Louisiana, New Hampshire, Virginia and West Virginia will receive a combined $582.8 million for broadband projects connecting more than 200,000 homes and businesses, as part of the first tranche of money from the Treasury Department-administered $10 billion American Rescue Plan Act Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund, Treasury said Tuesday. The department approved $219.8 million in broadband money for Virginia, $176.7 million for Louisiana, $136.3 million for West Virginia and $50 million for New Hampshire. The COVID-19 pandemic “turned so many aspects of life online from work to school and laid bare the urgency of closing the digital divide for all Americans -- especially those living in rural, Tribal, and low-income communities,” said Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo. “Treasury’s broadband funding represents a significant step in the Biden-Harris Administration’s unprecedented investment to increase access to high-speed internet and reduce broadband bills for every American household and business.” The White House highlighted the Treasury money as part of a combined $25 billion in broadband funding included in ARPA. ACA Connects, Incompas and New America’s Open Technology Institute hailed Treasury’s approval of the money.

The National Tribal Telecommunications Association and WTA backed NTCA's request to waive FCC rules regarding the affordable connectivity program's uniform 30-day non-usage tracking requirement for small providers offering fully subsidized plans to households on tribal lands. It's "expensive for small service providers on a per-customer basis, and discourages small provider participation," said WTA, in comments posted Friday in docket 21-450 (see 2205180062). The rule may also harm consumers who were "away from their homes for extended periods" due to "innocent and legitimate causes," the group said. NTTA said its members' ability to track usage this way "does not currently exist outside of a labor-intensive, manual process." It supported a "billing month basis" instead. NTTA also backed delaying the rule's implementation until Sept. 15.

Some changes were made to a draft FCC order and Further NPRM targeting gateway providers and foreign-originated robocalls, in the version adopted by commissioners Thursday, as expected, according to our comparison from the draft (see 2205190023). The order maintained the requirement that gateway providers implement a Stir/Shaken C-level attestation, saying "the benefits will be significant, and the sooner we act, the sooner the public will obtain these benefits." The FNPRM included a TransNexus-sought question about whether to allow third-party Stir/Shaken authentication. An NPRM seeking comment on an Alternative Connect America Cost Model Broadband Coalition proposal to extend the program also included some changes. The notice included a question about whether participating providers should be required to participate in the affordable connectivity program. It also seeks comment on "how to address intergovernmental coordination and eligibility for locations on tribal lands."

The FCC Wireline Bureau wants comments by May 26 on NTCA's petition to waive the affordable connectivity program's rolling 30-day non-usage rule for small providers offering fully subsidized plans to tribal households, said a public notice Wednesday in docket 21-450 (see 2205130069). NTCA also asked as an alternative to set a Sept. 15 effective date for the rule.

NTCA asked the FCC to grant a waiver of the affordable connectivity program's "uniform, rolling 30-day" non-usage period for small providers that offer a fully subsidized plan to tribal households, said a petition posted Friday in docket 21-450. The group also sought a waiver for ACP subscribers that qualified through Lifeline. The rule "requires an automated functionality that many of these entities do not have," NTCA said, asking the FCC to allow small providers serving tribal consumers to abide by emergency broadband benefit program rules on non-usage. AT&T is also seeking a targeted waiver for consumers receiving asymmetric digital subscriber line services (see 2205090056).

NTIA released notices of funding opportunity Friday for applicants interested in its broadband, equity, access and deployment, middle-mile grant, and state digital equity planning grant programs funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The agency cited “end-to-end fiber-optic architecture” as priority broadband projects and encouraged states to give the greatest consideration to subgrantees committed to providing 1 Gbps services at an affordable rate as part of the BEAD program.

Preparing for and responding to disasters is “truly a partnership” among different levels of government and industry, said FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief Debra Jordan at an FCBA virtual event Wednesday. The FCC works hard “at building relationships at the state, the regional and the national level, so when there's a disaster we can ... partner and immediately begin jumping on the task [at] hand, and hopefully have a level of trust going into this." The commission plans to do outreach this summer on how states and others can access its disaster information reporting system (DIRS) and network outage reporting system (D) databases, said Jordan. The FCC adopted a framework last year to provide access to state, federal and tribal nations, with information sharing rules taking effect in September, she said. “We will have an application process that will grant agencies access to this information after certifying to requirements for maintaining the confidentiality of the data, as well as the security of the databases.” Jordan urged more collaboration on wireless emergency alert testing to address lingering issues with geofencing and delivery. The FCC used to respond mainly to hurricanes, but climate change is bringing more wildfires, tornadoes and severe winter storms, noted the bureau chief. Communications industry compliance is “high” but “not where we want it to be” with the California Public Utilities Commission’s 72-hour backup power requirements for wireline and wireless facilities, said CPUC Communications Division Director Robert Osborn. “It's not 100%.” The COVID-19 pandemic made it tougher for staff to visit sites to confirm backup power is present, but the agency is hoping to do more soon, he said. Distinguishing between traditional and IP-based networks on resiliency is a “thing of the past,” said Osborn. “We really just need to focus on the communication grid as a critical infrastructure.” Since the CPUC efforts, “we’ve seen a dramatic improvement in the resiliency of our networks,” said California Office of Emergency Services 911 Branch Manager Budge Currier. “They’re surviving a little bit better during disasters.”

The FCC is “forecasting” it will have its revised broadband coverage data maps “possibly” in November, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said during a Wednesday Senate Appropriations Commerce Subcommittee hearing. Raimondo urged swift conference committee action to marry elements of the House-passed America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength Act (HR-4521) and Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260). She also touted her role in drumming up international support for U.S.-backed ITU secretary-general candidate Doreen Bogdan-Martin.

Citing guidance from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, multiple states told us they won't widely promote use of 988 as a way to access the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline even after the July 16 deadline for 988 to go live nationwide. At least some anticipate widespread campaigns in the second half of 2023. Lifeline administrator Vibrant Emotional Health didn't comment.

The Biden administration’s Monday announcement (see 2205060046) that 20 ISPs committed to offer low-income households broadband plans with download speeds of at least 100 Mbps at no more than $30 per month got a mixed reception among communications policy stakeholders. All of the participating ISPs -- which include Altice, AT&T, Charter, Comcast, Cox, Frontier, Mediacom and Verizon -- were already part of the FCC’s affordable connectivity program that subsidizes qualifying households’ broadband up to $30 per month. The White House said the participating ISPs cover more than 80% of the U.S. population.