The FCC broadband data task force scheduled a virtual workshop Sept. 28 at 4 p.m. EDT to give state, local and tribal governments, ISPs and other entities technical assistance on how to file bulk challenges in the broadband serviceable location fabric, said a public notice Thursday in docket 19-195 (see 2209150075).
To close the digital literacy gap and maximize federal dollars for increasing broadband access, programs and institutions need to focus on local solutions, existing community programs, and community anchor institutions like libraries, said numerous panelists at the FCC Communications Equity and Diversity Council’s virtual Digital Skills Gap Symposium and Town Hall Thursday. The symposium is intended to help inform the CEDC’s efforts to create a national plan and toolkit for digital upskilling in connection with the Digital Equity Act, said CEDC Chair Heather Gate.
The FCC will release a notice of funding opportunity “in the coming months” for organizations seeking funding through the affordable connectivity program’s outreach grant program, said Derik Goatson, Office of Native Affairs Policy legal adviser, during a Consumer Action webinar Tuesday (see 2208050023). The grant program’s review process will “prioritize applicants who target underserved low-income households and communities with low ACP enrollment rates,” Goatson said, noting “many of these communities are often tribal communities.”
A July order that modifies partitioning, disaggregation and leasing rules to create an enhanced competition incentive program is effective Oct. 20, said a notice for Tuesday’s Federal Register. Commissioners approved the ECIP 4-0 (see 2207140055). “The ECIP will promote greater competition in the provision of wireless services, facilitate increased availability of advanced wireless services in rural areas, facilitate new opportunities for small carriers and Tribal Nations to increase access to spectrum, and bring more advanced wireless service including 5G to underserved communities,” the notice said.
Top government speakers promised on Monday the U.S. government is moving forward on a long-awaited national spectrum strategy. But a top DOD official at NTIA’s Spectrum Policy Symposium warned federal users also have strong continuing needs, and clearing 3.1-3.45 GHz, a top candidate band for 5G, would be prohibitively expensive.
Wireless provider Smith Bagley sought a three-month extension of its Lifeline waivers for Indian country, through Dec. 22. “Subscribers in the Navajo Nation continue to face unique circumstances that are a barrier to complying with the Lifeline and [affordable connectivity program] documentation rules,” Smith Bagley said in a filing posted Friday in docket 11-42: “The conditions that were present when the Commission granted the last waiver in June 2022 have not changed, as customers on Tribal lands are still suffering from the impacts of COVID-19, while contending with the lack of Internet and mail service and other challenges associated with living in remote Tribal areas.”
House Agriculture Committee leaders eyed how to address broadband issues in the 2023 farm bill during a Thursday hearing, with panel ranking member Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., and some others noting dissatisfaction with the degree to which the $65 billion in connectivity money included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act would affect rural areas. “Rural broadband will continue to be a major focus” for House Agriculture despite House passage of IIJA’s connectivity money instead of the panel-approved Broadband Internet Connections for Rural America Act (HR-4374), which included $43 billion to Rural Utilities Service programs for FY 2022-29 (see 2107140061), said panel Chairman David Scott, D-Ga.
It’s “really important” that states take advantage of the FCC’s new broadband maps and challenge process before NTIA allocates its funding for the broadband, equity, access and deployment program, said Technology Policy Institute President Scott Wallsten during a Fiber Broadband Association webinar Wednesday. “The purpose of the maps is for NTIA to decide how much money every state will get,” Wallsten said, but “states are not obligated to use that map.”
In one of its first hybrid events since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the FCC on Tuesday held an all-day environmental compliance workshop at its new headquarters. Staff presented and took questions on the FCC’s tower construction notification system, requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act and the rules for working with Native American tribes. “Your role in the process of reviewing and deploying wireless infrastructure is absolutely critical,” said Joel Taubenblatt, acting chief of the Wireless Bureau. “During the last few years during the pandemic, we've seen the importance of communications services across the country and wireless services,” he said: “We've seen how [the pandemic] has changed the way people interact with work, with schools, with their medical service providers, and with their family and friends. … We have seen how all of you have adjusted during this period of time to make sure that the review and deployment of wireless facilities can continue.” Daniela Arregui, Enforcement Bureau attorney adviser, underscored the importance of following FCC environmental rules. “Never start construction, including breaking ground, clearing brush, cutting trees, prior to completing the requirement of the environmental review,” she said. “It is important to document, authorize, and review each element of the project during each phase of construction,” she said: “Notify and actively engage with the state historic preservation officers and the tribal historic preservation officers throughout the process. Applicants should be doing more than minimally following up on an electronic Section 106 notification or responding to inquiries.” Notify the Wireless Bureau and the Enforcement bureaus “when you suspect a violation,” she said. Answer FCC inquiries whenever they are posed, Arregui said. “A letter of inquiry is a commission order” and “recipients are required to respond timely, fully, and completely,” she said. “Even if there is no substantive violation, the failure to respond completely can, itself, result in significant monetary penalties,” she said.
Coalition of Large Tribes acting Executive Director OJ Semans disputed claims by Public Knowledge Government Affairs Director Greg Guice about influences "that are not tribal" on the group’s August letter to Senate Commerce Committee leaders opposing FCC nominee Gigi Sohn’s confirmation (see 2208300058). “Neither COLT nor” any of its staff nor its member tribes “took a dime from anyone” to write the letter, Semans emailed us: “The letter was presented by me at our quarterly meeting hosted at the Navajo Nation” Aug. 15-16. COLT tribal “leaders discussed their own regrettable experiences with Ms. Sohn and her very concerning record and voted unanimously to have” Chairman Kevin Killer send the letter, Semans said.