The Senate Communications Subcommittee plans a hearing on “ensuring intermodal Universal Service Fund support for rural America” 10:30 a.m. Thursday in 253 Russell, said a Capitol Hill notice. The hearing will focus on the Mobility and Connect America funds, "with particular emphasis on which entities and technologies should be eligible to receive support," the committee said in a notice. Witnesses will include Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry, All Points Broadband CEO Jimmy Carr testifying on behalf of the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association, Seward and Son Planting Co. Managing Partner Darrington Seward and ViaSat Vice President-Government Affairs Michael Rapelyea.

Large telcos are seeking renewed USF voice support in remote areas where funding was cut off but their obligations to provide phone service continue under a transition to broadband-oriented mechanisms. Representatives of AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier Communications, Verizon, Windstream and USTelecom jointly discussed the issue with FCC officials in a series of recent meetings, and Frontier sought relief in separate meetings with two commissioners, according to filings in docket 14-192. “It will happen, with some sort of path to broadband,” USTelecom Senior Vice President Jon Banks told us.

The Supreme Court could eventually review USF False Claim Act (FCA) litigation, a lawyer in one of the cases said at an FCBA seminar Wednesday. Vinson & Elkins attorney Jeremy Marwell said fraud allegations against recipients of USF support don’t qualify under the FCA, but he acknowledged it’s a “close question,” particularly in light of mixed court rulings to date. While Marwell was on the winning side of a July 2014 E-rate decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled the FCA doesn’t apply to USF programs (United States ex rel. Shupe v. Cisco, No. 13-40807), other cases are pending in the 7th Circuit and D.C. Circuit, which could create a circuit split. Marwell said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the cases go to the high court.

Safeguarding National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration geostationary operational environmental satellite rebroadcast (GRB) stations from interference would require "relatively small protection zones," LightSquared said in an FCC filing in docket 12-340. LightSquared has been pushing the FCC for reallocation and auction of a slice of NOAA spectrum and for conditions on its spectrum license that would let LightSquared share it for its terrestrial broadband network (see 1512310016). Wednesday's filing updated 2014 LightSquared submissions about NOAA's use of the 1675-1680 MHz band and the compatibility of commercial operations there, which showed the two could coexist by relocating some NOAA radiosondes and establishing defined protection and coordination zones, LightSquared said. But it said that study covered only NOAA's sensor data link in 1673.4-1678.6 MHz and not its GRB link at 1680.6-1692.6. LightSquared also again urged the FCC to issue a public notice on its NOAA spectrum idea (see 1601140037). NOAA didn't comment. In a separate ex parte filing in the docket Wednesday, the company recapped a meeting between CEO Doug Smith and board member Reed Hundt and FCC, NOAA, NTIA and Office of Management and Budget representatives about NOAA sharing 1675-1680 MHz. Some state and local governments and private entities use NOAA signals in or near the spectrum band, LightSquared said, saying it submitted a report to the FCC identifying alternative delivery mechanisms for those non-NOAA entities. LightSquared said the general consensus at the meeting was that the issue needing addressing "is not a matter of technology [but] a matter responsibility, logistics and funding -- issues that could be addressed by the Commission ... through service rules, license conditions and the auction process." An FCC notice-and-comment process would have to identify all use cases, if not necessarily all users, of the band, LightSquared said. In that report, also filed Wednesday, LightSquared said its investigation into non-NOAA users "was limited in scope because the universe of users was unknown." Some of those users include the Data Collection System/Data Collection Platform Report service where NOAA collects weather and environmental data from thousands of sensors around the U.S.; Emergency Managers Weather Information Network, which is used by state and local governments and public safety agencies to receive weather-related NOAA warnings; and geostationary operational environmental satellite variable/GRB, used by some private forecasting services and university research institutions for their forecasting models. Commercial operations wouldn't impinge on DCS/DCPR ability to upload data to NOAA, LightSquared said.

The FCC's upcoming broadcast incentive auction has the potential to hurt minority-owned media outlets, panelists said Wednesday at a Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council conference. The problem with the commission's incentive auction is that "the smallest stations, the African-American-owned [television and radio] stations with the least money will be the ones selling" their spectrum, said Jim Winston, National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters CEO. The stations most likely to auction spectrum are owned by minority individuals who were "the last in, and [now] the last out" to the broadcast market, Winston said. "It's a very really problem [and] it's going to negatively impact the minority stations."

The FCC's upcoming broadcast incentive auction has the potential to hurt minority-owned media outlets, panelists said Wednesday at a Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council conference. The problem with the commission's incentive auction is that "the smallest stations, the African-American-owned [television and radio] stations with the least money will be the ones selling" their spectrum, said Jim Winston, National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters CEO. The stations most likely to auction spectrum are owned by minority individuals who were "the last in, and [now] the last out" to the broadcast market, Winston said. "It's a very really problem [and] it's going to negatively impact the minority stations."

AT&T compared FCC partial relief for telcos to a kid shoveling only half a sidewalk after a snowstorm. In a blog post Wednesday, Vice President-Federal Regulatory Hank Hultquist noted the FCC in December partially denied a USTelecom petition that the agency forbear from applying various regulations, including a request that price-cap ILECs be relieved of universal service obligations where they no longer receive USF support (see 1512170052). “In explaining this denial, the FCC sounds an awful lot like a kid explaining why he shoveled only part of the sidewalk,” he said. “Of course, the FCC knows that it has not provided sufficient universal service support for these high-cost and extremely high-cost areas. But it hopes to escape its responsibility by invoking the farcical claim that price cap ILECs continue to be 'eligible' for other universal service support (e.g., Lifeline) in these areas.” Hultquist termed “ridiculous” FCC arguments that USTelecom didn't make the case for USF relief and that AT&T data was lacking because the agency didn’t adopt a related cost model. "If the FCC doesn’t want to fund universal service obligations in these areas, it should just get rid of them, as USTelecom asked it to do,” he said. “Unfortunately, the FCC appears determined to try to maintain the obligations without taking responsibility for them. I think it’s time for someone -- like an appellate court or Congress -- to tell them to pick up the shovel and do the job right.” AT&T has challenged the order and a related previous order in court (see 1601110036). The FCC had no comment Wednesday. Chairman Tom Wheeler had proposed some extra USF voice support for carriers, but Commissioner Ajit Pai said it was inadequate and an agency majority didn't vote for it.

The FCC Wireline Bureau authorized $569,796 to fund a Skybeam rural broadband experiment in 265 census blocks in Iowa. "The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) is directed and authorized to obligate and disburse from the Connect America reserve account the support amounts identified ... to Skybeam," said a bureau public notice Tuesday. "Because Skybeam elected to receive 30 percent of the total support upfront in exchange for meeting accelerated deployment obligations, USAC shall disburse 30 percent of the total support amount with the first monthly payment and disburse the remaining 70 percent of its support in 120 equal monthly installments over the 10-year term."

The FCC Wireline Bureau authorized $569,796 to fund a Skybeam rural broadband experiment in 265 census blocks in Iowa. "The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) is directed and authorized to obligate and disburse from the Connect America reserve account the support amounts identified ... to Skybeam," said a bureau public notice Tuesday. "Because Skybeam elected to receive 30 percent of the total support upfront in exchange for meeting accelerated deployment obligations, USAC shall disburse 30 percent of the total support amount with the first monthly payment and disburse the remaining 70 percent of its support in 120 equal monthly installments over the 10-year term."

Several industry representatives said they expect the FTC to soon begin enforcing new policy and guidance that's intended to protect consumers from intentionally misleading native online advertising. "This is a clear warning shot," said Dan Jaffe, Association of National Advertisers (ANA) group executive vice president-government relations. With all the effort and time that regulators took to develop a detailed statement (see 1512220031), they plan to bring action against "obviously egregious cases," he told us, saying industry needs to "take [this policy] to heart" and "be sure we're within the lines and behaving in a way not to bring legal actions."