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.
The Senate gaveled out Thursday for a two-week Easter/Passover recess, meaning further floor action on FTC nominee Alvaro Bedoya and FCC nominee Gigi Sohn will be delayed until at least April 25, as expected (see 2204050064). Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., filed cloture Thursday on Bedoya but hadn't scheduled a vote at our deadline. The chamber voted 51-50 last week to discharge Bedoya from Senate Commerce Committee jurisdiction and must hold a similar vote on Sohn because the committee cast tied votes on both nominees last month (see 2203030070). Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us before the chamber voted to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court (see 2204070058) that she doubted further pre-recess action on either nominee was likely unless the chamber stayed in session past Thursday. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, continued to believe Sohn’s confirmation prospects are dimming amid chatter about potential Democratic holdouts on the nominee (see 2203300069). “That’s why Schumer's not bringing her to the floor” before the recess, Sullivan said. Democrats who are facing tough re-election battles this year who might vote in Sohn’s favor would be delivering their GOP opponents “a campaign ad on a silver platter.” The Chamber of Progress, CompTIA, Computer & Communications Industry Association, Consumer Technology Association, Incompas, Internet Infrastructure Coalition and NTCA pressed the Senate Thursday to “move expeditiously” to confirm Sohn. “The absence of a fifth Commissioner hamstrings the agency when U.S. leadership on technology policy is most needed,” the groups said in a letter to Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “As authoritarian regimes around the world move to supplant U.S. leadership and restrict access to an open and free internet, we must ensure the U.S. government is well positioned to thoroughly consider and advance policies that promote democratic values.”
Industry disagreed whether the FCC should pause some of its high-cost Universal Service Fund programs amid the recent $65 billion federal broadband support from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, in reply comments posted Friday in docket 21-476 (see 2202180046). Others debated whether to expand the fund's contribution base or turn to direct congressional appropriations. The FCC sought comments on USF's future as part of its report to Congress due by Aug. 12.