The FCC is opening Lifeline enrollment to those newly unemployed during the pandemic. Instead of requiring three consecutive months of income documentation, new enrollees can submit an unemployment benefits statement or other official evidence of current income status, it ordered Wednesday. The order extends, also through June 30, previous waiver of recertification, reverification, general de-enrollment and usage requirements. Many advocacy groups and companies wrote Congress backing more spending on broadband for the underserved (see 2004240014) as part of COVID-19 stimulus. Signers include NTCA, the Fiber Broadband Association, Incompas, Mozilla, Twitter, NATOA, Public Knowledge, NAACP and the R Street Institute.

The FCC is opening Lifeline enrollment to those newly unemployed during the pandemic. Instead of requiring three consecutive months of income documentation, new enrollees can submit an unemployment benefits statement or other official evidence of current income status, it ordered Wednesday. The order extends, also through June 30, previous waiver of recertification, reverification, general de-enrollment and usage requirements. Many advocacy groups and companies wrote Congress backing more spending on broadband for the underserved (see 2004240014) as part of COVID-19 stimulus. Signers include NTCA, the Fiber Broadband Association, Incompas, Mozilla, Twitter, NATOA, Public Knowledge, NAACP and the R Street Institute.

Lawmakers and private sector entities pressed Capitol Hill leaders Wednesday to include broadband funding and local media aid language in a coming COVID-19 package. Both issues have been identified as potential priorities (see 2004210060). More than 120 House members signed on to a letter led by House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I., and ranking member Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., urging House leaders to support a bid by NAB and other news media groups to make broadcasters and local newspapers eligible for Paycheck Protection Program funding (see 2004200001). Free Press, Incompas, NTCA, Public Knowledge, the Rural Wireless Association and Twitter were among more than 200 entities that urged Hill leaders to use the next COVID-19 bill to “support access to affordable” broadband. “Hundreds of individual broadcasters and news publishers were not eligible for loan relief because they were affiliated with larger groups whose total employee count was more than 500 spread across various stations or newspapers,” Cicilline and the other lawmakers said. Signers included House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and ranking member Doug Collins, R-Ga.

There's no consensus whether mobile and fixed communications services are complementary or substitutes in docket 20-60 comments this week for the FCC's communications market competitiveness report to Congress. The agency got requests for further smoothing access to poles and rights of way for wireline broadband access.

Some want more clarity about the FCC's role regulating broadband, said comments posted through Tuesday. The agency asked to refresh dockets including 17-287, on how broadband service's reclassification as an information, not telecom, service affects authority over Lifeline, pole attachment agreements and public safety. Commenters disagreed whether the FCC should reconsider based on the public safety considerations.

U.S. communications networks are holding up under increased demand during a pandemic, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Thursday, after a conference call with industry groups and companies. He said providers report network usage up 20-35% for fixed networks and 10-20% for cellular networks in recent weeks, with increased demand in suburban, exurban and residential areas and during daytime. He said no providers expressed concern about their networks' capacity. Pai said the resilience is "in part to networks being designed to handle ever-higher peak traffic loads and in part to a market-based regulatory framework that has promoted infrastructure investment and deployment." He said the agency will "continue to closely monitor the situation." The FCC said the call was with ACA Connects, the Cloud Communications Alliance, Competitive Carriers Association, CTIA, Incompas, NCTA, NTCA, Rural Wireless Association, Satellite Industry Association, Wireless ISP Association, Western Telecommunications Alliance, Altice, AT&T, CenturyLink, Charter, Cincinnati Bell, Consolidated Communications, Comcast, Cox, Dish Network, Frontier, Hughes, Mediacom, Northwest Fiber, Sprint, T-Mobile, TDS, TracFone, U.S. Cellular, Verizon, ViaSat and Windstream. President Donald Trump spoke similarly this week with major ISPs (see 2003310070).

U.S. communications networks are holding up under increased demand during a pandemic, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Thursday, after a conference call with industry groups and companies. He said providers report network usage up 20-35% for fixed networks and 10-20% for cellular networks in recent weeks, with increased demand in suburban, exurban and residential areas and during daytime. He said no providers expressed concern about their networks' capacity. Pai said the resilience is "in part to networks being designed to handle ever-higher peak traffic loads and in part to a market-based regulatory framework that has promoted infrastructure investment and deployment." He said the agency will "continue to closely monitor the situation." The FCC said the call was with ACA Connects, the Cloud Communications Alliance, Competitive Carriers Association, CTIA, Incompas, NCTA, NTCA, Rural Wireless Association, Satellite Industry Association, Wireless ISP Association, Western Telecommunications Alliance, Altice, AT&T, CenturyLink, Charter, Cincinnati Bell, Consolidated Communications, Comcast, Cox, Dish Network, Frontier, Hughes, Mediacom, Northwest Fiber, Sprint, T-Mobile, TDS, TracFone, U.S. Cellular, Verizon, ViaSat and Windstream. President Donald Trump spoke similarly this week with major ISPs (see 2003310070).

Comments will be due 45 days after Federal Register publication, replies 30 days later, on an FCC proposal to deregulate phone access charges and prohibit voice providers from itemizing them on customers' bills, said an NPRM adopted Tuesday (see 2003310039) and released Wednesday. The draft cycle was 30/15 (see 2003100065). Incompas sought four months total because of the pandemic (see 2003260043). The FCC made other changes. “We’re grateful the FCC asked about alternatives to mandatory detariffing of these surcharges (including permissive detariffing), and hopefully these additional questions will aid in the development of a more complete record,” emailed NTCA Senior Vice President-Industry Affairs & Business Development Mike Romano. The docket is 20-71.

The FCC defended a previous rule saying forbearance from requirements to unbundle and make available to competitors at avoided cost resale analog copper loops, as requested in a USTelecom petition in docket 18-141, "served the public interest," said a respondents' brief. The brief was posted by the FCC Thursday on Incompas et al. v. FCC (case No. 19-1164) before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The California Public Utilities Commission filed a separate petition against the forbearance order, and the court consolidated the cases.

The FCC defended a previous rule saying forbearance from requirements to unbundle and make available to competitors at avoided cost resale analog copper loops, as requested in a USTelecom petition in docket 18-141, "served the public interest," said a respondents' brief. The brief was posted by the FCC Thursday on Incompas et al. v. FCC (case No. 19-1164) before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The California Public Utilities Commission filed a separate petition against the forbearance order, and the court consolidated the cases.