Incumbents Battle Rival Telcos on School and Library E-rate Overbuild Rules

Incumbent rural broadband carriers and competitors disagreed on a petition from Texas carriers asking the FCC to prohibit E-rate funding overbuilding fiber networks for schools and libraries (see 1905230005). In comments posted to docket 13-184 through Tuesday, incumbents said competitive bidding rules can favor large, regional providers over local rural carriers and lead to inefficient government spending. Opponents said the proposals could stifle broadband competition, raise prices for rural schools and libraries, and drive up USF costs. NTCA wants the FCC to initiate a rulemaking as requested by the Texas telcos to develop safeguards in its competitive bidding process to ensure USF E-rate and high-cost programs don't cannibalize each other and waste resources. It asked that existing providers be given an opportunity to respond when a school or library files an application for self-construction so the incumbent could match the price. Incompas urged the FCC to deny the petition, saying "the proposal would significantly distort the competitive process, result in higher prices, add significant delay for applicants trying to upgrade their broadband services, and likely compel schools and libraries to select the incumbent provider to receive E-rate funding in a timely fashion." Significant competition in the E-rate program resulted in lower prices and increased bandwidth, Incompas said. USTelecom seeks NPRM issuance "expeditiously" to ensure rules are clear going into the 2020 E-rate funding year. It said the petition "does not go far enough in its requested relief" and ignores the plight of providers that are consistently overbuilt with E-rate funding. The Consortium for School Networking and the Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition opposed the petition. They said the changes "would serve as a barrier to competition" and could make it appear the FCC is "picking winners and losers" by insulating existing providers from competitive market forces. Uniti Fiber opposes the petition because the revamp would delay E-rate funding to eligible schools and libraries. "The requested changes add an additional 180 days when existing incumbents providers could review, challenge, and negotiate following the competitive bidding process," the company said, on top of the full year the competitive bidding and approval process can take.