The Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector is reviewing Mesa Telecoms’ proposed buy of Dobson Fiber, DOJ told the FCC in a letter posted Monday in docket 22-110. Mesa is controlled by iCon Infrastructure Management, a U.K.-based infrastructure investor, said a March 4 filing. The FCC “will be notified when the Chair has determined that responses to the Committee’s initial request for information are complete and the 120-day initial review period can begin,” DOJ said.
More than $313 million in FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I support is ready to be authorized, said an FCC news release Friday (see 2203100066). The funding will support more than 130,000 locations in 19 states. Central Telephone Company of Virginia, CenturyLink (now Lumen), CenturyTel, OzarksGo, Qwest, South Central Connect and Tri-County Electric Coop were among the winning bidders ready to be authorized. They have until April 8 at 6 p.m. EDT to submit letters of credit and bankruptcy code opinion letters, said a public notice in docket 19-126. The Wireline Bureau also denied RHMD's request to waive the deadline to obtain eligible telecom carrier designation to receive support, said an order Friday. The company "failed to present information that justifiably explains why its request for ETC designation was filed so late or why it remains pending" at the Georgia Public Service Commission, the order said. The Fiber Broadband Association "commends the [FCC] for continuing to carefully scrutinize [RDOF] long form applications and for approving fiber and well-designed broadband projects," said CEO Gary Bolton. The FCC should "continue to carefully scrutinize non-fiber projects, as this precious funding is desperately needed to connect communities with reliable and future-proof broadband service now and into the future," Bolton said.
Aureon told the FCC it submitted "confidential information" on its "network costs and cost study," in an ex parte letter posted Thursday in docket 18-60. Commissioners approved an order in February requiring Aureon to submit the information to the Wireline Bureau to calculate refunds to its customers (see 2202180054).
The FCC Wireline Bureau wants comments by March 31 on separate petitions filed by USTelecom and Verizon on affordable connectivity program rules, said a public notice Wednesday in docket 21-450. USTelecom sought a 60-day extension for participating providers to comply with the program's non-usage tracking rule. Verizon sought a 60-day extension for its subsidiary Tracfone to prepare its systems to offer the monthly benefit for "certain prepaid mobile broadband services priced below $30 and above $30" (see 2203220051). It didn't seek additional time for plans priced at $30.
The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau granted Sorenson conditional certification to continue providing video relay service supported by the Telecom Relay Service Fund after Ariel GP Holdco's acquisition of the provider, said a public notice Wednesday in docket 03-123 (see 2112200045). The bureau directed Sorenson to file an application for full certification "within 15 days after the date the merger transaction is consummated," the notice said. The bureau also granted Sorenson's CaptionCall conditional certification to continue providing IP captioned telephone service and imposed the same condition on the provider for full certification.
The FCC Wireline Bureau granted in part the Georgia Department of Public Health and ENA Healthcare Services' appeal of the Universal Service Administrative Co.'s decision to recover funding for FY 2015 and FY 2016 through the rural healthcare program, and its denial of funding for the state's Southeast Health District during FY 2017 and FY 2018, said an order in Wednesday's Daily Digest. The bureau remanded certain funding requests during FY 2017 to USAC and directed it to "calculate the funding commitment amounts" for these requests "using the documented urban rate" that the Southeast Health District had in its appeal. The bureau also granted a limited waiver of the program's competitive bidding rules. It disagreed that the Southeast Health District's failure to submit bid copies was a "minor clerical error" but granted the limited waiver because the health district took "careful steps" in "apparent good faith compliance" with competitive bidding requirements. It also cited USAC's recommendation that the health district file two forms "to circumvent USAC's internal application filing limitations in a manner to permit the timely rollout of service." The bureau remanded the appealed funding requests to USAC to determine whether the competitive bidding documentation complied with commission rules.
Fiber is “more expensive” than other technologies and “often not going to be the right answer,” said Technology Policy Institute President Scott Wallsten during a Georgetown University Center for Business and Public Policy webinar Wednesday. “The push for fiber is way overblown,” Wallsten said: “In many places, it is not justified.” Wallsten said more households will need to be served through federal broadband investments if policymakers set a higher definition of broadband. Prior subsidies haven't been done "efficiently," Wallsten said, noting the GAO “has been telling the FCC for years that they need to fix” its high-cost programs. Funding through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will be given directly to the states under NTIA oversight, he said. "We don't know yet" what kind of difference the investments will make.
The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition asked the FCC to direct the Universal Service Administrative Co. to "make public certain non-confidential information" about the rural healthcare program's funding demand and extend the comment deadline by 30 days, replies by 60 days, after it does so, per a letter posted Tuesday in docket 17-130. The group sought information to provide "meaningful input" on a further NPRM seeking comment on program revisions (see 2203140052). Information requested included data on gross demand for rural healthcare funding for the past 10 years, annual data for "each of the last 10 years" of committed and disbursed funds for the telecom program and healthcare connect fund, and historical data for the healthcare connect fund internal cap.
The FCC Wireline Bureau extended until May 13 the Connect America Fund Phase II eligible locations adjustment process (ELAP) registration deadline for prospective stakeholders, said a public notice Tuesday in docket 10-90 (see 2111290050). It also modified the challenge filing window to May 20 through Aug. 18. The bureau also made two changes to "simplify" the ELAP process, it said. Objections to an acknowledgement of confidentiality must file an objection "through an FCC-accredited account" that's managed by the Universal Service Administrative Co. The bureau will "share certified stakeholder information with participants ... directly through the ELAP module" instead of repopulating the ELAP map with stakeholder information.
An FCC Wireline Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics order adopting the third mandatory data collection for inmate calling services is "delayed indefinitely," said a notice for Wednesday's Federal Register (see 2201180075). An effective date will be announced upon OMB approval.