Consumer and tribal groups asked the FCC to extend the 2.5 GHz rural tribal priority window deadline. Public Knowledge, the National Congress of American Indians, Amerind Risk Management and Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association filed an emergency motion for stay, said a Wednesday release. The pandemic “impacted American Indians and Alaska Natives on Tribal lands harder than any other community in America, a situation further aggravated by the lack of reliable broadband on Tribal lands,” the groups told the FCC: “Unless the Commission extends the Tribal Window, hundreds of eligible Tribal nations will miss this unique opportunity to provide 5G service to their people.” Chairman Ajit Pai told lawmakers in June the commission is watching the window and considering extending it past the Aug. 3 end date (see 2006300084). Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel supported giving the tribes more time (see 2004290055). “My feeling from talking to the chairman's office is that it really is under consideration, so we remain hopeful,” PK Senior Vice President Harold Feld told us. One problem is that Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma is the only Capitol Hill Republican to support an extension, Feld said. “We need more Republicans to express support so this doesn't look like it's something partisan,” he said: “We had bipartisan support last year to ask the FCC to give a 180-day window rather than a 90-day window, which the FCC ultimately did, and … we need the same kind of bipartisan showing here.” The filing was posted Wednesday in docket 18-120.

Verizon Wireless received emergency relief from the FCC for installing small cells and other wireless facilities serving tribal areas, the University of New Mexico and the university’s hospital. Verizon sought relief under a June 25 Wireless Bureau notice “announcing an electronic process for FCC licensees to apply for emergency authorization to resume standard historic preservation review for qualifying critical infrastructure projects during this COVID-19 crisis,” staff said Monday.

Public Knowledge spoke with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai on its request the FCC extend the 2.5 GHz tribal priority application window beyond Aug. 3 (see 2007060037), until Feb. 1. “Getting quick approval from tribal governments is particularly difficult during this unprecedented time, especially because the FCC asks the Tribes to weigh all of the factors that go into creating and maintaining a network before applying,” PK said in a filing posted Monday in docket 18-120.

The FCC Wireless Bureau approved emergency authorization Friday for AT&T and FirstNet to deploy wireless facilities in seven tribal areas. Governors selected the projects in their respective states “as high-priority public safety locations for FirstNet to deploy,” AT&T told the commission: “AT&T plans to deploy these high-priority sites as soon as possible ... and these sites will be operational to provide communications to first responders from that date forward, both during and after” the pandemic.

The FCC is considering expanded exemptions to ex parte rules to cover some discussions with tribal nations and with the toll-free numbering and reassigned numbers database administrators, said a draft NPRM in Friday's Daily Digest. It also seeks comment on a proposed requirement that all written ex parte presentations be submitted before the sunshine period begins and that replies to them be filed by the first day of the sunshine period. The commission said it still encourages tribal nations to file comments and replies into the record, but it understands their interest in consulting on a government-to-government basis without concern about documenting such consultations on the rulemaking record in every case. The proposed exemption would be limited to consultations with tribal leaders or their representatives, and not individual tribal members or tribally owned businesses. The agency asked for input on whether any information a tribal government presents during an exempt consultation would need to be disclosed on the record for the FCC to rely on it when making a decision. The proposed program administrators exemption would extend to them the same exemption covering consultations between FCC staff and the interstate telecom services fund administrator, Universal Service Administrative Co. and administrators for the North American numbering plan, local number portability, telephone relay services numbering and pooling involving their administrative functions. The role between the FCC and the toll-free numbering administrator or reassigned numbers database administrator "is substantially the same" as it is between the agency and those other administrators, thus the exemption extension would harmonize the rules, it said. The FCC said the current sunshine period rules have meant staff difficulty at times evaluating all relevant filings in the limited time before an agency meeting. Free Press Vice President-Policy Matt Wood tweeted he's "not too alarmed" by the proposal because the intergovernmental and administrative privileges the FCC has are expanding but also harmonizing. "Sure, I'd like to know what USAC says to the FCC [but] I worry more about what this FCC says to USAC, not the other way round," he said. He said speeding up filings for meetings on the day before sunshine starts is "pro transparency." Smaller filers and nongovernmental organizations might find it harder to comply than big companies, but the latter meet more often with the FCC and the staff review time rational "is pretty compelling," he said.

The House Appropriations Committee voted by voice Thursday to advance the Agriculture Subcommittee’s FY 2021 bill, which includes a major increase the Agriculture Department's rural broadband funding allocation. The panel urged USDA in a report on the measure to examine how it can address broadband mapping issues separate from the FCC and do more on precision agriculture and connectivity in tribal areas. House Appropriations also released its report on the Legislative Branch Subcommittee’s FY21 bill, which includes $91.4 million for the Copyright Office (see 2007070063).

The House Appropriations Committee voted by voice Thursday to advance the Agriculture Subcommittee’s FY 2021 bill, which includes a major increase the Agriculture Department's rural broadband funding allocation. The panel urged USDA in a report on the measure to examine how it can address broadband mapping issues separate from the FCC and do more on precision agriculture and connectivity in tribal areas. House Appropriations also released its report on the Legislative Branch Subcommittee’s FY21 bill, which includes $91.4 million for the Copyright Office (see 2007070063).

Public Knowledge, the National Hispanic Media Coalition and New America’s Open Technology Institute were among more than a dozen groups urging Congress to extend the 2.5 GHz tribal priority application window until Feb. 1, citing the “significant impact the COVID-19 crisis has had on American Indian Tribes.” Chairman Ajit Pai told lawmakers in June the commission is watching the window with an eye on extending it past the Aug. 3 end date (see 2006300084). The groups wrote House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., before a Wednesday hearing on the pandemic’s impact on tribes. Those communities “have faced significant hurdles to finishing their applications on time due to the COVID-19 crisis,” the groups said. They noted “the vast majority of application workshops were canceled, as were other forms of in-person outreach.” Surveys “of tribal lands to confirm maps have been difficult to complete, and requests for waivers based on survey data are time consuming due to the impacts of COVID-19,” the groups said. “Stay-at-home orders have delayed tribal decision making” and “an extension will not impact timely filers, nor the 2.5 GHz auction. All these obstacles are further aggravated by the lack of broadband access, basic telephone service, or reliable electric power on many tribal lands.”

The House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee approved by voice vote Wednesday major funding increases for the FCC and FTC for FY 2021. The bill includes $60 billion in broadband infrastructure grants and money to implement the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act (HR-4998) and Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act broadband mapping law (S-1822). Riders on other telecom policy issues may make an appearance once the full committee marks up the measure, lawmakers and lobbyists told us.

Extend the 2.5 GHz tribal priority application window beyond Aug. 3, through February, Public Knowledge officials told an aide to FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. COVID-19 means “the vast majority of application workshops were canceled, as were other forms of in-person outreach,” surveys of tribal lands to confirm maps “have been difficult to complete, and requests for waivers based on survey data are time consuming” and “stay-at-home orders have delayed tribal decision making,” PK said Monday in docket 18-120.