C-Band Rider in FCC Funding Bill a 'Possibility,' Quigley Says; House Panel Slams RDOF

House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman Mike Quigley, D-Ill., told us he’s eyeing attaching a rider to the subcommittee’s FY 2021 appropriations bill aimed at allocating proceeds from the FCC’s coming auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band. Quigley raised concerns about the FCC’s current C-band auction plan during a Wednesday House Appropriations Financial Services hearing on the commission’s FY 2021 budget request. The C-band plan drew criticism from Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., during that subpanel’s Tuesday FCC budget hearing (see 2003100022).

Quigley and others also criticized the agency’s decision to advance its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund without first improving its broadband coverage data collection process and the length of the commission’s recently concluded probe into wireless carriers’ disclosure of consumers’ real-time location data. The Senate passed a House-revised version of the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act (S-1822) Tuesday that now serves as a broadband mapping legislative package (see 2003100071). The FCC’s coronavirus-related policy plans also drew attention at the Wednesday hearing.

A C-band rider is “a possibility,” though “we haven’t had the initial meetings” with either the full House Appropriations Committee or House leaders, Quigley told us. “My staff and I have agreed to talk about it.” Kennedy is also considering a C-band allocations rider for his subpanel’s funding bill (see 2002130053). Quigley said during the hearing he’s pleased the FCC ultimately decided to do a public C-band auction but is “concerned” the commission “was seriously considering” a private sale. He expressed worries about the FCC’s plans to provide $9.7 billion in incentive payments to satellite incumbents on the C band (see 2002280044), saying that’s “valuable funding that could support other important priorities like enhancing our 911 system or providing broadband to underserved areas.”

“Everybody is going to do whatever they want to do” in response to C-band concerns, House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., told us. “I don’t pretend to worry about what [House Appropriations] is going to do, I’m” concentrating on advancing C-band legislation through the House Commerce Committee. House Communications voted Tuesday to move forward with the Doyle-led Clearing Broad Airwaves for New Deployment (C-Band) Act (HR-4855), though leaders made clear they haven’t reached a deal on legislative language (see 2003100067). HR-4855 would allocate most sales to fund telecom projects (see 1910240046).

Broadband Mapping

“I’m disappointed that rather than taking the time to fix” broadband mapping problems identified before the FCC scuttled its Mobility Fund Phase II program, the commission plans to move forward on RDOF and will “dole out [$16.4 billion] in broadband subsidies by the end of the year” via the programs’ first phase, Quigley said. That leaves $4 billion in RDOF funding for underserved areas and those “incorrectly labeled as served.” Commissioners voted 3-2 in February to approve its plans for Phase I (see 2002280002).

Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Ga., is concerned RDOF is “being rolled out using old maps.” Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel also highlighted deficiencies in the RDOF process, saying “we need to have maps before money and data before deployment.” She again asserted she believes the FCC could make significant improvements to broadband coverage maps over three to six months. Chairman Ajit Pai said Rosenworcel’s claims are “flatly incorrect.” He has “consulted with career staff” and it “takes six months to analyze any particular” form 477 filing to ensure it’s “error free.”

Bishop and Quigley pressed Pai on whether President Donald Trump’s administration interfered with RDOF's rollout, which Pai announced as part of an event where Trump opposed 5G nationalization (see 1904120065). The RDOF auction will begin Oct. 22, less than two weeks before the Nov. 3 presidential election. “The FCC should be focused on serving the American people and not politicizing for winning elections,” Bishop said. Pai defended his process and said the administration hasn’t tried to influence any FCC decisions during his chairmanship.

Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., focused on how the FCC is coordinating with the Department of Agriculture on broadband issues to prevent overlap. Pai said he met with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue several times about the importance of not duplicating funding for rural broadband deployments. Rosenworcel noted previous periods when USDA’s Rural Utilities Service duplicated broadband funding, which required FCC reimbursement via USF.

Senate passage of the revised S-1822 got praise from Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, House Commerce GOP leaders and several communications sector groups. “Better data is essential to ensuring that scarce federal broadband subsidies are targeted to those Americans without service,” O’Rielly said. “I am especially grateful that [the bill] takes affirmative steps to restrict subsidized overbuilding by the FCC and other federal agencies, including by requiring the Commission to consult the newly created maps before awarding new funding for residential and mobile broadband deployment and enabling the Commission to determine enterprise coverage across” USF programs.

About “19 million Americans -- including one-fourth of the rural population -- still cannot access standard broadband services,” said House Commerce ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., and House Communications ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio. “To expand broadband to communities that need it, we must know exactly where those communities are.” The Competitive Carriers Association, Connect Americans Now and USTelecom lauded S-1822's passage.

Coronavirus

Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., pressed the FCC on its timeline for advancing an order to allow unlicensed sharing of the 6 GHz band, citing expectations of increased telework because of the coronavirus outbreak. “The FCC and I personally have been sitting down” with stakeholders on how to proceed on a 6 GHz sharing order and will be “moving forward as quickly as we can, but we want to make sure the engineering is right,” Pai said. An order could be ready in time for commissioners' April 23 meeting (see 2003050058).

“It is absolutely time” the FCC talk about possible coronavirus disruptions and “how technology can help,” Rosenworcel said. U.S. consumers’ anticipated increased reliance on telework, telehealth and tele-education amid the outbreak will “expose some truly hard facts” on “the scope of the digital divide.” The FCC should “be convening broadband providers right now to prepare,” she said. The commission “should be identifying how it can use its universal service powers to support connected care for quarantined patients and Wi-Fi hot spots for loan for students whose schools have shut.”

Quigley faulted the FCC’s conduct of the wireless location data probe, in which the commission found all four major U.S. carriers failed to safeguard that information. The FCC proposed $208 million in fines (see 2002280065). The investigation “took nearly two years” to complete, which is unacceptable, Quigley said. “Perhaps if the FCC would have prioritized their enforcement duty, this would not have been such a drawn-out undertaking.” He cited instances when the FCC “can't seem to move fast enough” to enact policies benefiting wireless carriers and ISPs while appearing to treat consumer protection as “an afterthought.”

O’Rielly urged House Appropriations Financial Services to “appropriately prioritize” funding in its FY 2021 bill to combat pirate radio operations, noting “the increased effort expected of the Commission to combat it” following enactment (see 2001270021) of the Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement (Pirate) Act (HR-583/S-1228). The law increased fines for illegal pirate operations and streamlines FCC enforcement to empower state and local law enforcement agencies (see 1901170042). “This mandate was a welcome charge,” but the FCC “has its work cut out to meet” the law’s expectations, O’Rielly said in a letter to Quigley.