An NCTA proposal being eyed by the FCC to shrink the Universal Service Fund met with resistance from rural carriers that could lose high-cost support under the plan. The cable petition, which would set up a two-step process by which parties can ask the FCC to reassess universal service support levels for specific geographic areas, is one of several cost-saving measures under consideration by the FCC broadband team (CD Dec 10 p1). In comments last week, rural ILECs said adopting the proposal would undermine the National Broadband Plan.
It will take the FCC time to review results of an emergency alert system test in Alaska Wednesday, the agency said. “The results of this exercise will yield important information on where we need to improve the EAS system,” said Chief Jamie Barnett of the Public Safety Bureau. “We will need some time to analyze the results, but we intend to move quickly to improve the system. The FCC looks forward to working with FEMA, our other federal, state, tribal and local partners, as well as broadcasters and other EAS participants, as we use these results to improve future EAS exercises.”
The FCC should establish a separate Tribal Broadband Plan within the National Broadband Plan, the National Congress of American Indians and other groups said. Native Public Media, the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Initiative and the Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association offered additional ex parte comments on the broadband plan. The comments built on an earlier filing (CD Nov 12 p5) on an FCC request for comment on high-speed access on tribal lands.
Three forthcoming FCC radio orders likely will allow FM stations to increase digital power levels, set up a priority for some tribes to get new outlets, and declare winners for 60 licensees from a 2003 application window, said commission and industry officials. Media Bureau draft orders addressing an April rulemaking notice on rural radio services (CD April 22 p12) and the order on the auction both circulated in the past several weeks, they said. Neither is due for a quick vote, but they're not expected to be controversial among FCC members, officials said.
The FCC should establish a separate Tribal Broadband Plan within the National Broadband Plan, the National Congress of American Indians and other groups said. Native Public Media, the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Initiative and the Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association offered additional ex parte comments on the broadband plan. The comments built on an earlier filing on an FCC request for comment on high-speed access on tribal lands.
Vice President Joe Biden announced Thursday $182 million in broadband grants for 18 projects, in the first round of NTIA and RUS funding under the stimulus law. The grants benefit projects in 17 states and are matched by more than $46 million in private capital, Biden’s office said. A report by the president’s National Economic Council highlighted some of the winning projects, which aim to build last- and middle-mile infrastructure, connect community institutions and promote digital literacy and economic development. Two awards for middle-mile projects will go to public private-partnerships, the council said. One is a $39.7 million grant for a project in rural upstate New York by the ION company and the Development Authority of the North Country that will connect more than 100 anchor institutions and support connections to 250,000 households and 38,000 businesses, it said. Meanwhile, a partnership among service providers and the University of Maine got a $25.4 million grant to build three fiber rings across rural Maine. Middle-mile awards weren’t limited to partnerships. The administration gave a $33.5 million grant to the North Georgia Network Cooperative to build a 260-mile fiber ring in eight poor counties in the Appalachian region of North Carolina and northern Georgia. Meanwhile, The Consolidated Electric Cooperative will receive $2.4 million to build a 166-mile network in North Central Ohio, connecting 16 electric substations to support a smart grid effort, and allowing CEC to sell fiber to customers and last-mile providers. A last-mile grant for Rivada Sea Lion will bring low-cost broadband to 30,000 residents in 53 unserved, tribal communities in southwestern Alaska for the first time, the council said. The administration also gave a last-mile grant to Bretton Woods Telephone in New Hampshire for a fiber-to-the-home project that will connect 386 households, 19 businesses and six institutions with two-way, 20 Mbps broadband. The council highlighted a public computer center grant to the Arizona State Library Archives and Public Records, which will provide additional public computers to 84 libraries.
Vice President Joe Biden announced Thursday $182 million in broadband grants for 18 projects, in the first round of NTIA and RUS funding under the stimulus law. The grants benefit projects in 17 states and are matched by more than $46 million in private capital, Biden’s office said. A report by the president’s National Economic Council highlighted some of the winning projects, which aim to build last- and middle-mile infrastructure, connect community institutions and promote digital literacy and economic development.
"Daily Update on Capitol Hill Trade Actions" is a regular feature of International Trade Today. The following are brief summaries of recent Capitol Hill actions.
The FCC needs to make solving the digital divide a high priority for its broadband plan, Commissioner Michael Copps said at a Practising Law Institute conference Thursday. People are starting to realize that the broadband plan is not just “technospeak from broadband geeks” but can lead to policies that improve peoples’ lives, said Copps, who was introduced at the conference by Chairman Julius Genachowski. But if policymakers don’t get it right, the result could be “more and even wider divides in this country,” Copps said.
The FCC denied a February 2005 wireless industry petition for reconsideration seeking reversal of parts of the National Programmatic Agreement governing the review of proposed wireless towers and other communications facilities for their effects on historic properties. The petition had been filed by the Tower Siting Policy Alliance (TSPA), made up of T-Mobile, American Tower and Cingular, now AT&T Wireless. They objected to what they saw as overly burdensome archeological field surveys and overly permissive tribal exemptions from exclusions. The order was adopted Tuesday and released Thursday. It comes as the commission in creating the National Broadband Plan has increased its attention to siting matters.