The FCC announced Wednesday an in-person workshop on tribal issues on Feb. 27, hosted by the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians in Solvang, California. The workshop is “designed to provide information that will help Tribal Nations identify and evaluate opportunities to develop more robust broadband infrastructure and services in Tribal communities,” the FCC said: “It is also designed to provide information about the FCC and how it conducts its regulatory responsibilities, and to encourage Tribal participation in the regulatory process.” NTIA and the Rural Utilities Service were invited to participate, the FCC said. The workshop starts at 9 a.m. PST.
NTIA awarded $500,000 to Passamaquoddy at Pleasant Point, Maine, through the tribal broadband connectivity program Tuesday, said a news release. “Our tribal communities badly need better connectivity to thrive in the modern digital economy,” said Administrator Alan Davidson. The grant will "help the more than 240 Native households connect to telehealth, apply for jobs and access educational opportunities.”
Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., and Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., led filing Monday of the Rural Internet Improvement Act in a bid to bolster Agriculture Department broadband programs’ funding for rural areas. The measure, which Lujan and Thune first filed in November (see 2211290064), would combine USDA’s traditional broadband loan and grant program and the ReConnect program. It would also mandate that ReConnect funding goes only to areas in which 90% of households are unserved, and would make changes to the program’s challenge process. Thune’s office suggested the legislation is among his proposals for inclusion in the 2023 farm bill process. “Our bipartisan legislation would help bridge the digital divide by improving” ReConnect “to ensure its funding goes to truly unserved areas,” Thune said. The “difference between fast internet, slow internet, and no internet” must “change to bridge the digital divide that leaves rural and Tribal communities unconnected,” Lujan said. Sens. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., are co-sponsors. Thune’s office cited support from the American Farm Bureau Federation, NCTA, NTCA and other agricultural groups.
The FCC Wireline Bureau extended through April 30 its COVID-19 pandemic waiver of Lifeline recertification and reverification requirements for subscribers residing on tribal lands, said an order Monday in docket 11-42 (see 2301170051). The bureau also extended the waiver to tribal households participating in the affordable connectivity program, noting such subscribers "may have been required to respond to ACP recertification outreach during the waiver period."
Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., asked NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson Friday to “pause the disbursement” of money for its tribal broadband connectivity program (TBCP) until NTIA uses updated FCC broadband maps to “verify that all funds for applications submitted … will not be used to overbuild existing broadband service.” Thune also asked for a pause until NTIA addresses GAO’s call last week for the agency to institute better performance goals and measures for TBCP (see 2301240047) that can better “detect fraud” in the program. Thune and former Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., first raised concerns about TBCP in December (see 2212080051), soon after Thune began a bid for stronger oversight of all federal broadband programs. Davidson indicated in his response earlier this month to that initial query that NTIA was still reviewing the broadband maps the FCC released in November (see 2211100072), but “I am concerned that if NTIA does not use” the updated data “to review all TBCP application currently pending, awarded and disbursed,” the agency “will once again waste billions of taxpayer dollars” by funding overbuilding of existing networks, Thune said in a letter to Davidson we obtained. The GAO’s report, meanwhile, said NTIA hasn't done a fraud risk assessment of the program and the agency hasn’t “designated an entity to oversee fraud risk management.” “This mismanagement of the TBCP by NTIA is deeply concerning” since the agency already disbursed more than $1.7 billion in funding through the program, Thune said. NTIA didn’t comment.
The FCC will do more to help survivors of domestic violence get access to communications services during the agency's Feb. 16 meeting (see 2301250061). Commissioners will consider a draft NPRM on implementing the Safe Connections Act. The draft item would seek comment on the law's requirement that mobile providers separate a survivor's phone line from an abuser within two business days after receiving the request, said a fact sheet. The item would seek comment on whether there are "operational and technical limitations" that covered providers may face to complete such a request. It also proposes to require that consumer-facing call logs and text message records omit calls or texts made to hotlines listed in a central database created by the commission and updated monthly. If adopted, the item will seek comment on ways to streamline enrollment in Lifeline and the affordable connectivity program for survivors facing financial hardship. "We believe that these measures will aid survivors who lack meaningful support and communications options when establishing independence from an abuser," the draft item said. Comments would be due 30 days after Federal Register publication, 60 days for replies. The agency will also seek comment on ways to encourage tribal participation in E-rate, said a draft NPRM also set for the February agenda. The draft item asks for feedback on creating a separate or extended filing window for tribal libraries, simplifying E-rate cost allocation rules, and increasing the maximum discount rate level and funding floor for tribal schools and libraries. It also seeks comment on allowing tribal college libraries to be eligible for E-rate funds, defining “Tribal” in E-rate and adding a tribal representative to the Universal Service Administrative Corp. The draft also asks whether “similar reforms may be needed to encourage greater participation by non-Tribal applicants, particularly if they face barriers that impede equitable access” to E-rate. The draft NPRM would also direct the Office of Native Affairs and Policy and the Wireline Bureau to “conduct government-to-government consultation as appropriate with Tribal Nations” on the issues raised in the NPRM. Comments would be due 45 days after FR publication, replies 75 days after.
The FCC will consider an item to help domestic violence survivors get access to "safe and affordable connectivity" during the commissioners' Feb. 16 open meeting, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel wrote in a Wednesday note (see 2208190056). Rosenworcel will meet with My Sister's Place, a shelter in Washington, D.C., next week to "help to ensure these ongoing efforts are informed by the experiences of domestic violence survivors and the organizations that serve them," she said. Rosenworcel said commissioners will consider proposed rules under the Safe Connections Act, including rules to "help survivors separate service lines from accounts that include their abusers, protect the privacy of calls made by survivors to domestic abuse hotlines, and support survivors who suffer from financial hardship access our Lifeline and affordable connectivity programs" (see 2212070055). Also on the agenda is an item seeking comment on ways to improve a pilot program aimed at increasing tribal library enrollment in the E-rate program (see 2210200046). "Libraries are a vital source of internet access across Indian country," Rosenworcel said. Commissioners will also consider an adjudicatory matter from the Media Bureau.
Minnesota is seeking to end its digital divide with incoming support from NTIA’s broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, said members of Minnesota’s congressional delegation and state government officials at a partially virtual workshop Wednesday. More money and state legislation will probably be required to finish the job, said local government and workers’ union officials on a panel.
The FCC identified tentative selectees in 34 groups of mutually exclusive applications for noncommercial educational FM construction permits from the November 2021 NCE window, said a unanimously approved order Tuesday. The selectees include Gentry Communications Network’s application for Sulphur Springs, Arkansas; Remanente Broadcasting Network’s application for Boron, California; and Teleamerica Communications West Palm Beach’s application for Key West, Florida. The bureau made the choices using a ranking and point system based on which applicant would cover the largest area and population, and favors tribal groups and applicants with fewer other radio authorizations, the PN said. Petitions to deny the applications of the selectees are due 30 days after the order. The order had been listed on the FCC's January open meeting agenda as an adjudicatory item, an FCC spokesperson told us.
NTIA needs better performance goals and measures for its tribal broadband connectivity and broadband infrastructure programs or it will struggle to track progress, GAO said Tuesday. It said management of them has been generally in line with recommended practices for grant awarding, though slow, and goals and measures for the programs don't include all primary functions, nor are they fully quantifiable. NTIA also needs to improve its fraud risk management, GAO said. Several Commerce offices have roles in fraud risk management, but none was designated as lead and NTIA didn't do a fraud risk assessment, the report said. Among GAO's 15 recommendations are designating a dedicated entity to lead fraud risk management activities for the programs, and defining broadband affordability and reliability so the programs' performance goals are quantifiable and measurable. NTIA didn't comment.