FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly assured the WTA spring meeting Tuesday that he will make finishing “the remaining pieces” of USF reform, especially those related to the Connect America Fund for rate-of-return carriers, a top priority. “Everything else that the Commission may want to do with universal service -- make service more affordable for low-income consumers, wire schools and libraries, and connect rural health care facilities -- depends on having … infrastructure in place,” O’Rielly said in written remarks. “I have been dismayed by the haphazard approach that the Commission has taken to USF reforms, ratcheting up spending and expected broadband speeds while leaving millions of Americans unserved.” The FCC’s two E-rate orders expanded the program but offered little actual reform, O’Rielly said. The first order “just tacked on new spending for Wi-Fi within facilities regardless of whether they need the additional capacity or have adequate bandwidth to the building,” he said: The second “made it easier for entities to build their own fiber networks with no meaningful checks or limits to ensure that the funding will be targeted to truly unserved areas or used cost-effectively.” The FCC increased the E-rate cap by another $1.5 billion per year, he said. “At the time, there were assurances that we would not actually reach the new cap for several years,” he said. “But the window just closed, and I suspect that we may be very close to if not already at the new cap.” WTA members are already paying a price for so-called USF reform, he charged. “Without proper notice, the Commission decided that you will have to bid to provide service at rates to be determined at a later date as part of your Connect America Fund obligations,” he said. “Because that task was delegated to the [Wireline] Bureau, I won’t even get a chance to weigh in on their decisions.”

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly assured the WTA spring meeting Tuesday that he will make finishing “the remaining pieces” of USF reform, especially those related to the Connect America Fund for rate-of-return carriers, a top priority. “Everything else that the Commission may want to do with universal service -- make service more affordable for low-income consumers, wire schools and libraries, and connect rural health care facilities -- depends on having … infrastructure in place,” O’Rielly said in written remarks. “I have been dismayed by the haphazard approach that the Commission has taken to USF reforms, ratcheting up spending and expected broadband speeds while leaving millions of Americans unserved.” The FCC’s two E-rate orders expanded the program but offered little actual reform, O’Rielly said. The first order “just tacked on new spending for Wi-Fi within facilities regardless of whether they need the additional capacity or have adequate bandwidth to the building,” he said: The second “made it easier for entities to build their own fiber networks with no meaningful checks or limits to ensure that the funding will be targeted to truly unserved areas or used cost-effectively.” The FCC increased the E-rate cap by another $1.5 billion per year, he said. “At the time, there were assurances that we would not actually reach the new cap for several years,” he said. “But the window just closed, and I suspect that we may be very close to if not already at the new cap.” WTA members are already paying a price for so-called USF reform, he charged. “Without proper notice, the Commission decided that you will have to bid to provide service at rates to be determined at a later date as part of your Connect America Fund obligations,” he said. “Because that task was delegated to the [Wireline] Bureau, I won’t even get a chance to weigh in on their decisions.”

USTelecom urged the FCC to reconsider parts of its December E-rate order, particularly rules allowing self-provisioning by schools and libraries and the need for additional safeguards to ensure efficient spending in the USF program. USTelecom said it agrees with many of the questions raised about the order by Cox Communications in a March petition for reconsideration. The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition defended the order, saying allowing schools and libraries to receive money to lease dark fiber or build their own facilities was a badly needed innovation. The filings were posted in docket 13-184.

USTelecom urged the FCC to reconsider parts of its December E-rate order, particularly rules allowing self-provisioning by schools and libraries and the need for additional safeguards to ensure efficient spending in the USF program. USTelecom said it agrees with many of the questions raised about the order by Cox Communications in a March petition for reconsideration. The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition defended the order, saying allowing schools and libraries to receive money to lease dark fiber or build their own facilities was a badly needed innovation. The filings were posted in docket 13-184.

AT&T and its former subsidiary Southern New England Telephone agreed to pay $10.9 million in penalties for allegedly overbilling the FCC’s Lifeline program, the FCC said Wednesday in a news release. “An FCC investigation showed that AT&T and its affiliates continued to provide service to landline customers in the program without recertifying the eligibility of the customers within the 35 days required by Lifeline program rules,” the agency said. The violations were uncovered two years ago. An audit found that a number of Lifeline subscribers no longer qualified for the program hadn't been de-enrolled after the annual recertification process for 2012 and 2013, the FCC said. “These subscribers were given one extra month of Lifeline support, and AT&T improperly claimed reimbursement from the government for this extra month.” AT&T said the problem was self-reported. "We discovered this issue in the course of an internal review, voluntarily reported it, and reimbursed the Universal Service Fund about a year ago. We also have implemented process enhancements so this does not happen again."

St. Anthony School in the Bronx is seeking reconsideration of the FCC Wireline Bureau's denial of its request for review or waiver involving decisions of the Universal Service Administrator to rescind/recover certain funding for FY 2012, it said in a filing with the FCC relating to docket 02-6. The reconsideration is warranted because the FCC's adoption of a streamlined process for disposing of E-rate appeals was improper, the filing said. It also said there's no indication in the notice that the commission ever considered the request for waiver that was included in the school's appeal, which is also procedurally improper. The school is now closed for financial and other reasons, the petition said.

Lawmakers in both chambers are preparing a letter to the FCC to address one of NTCA’s USF priorities on stand-alone broadband, reviving a bicameral, bipartisan letter sent to the FCC last Congress. NTCA also received promises from two lawmakers Tuesday that they will take the group’s priorities to heart, with legislation if need be. Prominent topics included overhaul of the USF, call completion problems and net neutrality, a controversial and partisan item in Congress.

Lawmakers in both chambers are preparing a letter to the FCC to address one of NTCA’s USF priorities on stand-alone broadband, reviving a bicameral, bipartisan letter sent to the FCC last Congress. NTCA also received promises from two lawmakers Tuesday that they will take the group’s priorities to heart, with legislation if need be. Prominent topics included overhaul of the USF, call completion problems and net neutrality, a controversial and partisan item in Congress.

Sprint and T-Mobile spent less on lobbying so far this year, Q1 lobbying reports showed. Monday was the deadline for quarterly lobbying reports, but many trade associations and companies hadn't filed theirs by our deadline. Observers have said net neutrality and proposed acquisitions are big drivers of spending in the telecom space, and those issues turned up repeatedly in the Q1 forms posted this week.

Sprint and T-Mobile spent less on lobbying so far this year, Q1 lobbying reports showed. Monday was the deadline for quarterly lobbying reports, but many trade associations and companies hadn't filed theirs by our deadline. Observers have said net neutrality and proposed acquisitions are big drivers of spending in the telecom space, and those issues turned up repeatedly in the Q1 forms posted this week.