The FCC directed Universal Service Administrative Co. to carry forward the $83.22 million in unused funds from its 2018 USF Rural Health Care program funding year and redirect it for use in 2019, said a Wireline Bureau public notice on docket 02-60 Monday. Last summer, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai asked for a 43 percent increase in the RHC program to account for inflation since its inception (see 1806060057). The 2019 funding cap for funding year 2019 is $594 million. The FCC released an NPRM last month on whether to set an overall budget cap for all USF programs, and to impose a joint cap for E-rate and RHC (see 1905310069).
New York senators will soon study a net neutrality bill passed Tuesday by the Assembly, a Senate Majority spokesperson said Wednesday. The Assembly voted 109-37 Tuesday to pass A-2432 by Assemblymember Patricia Fahy (D). Alternative measures are pending in the Senate, but Fahy told us she hopes to corral support for her bill to limit state and local government contracts to ISPs that follow open-internet rules. Passing net neutrality in New York would be significant given its size and influence, said Northwestern University law professor James Speta Wednesday.
New York senators will soon study a net neutrality bill passed Tuesday by the Assembly, a Senate Majority spokesperson said Wednesday. The Assembly voted 109-37 Tuesday to pass A-2432 by Assemblymember Patricia Fahy (D). Alternative measures are pending in the Senate, but Fahy told us she hopes to corral support for her bill to limit state and local government contracts to ISPs that follow open-internet rules. Passing net neutrality in New York would be significant given its size and influence, said Northwestern University law professor James Speta Wednesday.
Sizable private equity investing resulted in legions of startups in the small-satellite universe, but 2019 will likely be the year when "some of them start peeling off" and failing, said Quilty Analytics President Chris Quilty at an American Bar Association space law symposium Tuesday. "There's going to be a lot of roadkill in the next year or two." Most companies are "fighting over the table scraps" beyond the money that's gone to OneWeb and SpaceX, and when those smaller startups start getting to the point where they're ready for larger-scale investments, "stumbles" are likely, Quilty said, with funding if not declining at least decelerating. "It's healthy, it happens," he said.
Some USF program allies raised alarms in interviews and statements about Friday's FCC 3-2 NPRM calling for an overall budget cap for the four programs (see 1905310069). Some plan to spread the word about the rulemaking to the public, hoping for a critical response. Advocates for government fiscal discipline had kinder words about the rulemaking.
HARRISBURG -- A state broadband report shows wide discrepancies between FCC broadband availability estimates and reality, said lawmakers Monday at the capitol. The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a bipartisan legislative agency, unanimously approved the report by Pennsylvania State University researchers, at Monday's meeting. FCC estimates about 800,000 Pennsylvanians are without broadband “are downplaying the true state of the digital divide because they rely on self-reported data” by ISPs, the report said. “It appears that official broadband maps are becoming less accurate over time -- particularly those for rural areas.”
HARRISBURG -- A state broadband report shows wide discrepancies between FCC broadband availability estimates and reality, said lawmakers Monday at the capitol. The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a bipartisan legislative agency, unanimously approved the report by Pennsylvania State University researchers, at Monday's meeting. FCC estimates about 800,000 Pennsylvanians are without broadband “are downplaying the true state of the digital divide because they rely on self-reported data” by ISPs, the report said. “It appears that official broadband maps are becoming less accurate over time -- particularly those for rural areas.”
By a party-line FCC member vote, the regulator began asking about starting an overall USF budget cap, as expected (see 1905240064). "Mindful of our obligation to safeguard the USF funds ultimately paid by ratepayers," and to ensure the money is "spent prudently" and consistently, the NPRM asks a number of questions.
Wisconsin lawmakers tried to push forward a 5G wireless bill over emotional warnings by public health advocates at a livestreamed Wednesday hearing. The Maine House that day passed a shorter small-cells bill that similarly seeks to streamline small-cells deployment by pre-empting local governments in the right of way. Maine bills challenging recent FCC policies on ISP privacy and net neutrality also advanced, while Ohio and New York lawmakers took up bills on ways local governments could help spread broadband.
Industry lawyers are watching a pledge by FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly to develop rules to prevent new E-rate-subsidized fiber networks from overbuilding existing USF-funded broadband providers and "stealing" their prime customers, such as schools. Kelley Drye said in a Thursday email blast that "one of the most significant things to watch may be Commissioner O'Rielly's questioning of USAC [Universal Service Administrative Co.] over possible use of USF money to overbuild existing broadband networks." Joel Miller, O'Rielly's chief of staff, emailed us that "Commissioner O'Rielly has made fixing the problem of overbuilding a high priority." Several Texas telcos this week offered suggestions for an FCC rulemaking to oversee the matter (see 1905230005). O'Rielly also calls for legislative fixes to prevent duplicative spending on broadband across federal agencies, and if other agencies and departments become involved, to ensure proper coordination.