected, IT experts told us. The commission's Office of Inspector General told Congress the agency was "not effective" in seven of eight Federal Information Security Modernization Act metrics -- rating it "effective" only in the Security and Privacy training domain. OIG said the information security program "was not in compliance" with FISMA legislation, Office of Management and Budget guidance and National Institute of Standards and Technology special publications.

With FCC cybersecurity and IT the topic of criticism, spending in recent years doesn’t seem outside what would be expected, IT experts told us. The commission's Office of Inspector General told Congress the agency was "not effective" in seven of eight Federal Information Security Modernization Act metrics -- rating it "effective" only in the Security and Privacy training domain. OIG said the information security program "was not in compliance" with FISMA legislation, Office of Management and Budget guidance and National Institute of Standards and Technology special publications.

The FCC approved the challenge process for the $4.53 billion, 10-year Mobility Fund II program 3-0 Thursday, addressing an area left unsettled when the MFII order was approved in February (see 1702230042). The buildup to the order was contentious, with the Rural Wireless Association and Competitive Carriers Association pressing for changes (see 1707310063). Commissioners zipped through the discussion, glossing over disagreements. They also approved other items unanimously (see 1708030052 and the notebook section immediately below this report).

The FCC is expected to OK a Connect America Fund reverse auction public notice, probably unanimously, industry officials told us. A CAF Phase II draft PN proposing procedures for auctioning fixed broadband/voice subsidy support is on the agenda for Thursday's commission meeting. Industry parties are battling over auction design, with some saying the details and complexity could thwart their participation, but an FCC brawl isn't expected at this point, stakeholders said.