All in Universal Service
The state members of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service have submitted a Recommended Decision that proposes changing the existing contribution mechanism for federal universal service programs. Among other things, the state members want the FCC to assess broadband revenue and move to connections-based assessment on residential services
The FCC has released a draft of the broadband network performance testing Order On Reconsideration that will be voted on at the FCC’s October 25th open meeting. The draft Order On Reconsideration revises and clarifies the July 2018 Performance Measures Order, which sets a testing framework for measuring speed and latency performance that applies to fixed broadband service providers receiving high-cost universal service fund support.
An update on news stories from September 2019.
The Regulatory Commission of Alaska is considering whether to close the Alaska universal service fund early. The fund is currently scheduled to end in 2023.
The FCC has announced that the proposed universal service fund contribution factor for the fourth quarter of 2019 will be 25 percent, the highest ever. This gives 2019 the highest yearly average USF contribution factor ever – 22.05 percent.
An update on important news from August 2019.
News update for July 2019
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has announced that the FCC will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking during its August open meeting to formally establish the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. The RDOF is planned to provide $20.4 billion over the next 10 years to support the construction of broadband networks in areas that lack access to broadband service at speeds of at least 25/3 Mbps.
The FCC has extended the deadline, by 30 days, for rate-of-return carriers to accept or turn down their offers of A-CAM II support. Rate-of-return carriers must now indicate, on a state-by-state basis, whether they will transition to model-based support by July 17, 2019.
An update on news from June 2019.
