The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition urged the FCC to abandon its proposal to establish an online competitive bidding portal for the E-rate program. The group, in a meeting with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, cited a letter from Senate Commerce ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to the GAO asking the agency to investigate the FCC's administration of USF programs (see 2305110066). SHLB said there are "other ways to reduce the risk of fraud" in E-rate, per an ex parte filing Friday in docket 21-455, adding the FCC has "already been implementing the GAO's principal recommendation to use data analytics to identify fraud risks."
A coalition of advocacy organizations asked the FCC to extend until July 12 the deadline for reply comments on implementing the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act. Replies are now due by June 6 (see 2304060063). The Wright Petitioners, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, Public Knowledge, United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry and Worth Rises said in a motion posted Wednesday in docket 23-62 that the extension will "allow the commission to expeditiously move forward to collect new data in the 2023 mandatory data collection."
The FCC waived the budget control mechanism for rural cost-based Connect America Fund broadband loop support and high-cost loop support recipients until June 2024, said an order Tuesday in docket 10-90. "Absent a waiver, the projected budget control reduction factor would exceed 18%," the order said. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel confirmed with reporters last week that the item was under circulation as the current waiver is set to expire in June (see 2305180036). The commission "remains committed to re-evaluating the deployment obligations and funding levels for such providers that will apply in 2024," the order said. The order "will allow rural broadband providers to keep their focus on delivering high-quality, reasonably priced voice and broadband services rather than figuring out where to reduce investments, cut back operations, or raise customer rates in the face of a significant budget cut," said NTCA Executive Vice President Mike Romano in a statement.
The FCC Wireline Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics denied Etheric Communication's petition for reconsideration of the bureau's decision to deny and dismiss as moot the provider's request for waiver of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction eligible telecom carrier designation deadline. The order posted Tuesday in docket 19-126 said it would "not serve the public interest to delay action on Etheric’s long-form application indefinitely while Etheric considered and pursued an appeal" of the California Public Utilities Commission's decision to deny its ETC request.
No major changes were made to an FCC order, Further NPRM and notice of inquiry expanding call blocking requirements and seeking comment on additional actions the commission could take to block illegal robocalls, according to our comparison with a draft. Commissioners adopted the item Thursday. Some industry-sought questions on call labeling were added to the NOI and rich call data to the FNPRM (see 2305160071).
The FCC Wireline Bureau directed the Universal Service Administrative Co. to fully fund eligible category one and two E-rate requests for funding year 2023. Total demand will be $1.66 billion for category one services and $1.29 billion for category two services, said a public notice Friday in docket 02-6.
The FCC Wireline Bureau approved the National Exchange Carrier Association's proposed average schedule interstate settlement disbursements formulas for July 1 through June 30, said an order Thursday in docket 22-427.
Biennial recertifications of study area boundary data are due by June 30, said an FCC Wireline Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics public notice Tuesday in docket 10-90. ILECs and state commissions that uploaded and certified new boundaries between Dec. 31, 2022, and March 15 aren't required to recertify their data this year.
The FCC released a broadband funding map Monday, as mandated by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The map allows users to "identify, search, and filter federal funding programs" by ISPs receiving funding, the duration, number of locations for a project and speeds, said an Office of Economics and Analytics and Wireline Bureau public notice in docket 19-195. It includes funding summaries of the FCC's Connect America Fund Phase II and Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, NTIA's broadband infrastructure program and tribal broadband connectivity program, the Rural Utilities Service's community connect grant program, ReConnect, and telephone loan program, and the Treasury Department's Capital Projects Fund. The map also includes broadband availability data as of June 30.
The FTC sued XCast Labs for an alleged robocall scheme involving telemarking calls to numbers listed on the do not call registry, saying the VoIP provider "funnel[ed] hundreds of millions of illegal robocalls through its network, even after receiving multiple warnings," the agency said in a Friday news release. XCast Labs "played a key role in helping telemarketers flood homes with unlawful robocalls, including robocalls impersonating the Social Security Administration,” said Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Samuel Levine. The FTC previously sent letters to VoIP providers, including XCast, warning that "assisting and facilitating illegal telemarketing or robocalling was against the law." Many of the calls were "part of organized campaigns designed to generate telemarketing leads," the agency said. Commissioners' 4-0 vote to authorize staff to refer the complaint to DOJ was taken before former Commissioner Christine Wilson's departure from the agency, the FTC said.