The FCC Wireline Bureau directed the Universal Service Administrative Co. to fully fund eligible category one and two E-rate requests for funding year 2022. Total demand will be $1.64 billion for category one services and $1.51 billion for category two services, said a public notice Tuesday in docket 02-6.

California bills to require wireless eligibility for California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) grants and to fund the 988 mental health line passed the legislature Thursday and will go to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) for signature. As California legislators head into their final week, several communications bills on broadband, social media and free inmate calls await floor votes (see 2208120039).

The FCC's rejection of SpaceX's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction long-form application earlier this month (see 2208100050) shows "clear error and plainly exceeds agency authority," Commissioner Brendan Carr said Wednesday. It "leave[s] families waiting on the wrong side of the digital divide when we have the technology to get them high-speed service today," he said. He said FCC arguments that Starlink uses untested technology "do not bear out" given it has three more years to meet the speed benchmarks and the company is already exceeding them in other countries. He said criticisms about Starlink's pricing ring hollow when the agency provides universal service awards "for far slower internet services that cost customers far more." The commissioner said bringing fiber to the communities Starlink was to cover will likely cost about $3 billion, vs. the $885 million in support that was going to go to SpaceX. Carr said the RDOF decision "plainly exceeds" the scope of the FCC's limited authority to review the 2020 award. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's office and SpaceX didn't comment. In a response Wednesday to California Public Utilities Commission Administrative Law Judge Seaneen Wilson, SpaceX said it's still looking at its options for seeking reconsideration or review of the FCC decision. It asked that, despite that uncertainty, the PUC still go forward with granting it a certificate of public convenience and necessity as an eligible telecommunications carrier. The PUC had asked if SpaceX still wanted a CPCN and eligible telecom carrier designation after the RDOF rejection (see 2208230008).

Every school district-issued device should comply with internet safety policies that prevent students from accessing pornography and other obscene material, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee ranking member Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., wrote Monday in The Hill. Their opinion piece follows a joint letter Carr and Blackburn sent last week to the Universal Service Administrative Co., the organization that administers the FCC’s E-Rate and the Emergency Connectivity Fund programs and ensures school-issued devices comply with the Children’s Internet Protection Act. “While some districts are exercising diligence with tech usage, others are taking a far too reckless approach to student safety,” they wrote in the opinion piece. Districts should be able to control access to harmful materials on platforms like Facebook and TikTok, they said.

VoIP providers raised concerns about a possible California rulemaking to consider changes to licensing requirements and other obligations for internet-based voice. Consumer advocates applauded the California Public Utilities Commission for looking into an issue that affects USF support. Commissioners plan to consider the proposed order instituting rulemaking (OIR), plus items on state LifeLine and Starlink eligible telecom carrier status, at their Thursday meeting.

ASPEN, Colo. -- NTIA won't repeat the mistakes made in past federal efforts to narrow the digital divide, said Evan Feinman, director of its Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, Tuesday at Technology Policy Institute's Aspen Forum. This time, he said, "we are going to solve this problem" and avoid the top-down approaches that missed unserved or underserved locations and didn't use ideal technology. But critics see danger signs.

92 lawmakers signed a letter Monday seeking answers from FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel on a proposed 2022 regulatory fee increase for broadcasters. "Considering the harm a substantial fee increase would bring, we would like to better understand the FCC’s proposal," said the letter from Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minnesota, Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Alabama, Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Alabama, and others. "Given the FCC’s statutory responsibility to adjust its schedule of regulatory fees to take into account factors that are reasonably related to the benefits provided to the fee payor, could the FCC explain what additional benefits have been provided to broadcasters that would justify such a high fee increase?" the letter asked, seeking a response from Rosenworcel "as soon as possible." "Why does the Commission’s proposed overall fee increase for broadcasters far exceed fee increases for any other industry?" the letter also asked. State broadcast associations also pressed the agency on reg fees, according to an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 22-223. Broadcasters shouldn’t be charged for the FCC’s work on broadband, said representatives of the State Broadcasters Associations in a call with an aide to Commissioner Brendan Carr Wednesday. They urged the FCC to alter its fee structure to cease assessing broadcasters fees for full-time equivalents associated with the Universal Service Fund, or else exercise “flexibility” to “cease the continuing stream of year over year and double digit regulatory fee increases.” Broadcasters face a 13% regulatory fee increase this year, the filing said.

The FCC's report to Congress on the future of the Universal Service Fund and the record "throw cold water on the idea that the FCC should just start assessing broadband internet access service or BIAS," said Commissioner Brendan Carr in a statement Monday. Commissioners approved the report Friday. Expanding the contribution base to include BIAS "could increase consumers’ monthly broadband bills by as much as $17.96 a month," Carr said: "Put simply, the squeeze is not worth the juice when it comes to replacing the existing telecommunications assessment with one on broadband." Assessing edge providers would "drastically reduce costs for consumers," he said. The report concluded there's "significant ambiguity in the record regarding the scope of the commission’s existing authority to broaden the base of contributors" and recommended Congress give the FCC the "legislative tools needed to make changes to the contributions methodology and base." Carr said he's "very pleased" the report includes "broad-based support" to require that "large technology companies" contribute to USF. Carr initially raised the idea of requiring "big tech" to contribute (see 2105240037). Commissioner Nathan Simington backed Carr's "emphasis on relating funding for connectivity spending to the network effects enjoyed by companies that depend on universal connectivity," in a statement. Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel didn't release statements.

California legislators killed a social media bill that would have held platforms civilly liable for addicting children, after opposition from the web industry and free-speech advocates. But some other controversial internet bills made it through Friday’s cutoff for fiscal committee votes. Bills on broadband, free inmate calls and the 988 mental-health hotline also advanced to floor votes.

California legislators killed a social media bill that would have held platforms civilly liable for addicting children, after opposition from the web industry and free-speech advocates. But some other controversial internet bills made it through Friday’s cutoff for fiscal committee votes. Bills on broadband, free inmate calls and the 988 mental-health hotline also advanced to floor votes.