Judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals questioned the FCC on how the commission structures its Universal Service Fund and oversees the role the Universal Service Administrative Co. plays in determining quarterly contribution factors during an en banc hearing Tuesday. Some pressed Consumers' Research on how the private nondelegation doctrine applied to its challenge of the Q1 2022 USF contribution factor (see 2309010060).
The House Communications Subcommittee plans a Sept. 21 hearing on rural broadband funding issues, as expected (see 2309120059), the Commerce Committee said Thursday night. Lobbyists believe the hearing will in part focus on both how to fit an extension of the affordable connectivity program into broader universal service legislation and how to change the USF contribution factor to include non-wireline entities. “High-speed broadband is essential to participate in today’s modern economy, yet some Americans still do not have reliable Internet access, especially in rural communities,” House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Communications Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, said in a statement. “Congress has dedicated an unprecedented amount of taxpayer dollars towards closing this digital divide. As these resources are made available and new funding programs are considered, it is critical that we ensure taxpayer dollars aren't being wasted or duplicated.” The panel will begin at 9 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
The harm caused by imposition of state taxation on the federal Lifeline program “would be enormous,” said former FCC Commissioners Robert McDowell and Mignon Clyburn in an amicus brief Monday (docket 101873-8) in Washington Supreme Court in support of appellant Assurance Wireless. Assurance petitioned for review of a lower court ruling rejecting its argument that the carrier’s Lifeline services didn’t involve a retail sale.
USF revamp matters are expected to come up in both a Wednesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing on the state of the U.S. video marketplace (see 2309070060) and a likely Sept. 21 subpanel discussion on rural broadband funding, communications sector lobbyists told us. NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt and other officials set to testify at the Wednesday hearing focused their written statements largely on more video-centric issues, including staking a range of positions on a recent push for the FCC to refresh its long-dormant docket (14-261) on reclassifying streaming services as MVPDs to fix a perceived disparity in retransmission consent rules. The hearing will begin at 2 p.m. in 2322 Rayburn.
Citing a report that the FCC's USF contribution factor will likely increase to 36.2% during Q4 (see 2309050040), Free State Foundation President Randolph May blogged last week that those numbers show the system must be fixed. “The current Universal Service Fund subsidy regime is unsustainable, and it must be meaningfully reformed,” May said: “This is not to say that there should not be subsidies to support universal service goals, including support for low-income persons and for high-cost areas that otherwise would not be served. It is to say the legacy universal service regime is broken -- and clearly unsustainable.”
Protecting wireless industry profits isn’t a good reason to preempt a Kentucky 911 fee law, the state argued Friday. CTIA and the Kentucky 911 Service Board opposed each other’s July summary judgment motions (see 2307280073) in responses at the U.S. District Court for Eastern Kentucky.
The FCC will consider an item at its Sept. 21 meeting that would move the agency closer to launching a 5G Fund, which has been pending since 2020, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Wednesday. Also planned for the September agenda is what Rosenworcel calls a “transparency initiative” for space-related applications and an action aimed at clamping down on “malicious” robocalls.
Nebraska will comprehensively reassess state USF rules, commissioners agreed at a Nebraska Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday. The all-Republican commission voted 5-0 to consider changes to the Nebraska USF (NUSF) high-cost distribution mechanism and associated reporting requirements (docket NUSF-139). The commission will seek feedback this fall.
Three telecom policy stakeholder groups urged Senate Communications Subcommittee leaders Friday to include stronger accountability rules in USF revamp legislation but diverged on some other goals. The entities were responding to a late July feedback request from Communications Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., and other USF working group members for feedback on the path forward on legislation (see 2305110066). FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, meanwhile, is pushing back against criticisms from House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, of the agency's Learning Without Limits proposal to allow E-rate program money to pay for Wi-Fi on school buses and for hot spots (see 2307310063).
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission voted 5-0 Thursday to move forward on an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANOPR) on amending state USF rules. The PUC during a livestreamed meeting approved a bid by Chairman Gladys Brown Dutrieuille to seek comment on what she said are “broad questions about the challenges of supporting voice and internet networks and services” as part of the ANOPR. The PUC postponed considering the rulemaking proposal in early August (see 2308020057). Comments on the ANOPR in docket L-2023-3040646 are due 90 days after its publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, with replies due within 120 days.