Supporters of a proposal to reallocate the 12 GHz band for 5G think the proposal will likely move forward in coming months, buoyed by responses by FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Brendan Carr to members of Congress last week, as a follow-up to the recent House hearing. Meanwhile, Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen offered a candid assessment of the future of DBS spectrum in a presentation to analysts.
A draft FCC order that would impose certain requirements on gateway providers would help efforts to curb illegal robocalls originating abroad and is likely to be unanimously adopted during commissioners' Thursday meeting, industry executives told us (see 2204280059). Some providers sought clarifying language in the draft, saying it would streamline efforts and further disrupt bad actors. Several said a requirement for a Stir/Shaken C-level attestation would be too costly.
NTIA released notices of funding opportunity Friday for applicants interested in its broadband, equity, access and deployment, middle-mile grant, and state digital equity planning grant programs funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The agency cited “end-to-end fiber-optic architecture” as priority broadband projects and encouraged states to give the greatest consideration to subgrantees committed to providing 1 Gbps services at an affordable rate as part of the BEAD program.
The Biden administration’s Monday announcement (see 2205060046) that 20 ISPs committed to offer low-income households broadband plans with download speeds of at least 100 Mbps at no more than $30 per month got a mixed reception among communications policy stakeholders. All of the participating ISPs -- which include Altice, AT&T, Charter, Comcast, Cox, Frontier, Mediacom and Verizon -- were already part of the FCC’s affordable connectivity program that subsidizes qualifying households’ broadband up to $30 per month. The White House said the participating ISPs cover more than 80% of the U.S. population.
E-rate groups and industry broadly rejected the FCC’s proposal to establish a centralized online bidding portal for the E-rate program, as expected (see 2112070053). Groups asked the agency to abandon the NPRM, saying the record doesn’t reflect a need for such a change to E-rate, in comments posted Thursday in docket 21-455.
Incompas asked FCC Wireline Bureau and Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff to "consider a minor change" to the proposed definition of a gateway provider in the FCC's NPRM aimed at curbing illegal robocalls, said an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 17-59 (see 2112130046). The group proposed defining gateway providers as "the first intermediate provider in the call path of a foreign-originated call that receives traffic at its U.S.-based facilities before transmitting the call directly to another intermediate provider or a terminating voice service provider in the U.S." Require gateway providers to comply with requirements that other intermediate providers follow instead of "obligations the commission has not assigned to other classes of voice service providers," Incompas said. It also asked the FCC to "preserve providers' call blocking flexibility" to prevent over or under blocking.
The Treasury Department is now accepting states’ grant and program plans for its $10 billion Capital Projects Fund, said Joseph Wender, the program’s director, during an Incompas webinar Wednesday (see 2203310037). “We are officially open for business,” Wender said, adding his office is in the process of approving funding applications and expects initial awards to be announced “in months.”
Incompas asked FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff to "clarify the purpose" of the agency's forthcoming consumer broadband labels and the term ISP "to clarify who is required to provide the broadband labels," said an ex parte post on Thursday in docket 22-2 (see 2203100059). Incompas said providers offering business data services or broadband to enterprise and government customers shouldn't be required to provide labels because "[t]hese are sophisticated customers that negotiate their contracts and know exactly which services they are receiving." The group also asked that E-rate and rural healthcare program providers be excluded from the requirement because their customers "participate in the competitive bidding process where they specify the exact services they need." Give providers the option to add symmetrical speeds and reliability to the label, Incompas added. "These two service qualities have become very important for customers and would permit competitive providers to distinguish their services," the group said, backing an online glossary of terms housed on the FCC's website.
Competitors raised concerns with Delaware limiting eligibility for $56 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to big ISPs with existing cable franchises. Competitive telecom groups said they hoped for open and technology-neutral bidding processes there and in other states. A Delaware official defended the state program’s eligibility restriction, which excluded a Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) winner, as an “edge-out” strategy to extend broadband more quickly.
Competitors raised concerns with Delaware limiting eligibility for $56 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to big ISPs with existing cable franchises. Competitive telecom groups said they hoped for open and technology-neutral bidding processes there and in other states. A Delaware official defended the state program’s eligibility restriction, which excluded a Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) winner, as an “edge-out” strategy to extend broadband more quickly.