The FCC Connect America Fund Phase II requirement of monthly broadband allowances of 100 GB could be a hurdle satellite broadband can't clear. "There is simply a physical limit to the amount of capacity that satellite broadband providers can make available," Hughes Network Systems said in a filing posted Monday in docket 10-90 in which it asked that a minimum use allowance be "a more achievable" monthly data allowance requirement of 50 GB. A universal requirement of 100 GB per month everywhere "is likely unattainable at this time" and could keep satellite broadband providers from being able to take part in the bidding, Hughes said.

The FCC Connect America Fund Phase II requirement of monthly broadband allowances of 100 GB could be a hurdle satellite broadband can't clear. "There is simply a physical limit to the amount of capacity that satellite broadband providers can make available," Hughes Network Systems said in a filing posted Monday in docket 10-90 in which it asked that a minimum use allowance be "a more achievable" monthly data allowance requirement of 50 GB. A universal requirement of 100 GB per month everywhere "is likely unattainable at this time" and could keep satellite broadband providers from being able to take part in the bidding, Hughes said.

President Barack Obama is leaning on finances from industry and other groups to launch a pilot project the administration is calling ConnectHome, promising to help to connect to the Internet for 275,000 low-income households and just under 200,000 children. The White House will coordinate with industry players including CenturyLink, Cox Communications and Google Fiber to focus on 28 communities -- 27 cities and the Choctaw tribal nation -- to deliver broadband access for free or at heavily subsidized rates.

President Barack Obama is leaning on finances from industry and other groups to launch a pilot project the administration is calling ConnectHome, promising to help to connect to the Internet for 275,000 low-income households and just under 200,000 children. The White House will coordinate with industry players including CenturyLink, Cox Communications and Google Fiber to focus on 28 communities -- 27 cities and the Choctaw tribal nation -- to deliver broadband access for free or at heavily subsidized rates.

USTelecom is calling on the Wireline Bureau to tightly control its E-rate USF support program as it implements FCC changes allowing schools and libraries to self-provision fiber/broadband networks in certain circumstances. The bureau should confirm that school and library self-provisioning “should be the option of last resort” and take other steps to ensure proper E-rate funding allocation, including through continued use of copper phone networks, USTelecom said in reply comments filed last week in docket 13-184 on a proposed list of services eligible for E-rate discounts.

USTelecom is calling on the Wireline Bureau to tightly control its E-rate USF support program as it implements FCC changes allowing schools and libraries to self-provision fiber/broadband networks in certain circumstances. The bureau should confirm that school and library self-provisioning “should be the option of last resort” and take other steps to ensure proper E-rate funding allocation, including through continued use of copper phone networks, USTelecom said in reply comments filed last week in docket 13-184 on a proposed list of services eligible for E-rate discounts.

Senior FCC officials kept their eyes locked on Capitol Hill in recent months as lawmakers debated net neutrality legislation, internal emails obtained from the agency through a Communications Daily Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request showed. FCC officials stayed in touch with Democratic staffers from the Senate Commerce Committee, the office of Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and NTIA. Some former FCC officials told us such close tracking and back-channel communication is a natural part of how the agency functions.

Senior FCC officials kept their eyes locked on Capitol Hill in recent months as lawmakers debated net neutrality legislation, internal emails obtained from the agency through a Communications Daily Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request showed. FCC officials stayed in touch with Democratic staffers from the Senate Commerce Committee, the office of Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and NTIA. Some former FCC officials told us such close tracking and back-channel communication is a natural part of how the agency functions.

FCC Enforcement Bureau letters notifying Icon Telecom and Oscar Enrique Perez-Zumaeta of their suspension from participating in the Lifeline USF program are to be published Thursday in the Federal Register, said two FR notices including the letters (here and here) posted Wednesday. The letters, which also give notice of the commencement of debarment proceedings against Icon and Perez-Zumaeta, were dated May 26 and June 8, respectively, and released at the time by the FCC (see 1505260027 and 1506080067), but the parties have 30 days to contest the suspensions upon receipt of the letter or publication of the suspension in the Federal Register, whichever comes first. Icon, a Lifeline participant, pleaded guilty "to knowingly making a false statement to the Universal Service Administrative Company through its submission of 58 fabricated customer recertification forms," the bureau said in its letter notifying Icon. In April, Wes Yui Chew, president and owner of Icon, was ordered to serve four years in federal prison and pay a fine of $117,166 after pleading guilty to money laundering for transferring $20.5 million from an Icon bank account to his own, "despite knowing that Icon had thousands fewer customers than it reported to the Commission," said the bureau in a separate letter notifying Chew of his own suspension (which was not part of Wednesday's FR notices). Chew also agreed to forfeit $27 million seized during a Department of Justice investigation. Perez-Zumaeta owned and managed PSPS Sales, which recruited low-income people to apply for Lifeline-supported phone services through Icon. He pleaded guilty to money laundering for depositing a $52,390 check from Icon into a PSPS bank account "despite knowing that more than $10,000.00 of those funds was the result of criminal fraud against the Commission," the bureau said in its letter to Perez-Zumaeta.

FCC Enforcement Bureau letters notifying Icon Telecom and Oscar Enrique Perez-Zumaeta of their suspension from participating in the Lifeline USF program are to be published Thursday in the Federal Register, said two FR notices including the letters (here and here) posted Wednesday. The letters, which also give notice of the commencement of debarment proceedings against Icon and Perez-Zumaeta, were dated May 26 and June 8, respectively, and released at the time by the FCC (see 1505260027 and 1506080067), but the parties have 30 days to contest the suspensions upon receipt of the letter or publication of the suspension in the Federal Register, whichever comes first. Icon, a Lifeline participant, pleaded guilty "to knowingly making a false statement to the Universal Service Administrative Company through its submission of 58 fabricated customer recertification forms," the bureau said in its letter notifying Icon. In April, Wes Yui Chew, president and owner of Icon, was ordered to serve four years in federal prison and pay a fine of $117,166 after pleading guilty to money laundering for transferring $20.5 million from an Icon bank account to his own, "despite knowing that Icon had thousands fewer customers than it reported to the Commission," said the bureau in a separate letter notifying Chew of his own suspension (which was not part of Wednesday's FR notices). Chew also agreed to forfeit $27 million seized during a Department of Justice investigation. Perez-Zumaeta owned and managed PSPS Sales, which recruited low-income people to apply for Lifeline-supported phone services through Icon. He pleaded guilty to money laundering for depositing a $52,390 check from Icon into a PSPS bank account "despite knowing that more than $10,000.00 of those funds was the result of criminal fraud against the Commission," the bureau said in its letter to Perez-Zumaeta.