FCC Chairman Ajit Pai defended his recent record on tribal broadband matters to Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., who led a letter on the topic earlier this year. The commission incorporated the higher tribal land costs into the reserve prices of the Connect America Fund Phase II bidding process, Pai said in his April 28 reply, released Monday. “I am proud to have proposed to my colleagues, and for the FCC to have adopted, the Tribal Mobility Fund Phase II at the Commission's February 23 meeting,” Pai said, noting he requested the Office of Native Affairs and Policy coordinate with the Wireless and Wireline bureaus “to help direct that funding to reach Tribal members in remote areas that would otherwise be without access to next-generation services.” He cited a proposal he circulated in February: “The order recognizes that carriers serving Tribal lands incur costs that other rural carriers do not face, resulting in significantly higher operating expenses to serve very sparsely populated service areas." It "would allow carriers serving Tribal lands a greater ability to recover operating expenses, thus improving the financial viability of operating a broadband network serving Tribal lands,” he said. Pai directed the Universal Service Administrative Co. "to give additional time to Tribal families living in the remote reaches of the Navajo Nation to comply with a certification deadline for the Lifeline program."

The FCC voted 3-0 Thursday to launch a rulemaking and notice of inquiry on ways to speed the siting of wireless infrastructure. Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Mignon Clyburn voted for the item, saying they were able to work out changes with the office of Chairman Ajit Pai. The consensus on the item came right before the huge fight over the broadband data service order (see 1704200020).

Groups representing tribal governments urged caution as the FCC considers rules designed to speed up wireless siting. The FCC is to take up a rulemaking notice and notice of inquiry Thursday (see 1703300060). Tribal interests got in comments early, warning of their concerns before either was even considered by commissioners. Comments were filed in docket 17-79.

Verizon stressed the importance of streamlining wireless siting rules, on a Mobilitie petition asking the agency to pre-empt state and local authority over rights of way (see 1703080011). Replies were due Friday in docket 16-421 and Verizon was among a handful of early filers. The carrier invested tens of billions of dollars on its 4G network and is building hundreds of 5G sites “as the first step in our plans to spearhead the next generation of wireless service,” it said. “The Commission can and should use its statutory authority to relieve the burdens that local ordinances, restrictions on access to municipal and investor-owned utility poles, and historic preservation and tribal reviews impose on wireless carriers’ efforts to deploy wireless broadband technology,” Verizon said. “Delay is widespread and significant,” the Wireless Infrastructure Association commented, not posted at our deadline. “Local governments are adopting formal moratoria on the deployment of small wireless facilities, and many other local governments are creating de facto moratoria by refusing to meaningfully act on siting applications. Contrary to the suggestion of some local government commenters, delays are not driven by providers. Rather, lack of clarity or consistency in local requirements is a significant cause of delay.” WIA also complained about excessive regulation. “Companies deploying small wireless facilities report multi-year delays driven by cities micromanaging every element of the technology and deployment,” the group said. “Companies also experience delay where local governments constantly change their demands and requirements -- even after providers have worked with the local government over extended periods to develop a deployment that meets the local government’s desires.”

An FCC draft rulemaking would seek to roll back ILEC technology transition duties in retiring copper networks and simplify the process for discontinuing telecom services under Section 214 of the Communications Act. The draft NPRM, which would also tee up potential actions to facilitate pole attachments, proposes "to remove regulatory barriers to infrastructure investment at the federal, state, and local level; suggests changes to speed the transition from copper networks and legacy services to next-generation networks and services; and proposes to reform Commission regulations that increase costs and slow broadband deployment."

An FCC draft rulemaking would seek to roll back ILEC technology transition duties in retiring copper networks and simplify the process for discontinuing telecom services under Section 214 of the Communications Act. The draft NPRM, which would also tee up potential actions to facilitate pole attachments, proposes "to remove regulatory barriers to infrastructure investment at the federal, state, and local level; suggests changes to speed the transition from copper networks and legacy services to next-generation networks and services; and proposes to reform Commission regulations that increase costs and slow broadband deployment."

FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn released a final version of her #Solutions2020 call to action plan which grew out of a series of visits she made across the U.S. Clyburn emphasized broadband affordability and other proposed policy calls in the plan, during a conference at the Georgetown Law School in October (see 1610190044). The FCC sought comments, filed in January (see 1701120045). “The work of ensuring affordable access to communications to all Americans may or may not ever be fully realized, but we should never fail to try,” the document said. “Twenty years ago, an average family of four paid for two fixed telephone lines and dial-up Internet access. Now that same family MAY have a fixed phone in the home accompanied by a broadband internet connection, along with two or more mobile voice and data lines. This means that the number of services purchased in order to keep up with the Joneses, has risen in cost so much, that for the lowest-income Americans who can barely afford one device or service, the digital divide continues to widen.” Recommendations include that the FCC must do better job of engaging with Tribal governments. “The FCC’s Office of Native Affairs should be empowered as a standalone Office with its own budget that is sufficient to proactively engage with Tribes on important issues of communications policy,” the call to action said. Clyburn backs passage a number of bills, including Mobile Now on spectrum. The commission should set aside more spectrum for unlicensed use, the plan said. “Despite the amount of spectrum that the FCC has auctioned over the years, there are too many areas in this country -- most notably rural areas and low income urban communities -- that do not have the number of choices for broadband providers that most Americans enjoy,” the plan read. “Unlicensed spectrum has and must continue to play a role in helping to close this gap.” Clyburn released the final version at the SouthEast Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors conference Monday in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn released a final version of her #Solutions2020 call to action plan which grew out of a series of visits she made across the U.S. Clyburn emphasized broadband affordability and other proposed policy calls in the plan, during a conference at the Georgetown Law School in October (see 1610190044). The FCC sought comments, filed in January (see 1701120045). “The work of ensuring affordable access to communications to all Americans may or may not ever be fully realized, but we should never fail to try,” the document said. “Twenty years ago, an average family of four paid for two fixed telephone lines and dial-up Internet access. Now that same family MAY have a fixed phone in the home accompanied by a broadband internet connection, along with two or more mobile voice and data lines. This means that the number of services purchased in order to keep up with the Joneses, has risen in cost so much, that for the lowest-income Americans who can barely afford one device or service, the digital divide continues to widen.” Recommendations include that the FCC must do better job of engaging with Tribal governments. “The FCC’s Office of Native Affairs should be empowered as a standalone Office with its own budget that is sufficient to proactively engage with Tribes on important issues of communications policy,” the call to action said. Clyburn backs passage a number of bills, including Mobile Now on spectrum. The commission should set aside more spectrum for unlicensed use, the plan said. “Despite the amount of spectrum that the FCC has auctioned over the years, there are too many areas in this country -- most notably rural areas and low income urban communities -- that do not have the number of choices for broadband providers that most Americans enjoy,” the plan read. “Unlicensed spectrum has and must continue to play a role in helping to close this gap.” Clyburn released the final version at the SouthEast Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors conference Monday in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that the Securing our Agriculture and Food Act, which would require Department of Homeland Security leadership to work with CBP in developing a plan to screen agricultural imports for terrorism threats, would cost only about $25,000 more than what was allocated for similar programs in 2016, according to a report (here). DHS provided $475,000 in 2016 for activities covered by the bill, CBO said. Enacting the bill wouldn’t affect direct spending or revenues, and wouldn’t affect budgets of state, local or tribal governments, CBO said.

Wireless industry officials plan to laud draft bills on siting and dig once policies that lawmakers circulated last week (see 1703170065), during a Tuesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing. Congress must do even more, they will say, citing inaccurate broadband mapping data and deployment challenges. Witnesses will point to the need for addressing broadband as part of a bigger infrastructure package. The two draft bills involve the many siting provisions the subcommittee put together in 2015, collected in one text, and the dig once policies of the Broadband Conduit Deployment Act offered by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. These ideas typically enjoyed bipartisan support.