FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly renewed calls to prohibit E-rate funds to schools and libraries that receive broadband service from one provider when another has already received USF dollars at the same location. "It's awful enough when the government subsidizes network builds in areas where the private sector can or does provide service, but it's a separate layer of hell when E-rate money goes to an area already being subsidized by the FCC," O'Rielly told an FCBA USF seminar. O'Rielly has corresponded with school superintendents and consortium leaders in Texas and Arizona about their plans to build self-provisioned wide-area networks that would overbuild a local incumbent's fiber facilities. "I have never been presented with credible evidence that E-Rate funded overbuilding has been anything other than wasteful for the USF," he said, citing "copious evidence of bidding matrices designed to favor a particular outcome and schools buying far more bandwidth than they use or need."

The Wireline Bureau is taking comments through Oct. 31, replies Nov. 15, on Universal Service Administrative Co.'s drop-down menu options for FCC Form 470 applicants use to solicit bids from service providers for E-Rate eligible services, said a public notice on docket 13-184 and in Wednesday's Daily Digest. It seeks to improve the menu to address concerns about the current drop-down menu, reduce administrative burdens and minimize applicant confusion. Menu changes would be available in time for bidding on funding year 2021, the bureau said. It wants changes to be intuitive, technology neutral, searchable and compliant with the program's rules. Stakeholders wanted changes to the form in time for the FY 2020 bidding cycle (see 1808170022). In a letter in Wednesday's Daily Digest, Wireline Bureau Chief Kris Monteith and FCC Managing Director Mark Stephens outlined guidance on how USAC should treat E-rate applications for which an applicant mistakenly selected a drop-down menu option on form 470 that didn't fully reflect the services for which it intended to seek bids: Don't "deny any remaining pending application or issue a commitment adjustment for any application solely because the applicant selected the 'Internet Access: ISP Service Only (No Transport Circuit Included)' drop-down menu option and subsequently selected on its FCC Form 471 a service that delivers Internet access to its premises."

The Wireline Bureau is taking comments through Oct. 31, replies Nov. 15, on Universal Service Administrative Co.'s drop-down menu options for FCC Form 470 applicants use to solicit bids from service providers for E-Rate eligible services, said a public notice on docket 13-184 and in Wednesday's Daily Digest. It seeks to improve the menu to address concerns about the current drop-down menu, reduce administrative burdens and minimize applicant confusion. Menu changes would be available in time for bidding on funding year 2021, the bureau said. It wants changes to be intuitive, technology neutral, searchable and compliant with the program's rules. Stakeholders wanted changes to the form in time for the FY 2020 bidding cycle (see 1808170022). In a letter in Wednesday's Daily Digest, Wireline Bureau Chief Kris Monteith and FCC Managing Director Mark Stephens outlined guidance on how USAC should treat E-rate applications for which an applicant mistakenly selected a drop-down menu option on form 470 that didn't fully reflect the services for which it intended to seek bids: Don't "deny any remaining pending application or issue a commitment adjustment for any application solely because the applicant selected the 'Internet Access: ISP Service Only (No Transport Circuit Included)' drop-down menu option and subsequently selected on its FCC Form 471 a service that delivers Internet access to its premises."

House Communications Subcommittee leaders are expected to broadly frame a Friday legislative hearing on supply chain security and spectrum bills as a bid to secure the U.S. role in leading 5G development. The bids come from two distinct angles -- ensuring the telecom infrastructure is protected from national security threats of Chinese equipment manufacturers and other potential bad actors, and ensuring continuity in federal management of spectrum. Lawmakers will examine seven measures during the hearing, which is set for 9:30 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.

FCC commissioners voted to move forward with $950 million to help improve and strengthen broadband networks in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It was one of five unanimous votes Thursday at the agency's monthly meeting, though commissioners from each party expressed some concerns.

House Communications Subcommittee leaders are expected to broadly frame a Friday legislative hearing on supply chain security and spectrum bills as a bid to secure the U.S. role in leading 5G development. The bids come from two distinct angles -- ensuring the telecom infrastructure is protected from national security threats of Chinese equipment manufacturers and other potential bad actors, and ensuring continuity in federal management of spectrum. Lawmakers will examine seven measures during the hearing, which is set for 9:30 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.

Groups differ over how much broadband deployment data the FCC should collect from providers, in what form, and how others should be able to challenge its accuracy. Comments posted through Tuesday on docket 19-195 weighed in on the agency's plans to update its Form 477 broadband mapping reporting requirements (see 1908210008). Parties mostly agree more granular information is needed to ensure USF dollars are allocated properly in upcoming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auctions (see 1906280059), but some say holding out for detailed location fabrics that attempt to pinpoint every serviceable structure in the nation could slow the program.

Groups differ over how much broadband deployment data the FCC should collect from providers, in what form, and how others should be able to challenge its accuracy. Comments posted through Tuesday on docket 19-195 weighed in on the agency's plans to update its Form 477 broadband mapping reporting requirements (see 1908210008). Parties mostly agree more granular information is needed to ensure USF dollars are allocated properly in upcoming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auctions (see 1906280059), but some say holding out for detailed location fabrics that attempt to pinpoint every serviceable structure in the nation could slow the program.

Rural broadband providers want the FCC to update or clarify eligibility requirements for applicants in its upcoming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auctions to award up to $20 billion in USF dollars to companies that can deliver high-speed broadband to unserved and underserved parts of rural America (see 1908010060). In comments posted through Monday on docket 19-126, industry groups differed on whether and how to expand the pool of applicants that could receive the federal funding to deliver high-speed internet service to remote communities.

A fight's brewing in California over whether a state commission can study broadband affordability. Consumer advocates urged the California Public Utilities Commission last week to keep broadband part of a proposed framework for reviewing affordability of essential services. AT&T, cable and small telecom carriers disagreed, saying federal law stops the state commission from scrutinizing broadband.