The broadband mapping data collection order and Further NPRM proposed by Chairman Ajit Pai is expected to get some changes before a commissioner vote Thursday, FCC and industry officials told us. Foremost among them is a change to the maximum buffers for fiber deployments. Groups and companies told the FCC the 6,660-foot maximum buffer may not be appropriate for all technologies, especially in rural areas, and that for fiber deployments the distances are frequently much larger.

The FCC is considering expanded exemptions to ex parte rules to cover some discussions with tribal nations and with the toll-free numbering and reassigned numbers database administrators, said a draft NPRM in Friday's Daily Digest. It also seeks comment on a proposed requirement that all written ex parte presentations be submitted before the sunshine period begins and that replies to them be filed by the first day of the sunshine period. The commission said it still encourages tribal nations to file comments and replies into the record, but it understands their interest in consulting on a government-to-government basis without concern about documenting such consultations on the rulemaking record in every case. The proposed exemption would be limited to consultations with tribal leaders or their representatives, and not individual tribal members or tribally owned businesses. The agency asked for input on whether any information a tribal government presents during an exempt consultation would need to be disclosed on the record for the FCC to rely on it when making a decision. The proposed program administrators exemption would extend to them the same exemption covering consultations between FCC staff and the interstate telecom services fund administrator, Universal Service Administrative Co. and administrators for the North American numbering plan, local number portability, telephone relay services numbering and pooling involving their administrative functions. The role between the FCC and the toll-free numbering administrator or reassigned numbers database administrator "is substantially the same" as it is between the agency and those other administrators, thus the exemption extension would harmonize the rules, it said. The FCC said the current sunshine period rules have meant staff difficulty at times evaluating all relevant filings in the limited time before an agency meeting. Free Press Vice President-Policy Matt Wood tweeted he's "not too alarmed" by the proposal because the intergovernmental and administrative privileges the FCC has are expanding but also harmonizing. "Sure, I'd like to know what USAC says to the FCC [but] I worry more about what this FCC says to USAC, not the other way round," he said. He said speeding up filings for meetings on the day before sunshine starts is "pro transparency." Smaller filers and nongovernmental organizations might find it harder to comply than big companies, but the latter meet more often with the FCC and the staff review time rational "is pretty compelling," he said.

Eligible telecom carrier designation is valuable to state commissioners and mustn't be eliminated, NARUC Telecom Committee members said in interviews last week. The committee plans to vote at the state regulator association’s July 20-22 virtual meeting on a proposed resolution that would reject an idea supported by some industry and FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly that raised state alarm (see 2007070057). State commissioners supporting the draft by Chair Karen Charles Peterson of Massachusetts said they haven’t seen the process discouraging providers from seeking USF funding. Two industry groups disagreed.

NARUC President Brandon Presley is reversing course on the Rural Broadband Acceleration Act, saying with Telecom Subcommittee Chair Karen Charles Peterson to Senate Commerce Committee leaders that he now opposes a revised version of the bill (HR-7447/S-4201) and supports the rival Accelerating Broadband Connectivity Act (S-4021). Presley endorsed an earlier version of the Rural Broadband Acceleration Act (HR-7022) in June (see 2005280048). Both versions of the bill would require the FCC to award funding by Sept. 30 to some Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I applicants in a bid to speed the release of money before a planned late October reverse auction. HR-7447/S-4201 also would eliminate a requirement companies be designated eligible telecom carriers, which doesn’t have universal stakeholder support (see 2006300010). The proposal to eliminate the ETC designation procedure “is anti-consumer and encourages abuse of the RDOF program and customers served by that program,” Presley and Peterson said in a letter to Senate Commerce Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. “It reduces program oversight and has other broad implications for the existing State-Federal universal service partnership envisioned by Congress” in the 1996 Telecom Act. “Absent a rule or statutory change, carriers that are not designated will not have to provide federal Lifeline services or comply with other ETC requirements,” the NARUC leaders said. “Even with changes, removal of the ETC designation procedure will allow the carrier to choose whether to offer customers any enhanced state Lifeline subsidy (in those states that provide additional support for low-income lifeline services). For states that conduct designation proceedings, elimination of the ETC requirement effectively takes state cops off the beat.”

NARUC President Brandon Presley is reversing course on the Rural Broadband Acceleration Act, saying with Telecom Subcommittee Chair Karen Charles Peterson to Senate Commerce Committee leaders that he now opposes a revised version of the bill (HR-7447/S-4201) and supports the rival Accelerating Broadband Connectivity Act (S-4021). Presley endorsed an earlier version of the Rural Broadband Acceleration Act (HR-7022) in June (see 2005280048). Both versions of the bill would require the FCC to award funding by Sept. 30 to some Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I applicants in a bid to speed the release of money before a planned late October reverse auction. HR-7447/S-4201 also would eliminate a requirement companies be designated eligible telecom carriers, which doesn’t have universal stakeholder support (see 2006300010). The proposal to eliminate the ETC designation procedure “is anti-consumer and encourages abuse of the RDOF program and customers served by that program,” Presley and Peterson said in a letter to Senate Commerce Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. “It reduces program oversight and has other broad implications for the existing State-Federal universal service partnership envisioned by Congress” in the 1996 Telecom Act. “Absent a rule or statutory change, carriers that are not designated will not have to provide federal Lifeline services or comply with other ETC requirements,” the NARUC leaders said. “Even with changes, removal of the ETC designation procedure will allow the carrier to choose whether to offer customers any enhanced state Lifeline subsidy (in those states that provide additional support for low-income lifeline services). For states that conduct designation proceedings, elimination of the ETC requirement effectively takes state cops off the beat.”

Don’t stop states from designating USF eligible telecom carriers, said a proposed resolution by the NARUC Telecom Committee for the state utility regulator association’s June 20-22 virtual meeting. The draft responds to an idea supported by some industry and FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly that’s raised state alarm (see 2006300010). It would ask Congress to reject the Expanding Opportunities for Broadband Deployment Act by Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., and amend the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act (HR-7302) by House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., to require providers seeking reimbursement be designated ETCs. Despite “several disparaging remarks” by one FCC commissioner about states’ role, the commission should cooperate with them, acknowledging their “significant role in closing the digital divide and in all Universal Service Fund programs,” said the proposed resolution. A proposed resolution in NARUC's Electricity Committee would support FAA approving beyond visual line of sight waivers for utility drones.

Don’t stop states from designating USF eligible telecom carriers, said a proposed resolution by the NARUC Telecom Committee for the state utility regulator association’s June 20-22 virtual meeting. The draft responds to an idea supported by some industry and FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly that’s raised state alarm (see 2006300010). It would ask Congress to reject the Expanding Opportunities for Broadband Deployment Act by Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., and amend the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act (HR-7302) by House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., to require providers seeking reimbursement be designated ETCs. Despite “several disparaging remarks” by one FCC commissioner about states’ role, the commission should cooperate with them, acknowledging their “significant role in closing the digital divide and in all Universal Service Fund programs,” said the proposed resolution. A proposed resolution in NARUC's Electricity Committee would support FAA approving beyond visual line of sight waivers for utility drones.

Universal Service Administrative Co. must fully fund eligible category one and two E-rate requests for funding year 2020, the FCC Wireline Bureau directed said Monday. USAC estimated demand of $2.91 billion: $1.74 billion for category one and $1.17 billion for two, and it has sufficient funds, the bureau said.

Universal Service Administrative Co. must fully fund eligible category one and two E-rate requests for funding year 2020, the FCC Wireline Bureau directed said Monday. USAC estimated demand of $2.91 billion: $1.74 billion for category one and $1.17 billion for two, and it has sufficient funds, the bureau said.

The House began considering amendments to the Democrats’ Moving Forward Act infrastructure legislative package (HR-2) Tuesday, including 10 on broadband. The underlying measure contains $100 billion in broadband funding, with $9 billion for a Broadband Connectivity Fund to give eligible households an “additional broadband benefit” and $5 billion for E-rate. It also includes $12 billion for next-generation 911 (see 2006180062). House Majority Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina and other Democrats pushed for the measure's adoption. Republicans argued it's a purely partisan measure that has no chance of making it through the Senate or getting support from President Donald Trump.