Neb. PSC Clears Broadband, State USF, Dark Fiber Orders

The Nebraska Public Service Commission adopted a multitude of telecom orders at a livestreamed meeting Tuesday. In mostly unanimous votes, commissioners adopted policies on broadband funding, state USF, dark fiber leasing rates and rip and replace. Looking ahead, Commissioner Kevin Stocker (R) asked about tightening resiliency requirements after hearing a report on October communications outages.

Commissioners voted 5-0 to tee up the second Nebraska grant cycle for the U.S. Treasury’s Capital Projects Fund (CPF) broadband support (docket CPF-2). The second round is designed to spend money not awarded in round one, said Chair Dan Watermeier (R). It will include $24.3 million for the state’s third congressional district, said PSC Telecom Director Cullen Robbins. “As we move along, we may narrow down that funding amount because it depends on expenses that we have.” The commission is on track to meet federal requirements to spend all the CPF money by 2026, he said.

The PSC will release application materials Nov. 20, accept applications from Dec. 20 to Jan. 19, and award grants June 4, said the CPF order. The commission decided to not include a per-location funding cap after the idea was opposed in comments, it said. The PSC won’t give more points based on past performance but will give a higher score to applicants that show long-term commitment, the order said. The PSC will discourage challenges based on “obsolete” DSL, it said. It will allow applicants to define their own project areas. Applicants must be cybersecurity certified, it said.

Commissioners voted 4-1 to disqualify Lumen’s CenturyLink from challenging applications for CPF and Nebraska Broadband Bridge Program (NBBP) funding for two fiscal years. NBBP rules state that for applications denied due to a challenge, the challenger must provide broadband to the project area within 18 months. The PSC upheld a CenturyLink challenge Jan. 4, 2022, based on the incumbent’s in-progress project, but CenturyLink failed to complete it by June 5, the PSC said in the order (docket C-5272). “The Commission is unable to determine whether all, or any, locations” could receive broadband with 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload speeds prior to the deadline.

Commissioner Christian Mirch (R) partly dissented to the order in an attached statement. Mirch agreed the ban should apply to one CenturyLink entity but not a second. “And I disagree with the majority’s belief that the Public Service Commission, as a regulatory agency, has broad authority in this matter.”

“While CenturyLink disagrees with the Commission’s decision," it won't affect the carrier's "participation in the Nebraska Governor’s Broadband Program and its efforts to further the Commission’s goals," a Lumen spokesperson emailed.

Commissioners unanimously supported revising reverse-auction procedures for Nebraska USF (NUSF) and issuing a 2024 schedule (docket NUSF-131). The PSC said at an August hearing that it aimed to better incentivize participation in the auction, including by raising starting reserve prices (see 2308020063). The NUSF order sets a $21.8 million budget for the 2024 auction. Minimum bidding units should be smaller and “consist of contiguous census blocks within a census block group,” it said. The commission increased reverse prices for MBUs “to two and a half times the modeled cost to serve all locations within the MBU as determined by” a state broadband cost model.

The PSC unanimously supported seeking NUSF comments by Nov. 30 on proposed changes to the dedicated wireless fund program (docket NUSF-92). The commission proposed restructuring its payment schedule to be more like the one used in the NBBP. Also, the PSC is seeking comment on changing the rural density threshold used to determine eligibility from 10 households per square mile to 20. The current threshold “may restrict the ability of carriers to construct towers in rural areas that are proximately located to small towns and villages which may also lack voice and mobile broadband coverage,” it said.

Commissioners voted 5-0 to adopt safe harbor market rates for dark fiber leases by Nebraska agencies and political subdivisions (docket C-5461). The PSC considered the appropriate rate at a September hearing (see 2309190048). “The Commission finds that the safe harbor range of market rates for dark fiber leases in Nebraska should be set as broadly as is reasonable until additional data can be collected,” said the Tuesday order. For now, rates may range from $20 to $200 monthly, it said. The range will apply statewide without distinguishing between rural and urban areas, the PSC said.

With currently only one dark fiber lease in Nebraska, Commissioner Eric Kamler (R) asked if the order could spur more leases or if legislative changes are needed. Robbins said it’s hard to say. “There’s a pretty low barrier to entry here for entities that want to enter into dark fiber leases.”

Commissioners unanimously supported combining rip-and-replace dockets C-5493 and C-5520, both related to telecom company reporting on whether they’re using or deploying communications equipment prohibited by the FCC. Also under the order, the PSC will publish an updated list of entities that report using prohibited equipment and those that have failed to report, said Robbins. The reporting requirement covers grant programs including NBBP, CPF and precision agriculture, said the order.

“With fiber lines being cut with more regularity,” often by their owner, Stocker wondered aloud if the PSC has any requirement “to insist that these companies that are applying for funds for fiber have an in-house fiber splice capability.” No, said Robbins. Stocker returned, “It might be something we should look at.”