December 2018 News Update
FCC To Investigate CenturyLink 911 Outage
December 28, 2018 – FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has announced that the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau has launched an investigation into the nationwide outage experienced by CenturyLink on December 27th, which prevented consumers across the country from reaching 911 emergency services. CenturyLink’s outage also impacted residential internet customers, shut down phone services at Idaho’s prisons and education department, prevented medical centers from access patient medical records, disabled ATM withdrawals in Idaho and Montana, and disrupted Verizon Wireless mobile data services in Albuquerque and parts of Montana.
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Urban Rate Survey Results Set Benchmarks For Fixed Voice And Broadband Services
December 20, 2018 – The FCC has announced the results of the most recent urban rates survey, setting the 2019 reasonable comparability benchmarks for fixed voice and broadband services. Eligible telecommunications carriers subject to broadband public interest obligations must meet the reasonable comparability benchmarks to receive universal service support. Based on the survey results, the 2019 urban average monthly rate for voice service is $26.98, making the reasonable comparability benchmark for voice services $51.61 (two standard deviations above the urban average). For broadband services, the reasonable comparability broadband benchmark varies, depending upon download and upload speeds and usage allowance. Broadband providers can access an online tool to determine the benchmark for specific broadband service tiers. The 2019 minimum monthly usage allowance for broadband service is 215 GB.
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NTIA Seeking Comment On National Spectrum Policy, Deadline Is January 22, 2019
December 20, 2018 – The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is seeking comments – from interested stakeholders, including private industry, academia, civil society, and other experts – on the development of a comprehensive, long-term national spectrum strategy. The request for comment is part of an October 2018 presidential memorandum, titled Developing a Sustainable Spectrum Strategy for America’s Future, which requires executive agencies to report on their spectrum usage and directs the Secretary of Commerce to report on a long-term “National Spectrum Strategy” that includes legislative, regulatory, and other policy recommendations. NTIA would like interested parties to submit “recommended actions as well as information that can improve NTIA’s understanding more generally in areas including expanding spectrum access, improving spectrum sharing, enhancing spectrum management, utilizing ongoing research and development activities, fostering global competitiveness, protecting U.S. space assets from RF interference, and augmenting the mission capability of Federal entities.” NTIA also has requested comment in response to seven specific questions. Comments are due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern on January 22, 2019, and may be submitted electronically by email to spectrum-strategy-comments@ntia.doc.gov or sent via regular mail to NTIA’s headquarters in Washington DC. Comments submitted by email should be machine-readable and should not be copy-protected.
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FCC Releases 911 Fee Report, Seeks Comment
December 19, 2018 – The FCC has released the Tenth Annual Report to Congress on State Collection and Distribution of 911 and Enhanced 911 Fees and Charges, covering the calendar year ending December 31, 2017. It details whether 911 fees and charges collected by U.S. states and territories are being used for any purpose other than to support 911 and Enhanced 911 services. As for fee diversion, the report identifies six states and one territory as diverting or transferring a portion of collected 911 fees and charges for non-911 related purposes in 2017. The report also contains state-by-state information on the number and type of 911 calls made, the number of Public Safety Answering Points and telecommunicators in operation, expenditure of funds for Next Generation 911 services, deployment of Emergency Services IP Networks and text -to-911 service, establishment of programs to support PSAP cybersecurity, and the extent of state-level oversight and auditing of collection and use of 911 fees. Interested parties may submit comments on the report on or before January 18, 2019 in PS Docket No. 09-14. Reply comments are due February 04, 2019.
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Iowa Announces $1.3 Million For Broadband Grants, Application Window Opens Feb. 18 And Closes March 15
December 17, 2018 – Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has announced that $1.3 million in state funding is now available for grants to improve broadband access and eliminate underserved areas in Iowa. Funding for Iowa’s broadband grant program is being made available through Iowa’s Office of the Chief Information Officer. The program is open to private sector communications service providers, utilities, cities, and towns. Grants awarded will not exceed 15 percent of the total cost of an applicant’s project. Applications may be submitted online beginning February 18, 2019, and must be submitted no later than March 15, 2019. Additional information on the program, including application instructions and a list of eligible areas is available online here.
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Jurisdictional Separations Frozen For Another Six Years, FCC Makes One-Time Unfreeze Option Available
December 17, 2018 – The FCC has released a Report and Order that extends, for up to six years, the freeze on Part 36 category relationships and jurisdictional cost allocation factors that the FCC adopted in the 2001 Separations Freeze Order. According to the FCC, this most-recent freeze extension will allow the FCC and the Federal-State Joint Board on Jurisdictional Separations to devote their resources to substantive separations reform. To that end, the FCC wants the Joint Board to “focus on how best to amend the separations rules to recognize that they impact only rate-of-return carriers and on whether any other separations rules or recordkeeping requirements can be modified or eliminated in light of that limited application.” The new separations freeze extension will begin on January 1, 2019, and will continue until the earlier of December 31, 2024, or the completion of comprehensive reform of the Part 36 jurisdictional separations rules. Additionally, the FCC has granted all rate-of-return carriers a one-time “unfreeze option. Specifically, rate-of-return carriers that opted to freeze their separations category relationships in 2001 now have a one-time opportunity to unfreeze and update those relationships so that they can categorize their costs based on current circumstances.
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RUS Issues Funding Opportunity Announcement For Broadband ReConnect Program, Formally Solicits Applications
December 14, 2018 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) has issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) and solicitation of applications for its new broadband ReConnect Program. The document details RUS’ “general policy and application procedures for funding under the broadband pilot program established pursuant to the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 which provides loans, grants, and loan/grant combinations to facilitate broadband deployment in rural areas.” There are three different funding categories – loans, grants, and loan/grant combinations – with each category having different application windows. There is up to $200 million available for loans (the maximum loan amount that can be requested in an application is $50 million); up to $200 million available for loan/grant combinations (the maximum amount that can be requested in an application is $25 million for the loan and $25 million for the grant, with loan and grant amounts always being equal); and up to $200 million available for grants (the maximum grant amount that can be requested in an application is $25 million). Notwithstanding, RUS has the ability and discretion to divert funds from one funding category to another. RUS will finalize the application windows by providing notice in the Federal Register and Grants.gov on February 22, 2019.
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USDA Announces $600 Million In Funding For Rural Broadband
December 13, 2018 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced it is offering up to $600 million in loans and grants to help build broadband infrastructure in rural areas that are currently unserved or have insufficient broadband service. The funding will be provided through USDA’s new ReConnect Program, with the $600 million distributed equally to grants, loans, and loan-grant combinations. The 2019 application deadlines are as follows:
Grants – applications due by April 29
Loan Grant Combinations – applications due May 29
Low-Interest Loans – applications due by June 28
The USDA press release also provides the following details on the funding program:
Potential Applicants: Telecommunications companies, rural electric cooperatives and utilities, Internet service providers, and municipalities.
Eligible Areas: Proposed projects must serve towns with fewer than 20,000 people with no broadband service or where service is slower than 10/1 Mbps
Service Requirement: Funded projects must create broadband access at speeds of at least 25/3 Mbps
Application Priority: Priority will be awarded for projects that propose to deliver higher-capacity connections to rural homes, businesses and farms. Evaluation criteria include connecting agricultural production and marketing, e-Commerce, health care and education facilities
No Overbuilding: USDA seeks to stretch these funds as far as possible by leveraging existing networks and systems without overbuilding existing services greater than 10/1 Mbps
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FCC Launches Investigation Of Potential Mobility Fund Mapping Rule Violations
December 7, 2018 – FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has announced that the FCC is investigating whether one or more major mobile wireless carriers violated the FCC’s Mobility Fund Phase II (MF-II) mapping rules and submitted incorrect coverage maps. The FCC conducted a collection of data to determine the deployment of qualified 4G LTE for the purposes of creating a map of areas initially ineligible for MF-II support. The FCC then initiated a challenge process to contest determinations that an area was served with 4G LTE and thus ineligible for MF-II support. The window for initial challenges closed on November 26. The FCC decided to launch an investigation following a preliminary review of the 20,809,503 speed tests throughout 37 states filed with the FCC in connection with the MF-II challenge process. The FCC has suspended the challenge process until the conclusion of the investigation.
