The FCC committed more than $77 million in additional Emergency Connectivity Fund support Wednesday. The new money will support more than 175,000 students covered by applications from all three application windows, said a news release. The program is "providing millions of students with the essential digital tools they need to succeed in school," said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. More than $5.6 billion has been committed to date (see 2207130054).
Incompas asked the FCC to create an additional layer on its forthcoming broadband maps that shows "which areas have received broadband funding for network deployment," said an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 21-476. It could help determine areas that may still need funding and whether adjustments to high-cost programs are necessary "before committing new funding," Incompas said in a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Brendan Carr. The group also met with an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, asking the FCC to include broadband internet access service (BIAS) revenues in the USF contribution base. The Information Technology Industry Council also met with an aide to Carr regarding contribution reform. The group backed refreshing the record in the FCC's contribution methodology proceeding to consider whether BIAS revenue should be assessed.
Verizon opposed Core Communications' proposed tariff refund plan and asked that the company be required to submit a plan that doesn't bill late payment charges "for the period when its unlawful tariff was in effect," said a filing Monday in FCC docket 21-191. The FCC rejected Core's last revisions in December (see 2112080051). Core "proposes a refund plan under which it would suffer no consequences for its unlawful tariff filing" and "forfeited its right to bill late payment charges" because it filed an unlawful tariff from May through September 2021, Verizon said.
ZipDX withdrew its letter of intent to become the registered consortium to head industry efforts to trace unlawful robocalls (see 2207060065). The company said it "reached an agreement" with USTelecom's industry traceback group (ITG) to "provide call examples" from its robocall surveillance platform to the ITG that will be used to initiate tracebacks, said a letter filed Monday in docket 20-22. "Through this collaboration, the two organizations hope to enhance each other’s respective initiatives in ways that will best protect American consumers from illegal robocalls," ZipDX said.
The Universal Service Administrative Co. told the FCC Friday that “total funds available for carry-forward” for the rural healthcare program are $380.50 million June 30. Estimated total RHC program demand for FY2022 is $697.85 million, including USAC administrative expenses of $28.15 million, USAC said in a letter posted in docket 02-60. USAC said the Wireline Bureau asked it to file an update.
Vice President Kamala Harris praised the FCC’s affordable connectivity program during an event Thursday in Charlotte and urged more people to enroll. NARUC passed a resolution Wednesday seeking more connections between the national verifier and state databases and urging state and federal agencies to collaborate on more outreach (see 2207200008). “We created this program because we know when we connect folks with high-speed internet, it is also a connection to opportunity … to live a healthier, happier and more prosperous life and importantly more affordable lives every month,” Harris said. ACP “saves working families over” $250 million. “About 13 million people are enrolled and these are students who can now study at their kitchen table instead of in the parking lot of a local fast-food restaurant, which is what so many of our students did, especially during the height of the” COVID-19 pandemic," she said: “The people who will benefit include parents who used to rely on their cellphone data plan to connect the whole family, which can be incredibly expensive. And now those families can stream and search and study on Wi-Fi” for free. “We need state and local governments to drive enrollment every way they know how” and “I know that” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) “is already hard at work on this front,” Harris said.
The FCC Wireline Bureau wants comments by Aug. 19, replies Sept. 9, on Midcontinent Communications' petition for declaratory ruling on rules for obtaining local interconnection, said a public notice Wednesday in docket 22-277. Midcontinent asked the FCC to confirm telecom carriers authorized to provide service in a state "may seek interconnection with any other telecommunications carrier under section 251(a) of the Communications Act" to provide "wholesale interconnection services for the exchange of local traffic" without needing additional state regulatory approval, "including a certificate of authority to provide local exchange service." The company petitioned the FCC after a South Dakota Public Utilities Commission ruling that it needed a "certificate of authority to provide local exchange service."
The FCC Wireline Bureau wants comments by Aug. 18, replies by Sept. 2, on SiyehCom's request for a waiver of certain Alternative Connect America Model II rules, said a public notice Tuesday in docket 10-90. SiyehCom sought a revised A-CAM II offer that includes certain areas it said were "incorrectly determined to be ineligible," citing a "misidentification of those areas as being served by an unsubsidized, unaffiliated carrier."
The FCC Wireline Bureau wants comments by Aug. 15 in docket 06-122 on proposed revisions to the 2023 annual and quarterly telecom reporting worksheets, said a public notice in Monday's Daily Digest.
An FCC order targeting gateway providers and foreign-originated illegal robocalls takes effect Sept. 16, said a notice for Monday's Federal Register. Comments on a Further NPRM proposing additional call authentication requirements are due by Aug. 17, replies Sept. 16. Commissioners approved the items in May (see 2205190023).