The FCC's Consumer Bureau on Friday granted video relay service providers a temporary, limited waiver from a Social Security number rule. The order waives in those cases where the users have no such numbers the requirement that VRS providers obtain from new and existing users the last four digits of their Social Security numbers or their Tribal identification numbers as part of the VRS user registration process.
Longtime designated entity Council Tree defended the DE program in comments filed in response to an April FCC public notice further exploring revised rules in the aftermath of the AWS-3 auction. On May 11, AT&T and small carriers proposed revisions to the DE program, which would recast it to provide limited bidding credits to small carriers rather than traditional DEs (see 1505110048). The AWS-3 auction raised a new set of questions about the role of DEs in auctions after Dish Network used two DEs to attempt to buy $13.3 billion worth of licenses for $10 billion (see 1501300051)
Longtime designated entity Council Tree defended the DE program in comments filed in response to an April FCC public notice further exploring revised rules in the aftermath of the AWS-3 auction. On May 11, AT&T and small carriers proposed revisions to the DE program, which would recast it to provide limited bidding credits to small carriers rather than traditional DEs (see 1505110048). The AWS-3 auction raised a new set of questions about the role of DEs in auctions after Dish Network used two DEs to attempt to buy $13.3 billion worth of licenses for $10 billion (see 1501300051)
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., approves of Democratic FCC transparency revamp measures, he said during a brief subcommittee hearing Friday. But Democrats complained of Democratic measures not taken up. They pointed to the Keeping Our Campaigns Honest Act (HR-2125), which would press for a greater FCC role in disclosure of political spending on the airwaves.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler backs moving forward with the universal service program's high-cost loop support (HCLS) mechanism, he told Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., in a March 17 letter released last week. “We believe it is important to move forward with implementation of this mechanism to ensure that universal service funds are being used as cost effectively and efficiently as possible,” Wheeler said, noting the FCC will be considering a petition for reconsideration from the National Congress of American Indians. “In the meantime, however, please be assured that we will closely monitor the effects of the interim HCLS mechanism on rate-of-return carriers, particularly those that serve Indian Country, and will revisit this issue in the event that it has unanticipated results,” he said. Wheeler sent a different letter on the same topic to other lawmakers March 16. The FCC Office of Native Affairs and Policy “is considering potential dates in 2015 when I can meet personally with the Tribally-owned rate-of-return carriers to discuss their concerns,” he said in a letter to Sens. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M, and Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Reps. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., and Steve Pearce, R-N.M.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler backs moving forward with the universal service program's high-cost loop support (HCLS) mechanism, he told Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., in a March 17 letter released last week. “We believe it is important to move forward with implementation of this mechanism to ensure that universal service funds are being used as cost effectively and efficiently as possible,” Wheeler said, noting the FCC will be considering a petition for reconsideration from the National Congress of American Indians. “In the meantime, however, please be assured that we will closely monitor the effects of the interim HCLS mechanism on rate-of-return carriers, particularly those that serve Indian Country, and will revisit this issue in the event that it has unanticipated results,” he said. Wheeler sent a different letter on the same topic to other lawmakers March 16. The FCC Office of Native Affairs and Policy “is considering potential dates in 2015 when I can meet personally with the Tribally-owned rate-of-return carriers to discuss their concerns,” he said in a letter to Sens. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M, and Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Reps. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., and Steve Pearce, R-N.M.
On the five-year anniversary of the FCC National Broadband Plan, representatives of anchor institutions said Tuesday at an event organized by groups including New America that there has been a decent amount of progress. Work remains, they said. With 2014’s E-rate overhaul and the establishment of the Connect America Fund and the Healthcare Connect Fund, the FCC is taking steps in the right direction, said Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition Executive Director John Windhausen, but a significant rural fiber gap remains. “We need to find a way to drive greater broadband investment out to these rural anchor institutions that need it the most, because otherwise, if we were to stop halfway -- where we are today -- the risk is that the rural gap would become even wider, so we really need to focus on the future going forward.”
On the five-year anniversary of the FCC National Broadband Plan, representatives of anchor institutions said Tuesday at an event organized by groups including New America that there has been a decent amount of progress. Work remains, they said. With 2014’s E-rate overhaul and the establishment of the Connect America Fund and the Healthcare Connect Fund, the FCC is taking steps in the right direction, said Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition Executive Director John Windhausen, but a significant rural fiber gap remains. “We need to find a way to drive greater broadband investment out to these rural anchor institutions that need it the most, because otherwise, if we were to stop halfway -- where we are today -- the risk is that the rural gap would become even wider, so we really need to focus on the future going forward.”
International Association of Fire Chiefs President Keith Bryant will testify about FirstNet Wednesday. He was added to the witness list for a Senate Commerce Committee oversight hearing on the first responder network, scheduled for 10 a.m. in 253 Russell (see 1503030058). Recently, the Congressional Research Service released a report, dated Feb. 27, on the progress of the building effort and issues for Capitol Hill to consider. Congress "may be interested in the composition of private sector partnerships formed by FirstNet and individual states, not only for their business plans but also for the inclusion of a wide variety of stakeholders,” the 26-page report said. “For example, are rural and tribal wireless carriers included as business partners? Do secondary access agreements support services that meet social goals, such as for telemedicine, or are they exclusively for commercial purposes? Is competition in providing wireless services being enhanced or hindered?” CRS also discussed the state opt-out provision and cited concern among industry observers if “many states choose to build their own radio access networks,” with costs then possibly going up as economies of scale are lost. “A state that has its plans approved by the FCC may not be able to meet stipulated requirements when its network is built; absent any action by the FCC to enforce technical requirements, the goal of seamless interoperability across all broadband systems may be jeopardized,” CRS noted. “States operating within and outside the FirstNet deployment plan may, over time, have difficulty in finding the funds to complete radio access network build-outs, leaving significant gaps in what is intended to be nationwide coverage.” Congress “may want to consider ways to ensure that FirstNet will be self-sustaining and that the states will have adequate funds to participate in FirstNet and to maintain public safety communications networks,” CRS said. A FirstNet spokesman declined comment on the report
The FCC should reconsider its Dec. 19 CAF order (see 1412110060) changing the national average cost per loop support mechanism because it will “substantially reduce” funding for broadband deployment to tribal lands and tribally owned carriers, the National Congress of American Indians wrote in a petition for reconsideration posted Monday in docket 10-90. The agency didn't follow the commission’s 2000 statement of policy on establishing a government-to-government relationship with Indian tribes by not consulting with tribes before adopting the order, the letter said. The FCC didn't comment Monday.