Two top Senate Commerce Committee Democrats are voicing concerns that speculation that President Donald Trump may move to fire FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez (see 2503200057) will scare off potential Democratic candidates to replace retiring Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. Democratic FCC stakeholders began worrying about Gomez’s fate after Trump’s unprecedented March firings of Democratic FTC Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter (see 2503190057). Legal experts said during a Broadband Breakfast webinar Wednesday that the U.S. Supreme Court appears likely to overturn Humphrey’s Executor v. U.S., a 1935 decision stopping the president from firing FTC commissioners without cause, which has implications for the FCC and other independent agencies.
Montana lawmakers voted last week to eliminate the state's USF. The Senate voted 48-0 to also repeal the Public Service Commission's rate regulation authority and the prohibition on cross-subsidization, forbearance of rate regulation, and discounts for schools, libraries and health care providers. The bill, HB-45, was introduced by Rep. Katie Zolnikov (R). If enacted, it would also prohibit the PSC from regulating IP-enabled services.
The USF's future is one of the biggest issues for Competitive Carriers Association members, CEO and President Tim Donovan said in an interview. The organization is “cautiously optimistic” following U.S. Supreme Court arguments in the Consumers' Research case (see 2503260061), he said.
The Competitive Carriers Association supported petitions for reconsideration of the FCC’s August order launching a 5G Fund filed by the Coalition of Rural Wireless Carriers (CWRC) and the Rural Wireless Association (see 2501140056). CCA agrees that “several aspects” of the order “require prompt reconsideration,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 20-32.
The Nebraska Public Service Commission wants comments by May 6 on "appropriate modifications" to the Nebraska USF, said an order Tuesday in docket NUSF-139. The PSC will meet May 14 at 10 a.m. CT to consider the changes, which include transitioning the NUSF to "competitive carriers who have deployed broadband and offer services at speeds of at least 100/20 Mbps to rural subscriber locations." It also wants comments on whether the commission should use a "carrier agnostic cost model" to determine relative costs for high-cost support.
Some Senate Commerce Committee Democrats gave Republican FCC nominee Olivia Trusty a more positive reception during her Wednesday confirmation hearing than observers were expecting, though they used questions to hammer Chairman Brendan Carr’s actions since taking the gavel Jan. 20 and voice concerns about the agency's loss of independence during the Trump administration (see 2504080066). Panel Democrats delivered a harsher verdict to NTIA administrator nominee Arielle Roth, who advanced Wednesday on a nearly party-line vote of 16-12, as expected (see 2504080059). Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat to buck his party's opposition (see 2504090037).
The FCC on Monday granted a waiver of the one-year downward revision deadline to revise the 2023 FCC Form 499-A filed by CNET System and a waiver of the 45-day revision deadline for the May 2024 499-Q Granade filed. Both small VoIP providers, CNET is located in Wisconsin and Granade in Alabama. The FCC Wireline Bureau and Office of the Managing Director noted that the agency usually doesn’t approve such waivers.
The departure of Elon Musk as a top adviser to the Donald Trump Administration could have significant implications for telecom policy, depending on when he leaves and how that changes his relationship with Trump, experts said. Among Musk’s companies is SpaceX, parent of Starlink, which stands to benefit from pending changes to the BEAD program (see 2503170045). Musk called reports of his imminent departure "fake news."
Lawyers for the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition and the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society said Wednesday that groups defending the USF had a good day last week, as the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in the Consumers' Research case (see 2503260061). They spoke during a SHLB webinar.
Consumers’ Research has filed another challenge to the legality of the FCC’s USF contribution factor, this time for Q2 of this year, at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The group chose what's likely the friendliest circuit for an appeal; the U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering an appeal of a 5th Circuit en banc decision last summer, which found that the USF contribution factor is a "misbegotten tax.” Justices heard oral arguments in that case last week (see 2503260061).