House Communications Subcommittee members focused on the spectrum policy fracas between the Commerce Department and the FCC during a Tuesday hearing to a far greater extent than expected (see 1907150020). The quarrel involves NASA and NOAA concerns about potential effects of commercial use of spectrum on the 24 GHz band, sold in the recent FCC auction, on federal technology using adjacent frequencies (see 1905230037). Lawmakers also showed significant interest in the debate over the best plan for clearing spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C-band, though an industry-focused panel that appeared centered on the issue was truncated amid House votes.

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The FCC is sharing illustrative examples of how Universal Service Administrative Co. recovers money from participants in the alternative Connect America model (A-CAM) program that don't provide the highest level of service they contracted to offer to as many locations as promised. It said in docket 10-90 a carrier's flexibility to serve 95 percent of its required obligations by the end of a 10-year term without penalty "may not be disproportionately applied to 25/3 Mbps obligations, rather than its 10/1 Mbps obligations." The agency upholds separate buildout obligations for tribal lands if the participating carrier elects an offer including an adjustment based on the tribal broadband factor: "Failing to enforce separate buildout obligations for Tribal lands would result in windfall support amounts for some A-CAM II carriers and would thwart the Commission's established goal of broadband deployment in rural Tribal communities." Industry raised concerns models used to develop buildout obligations for some rural USF programs don't resemble reality (see 1906210010). Some groups want to make sure a second broadband connection delivered to a residence for a distinct home office or business counts as a location (see 1907110003).

Lawmaker interest in the draft order on improving its broadband coverage data collection practices continued Wednesday and Thursday before its afternoon release (see 1907110071). The order and broadband mapping legislation came up repeatedly during a House Agriculture Commodity Exchanges Subcommittee hearing. A day earlier, the Senate Commerce Committee scuttled a planned markup of the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (Data) Act (S-1822), one of several measures seen as potentially influencing the proposal's direction (see 1907100061).

Lawmaker interest in the draft order on improving its broadband coverage data collection practices continued Wednesday and Thursday before its afternoon release (see 1907110071). The order and broadband mapping legislation came up repeatedly during a House Agriculture Commodity Exchanges Subcommittee hearing. A day earlier, the Senate Commerce Committee scuttled a planned markup of the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (Data) Act (S-1822), one of several measures seen as potentially influencing the proposal's direction (see 1907100061).

The FCC would use two reverse auctions to distribute $20.4 billion in funding over the next decade through a Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) that Chairman Ajit Pai announced at the White House in April (see 1904120008), per a draft NPRM released Thursday. The new USF program (in docket 19-126) would help deliver broadband service tiers of at least 25/3 Mbps to rural communities unserved and underserved. The draft circulated Wednesday; commissioners will vote on it at their Aug. 1 meeting (see 1907100072).

The FCC’s Aug. 1 commissioners’ meeting will be headlined by proposed rulemakings on robocalls and the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, per the tentative agenda and drafts released Thursday late afternoon. Members will vote on an NPRM on low-power FM technical rules, orders on 911 location and small satellites, plus items on a toll-free number auction and local franchising authority over cable.

The FCC approved revised rules for the 2.5 GHz educational broadband service band over partial dissents at the commissioners' meeting Wednesday by Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks. The biggest change from the draft order was that instead of single 100 and 16 MHz licenses, the FCC will offer two 50 MHz licenses. The order also contains language (see 1907030043) sought by Commissioner Brendan Carr addressing licenses held by national nonprofits. Rosenworcel and Starks dissented to all of the order except provisions preserving a filing window for tribal entities seeking new EBS licenses.

A $100 million Connected Care telehealth pilot is expected to get the go-ahead with bipartisan support Wednesday when FCC commissioners vote at their Wednesday meeting, said agency officials. It also received broad support from patient advocates and telehealth interests, as announced Monday by Commissioner Brendan Carr, who's spearheading the pilot. A draft NPRM released last month asks for stakeholder feedback on how to structure the plan to provide broadband support to homes in a pilot that would test the efficacy of telehealth services and remote patient monitoring (see 1906190013).

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee set a July 17 hearing on the findings in a 2018 GAO study on tribal spectrum access. The report, sought by the committee, said the FCC needs to improve outreach to tribal governments to improve those entities' access to spectrum (see 1811140069). The hearing will begin at 2:30 p.m. in 628 Dirksen, Indian Affairs said.