Industry Opposes Additional ACP Data Collection Requirements

Industry groups urged the FCC not to revisit its current rules for the affordable connectivity program's annual data collection, in reply comments posted Tuesday in docket 21-450 (see 2301120056). The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act required the commission to collect data on prices and subscription rates offered by participating providers. Consumer advocacy organizations disagreed and continued to back subscriber-level data collection with additional data points.

"The record is clear that the current rules strike a well-reasoned balance and need not be revisited at this time," said USTelecom. The FCC shouldn't "rush to do so before they have become operational," it said, saying there are consumer privacy concerns about a more granular data collection process. USTelecom said the FCC should wait for at least one data collection to be completed before proposing any "targeted, evidence-based revisions tailored to improving the data collection process."

It's "premature" for the FCC to modify the rules for its data collection "before they have gone into effect," said CTIA. Requiring a more granular data collection "would impose enormous burdens on low-income households, participating providers," and the Universal Service Administrative Co., the group said. The group backed collecting digital divide performance data through surveys instead of providers and taking advantage of data already in USAC's possession. The FCC could direct USAC to "release more useful reports" on enrollment, the number of subscribers receiving devices, verification methods and other relevant information.

Collecting data at the subscriber level could also "frustrate participating providers' abilities to continue to promote ACP enrollments by diverting resources away from these efforts," said Starry. The ISP raised concerns about how the more-granular data collection could affect enrollment and data collection accuracy. Participating households may decline to provide consent "if they believe it could impact their enrollment in other federal benefit programs," Starry said: "This would exacerbate consumer confusion and could inadvertently distort the statistics."

Requiring additional data "would drive providers away from ACP," said the Wireless ISP Association. The group said any changes to the current rules "would be highly disruptive" and "disproportionately burden small providers." There's "no policy reason for the increased granularity," WISPA said. It opposed collecting data at the census block level, saying it would "complicate, not improve the process." The National Lifeline Association agreed and suggested the FCC consider using data it already has access to "rather than unduly burdening ACP providers and consumers." There's "no basis for reconsidering final data collection rules prior to receiving any data and assessing whether the collection yields sufficient and valuable data," the group said.

The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) disagreed, saying the burden of additional data collection at the subscriber level on providers "does not outweigh the benefits." The current process is "missing key elements to advance equity" and providers should "be tasked with providing the commission with as many digital divide metrics as possible," the group said. NHMC backed making the data available at the census block or tract level to ease privacy concerns.