Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission should revoke LTD Broadband’s expanded eligible telecom carrier designation, state Rep. Dave Lislegard (D) wrote Thursday to the agency. Balkan Township, which Lislegard represents, has had trouble moving on a fiber project with Bunyan Communications due to LTD’s winning bid in the federal Rural Digital Opportunity fund (RDOF) auction, he said. Showing “an inability to fulfill their promises,” LTD “should get out of the way.” The PUC is mulling whether to pause its proceeding on possibly revoking the company’s ETC status while LTD challenges the FCC’s recent long-form application rejection (see 2209200073).

Telecom-focused lawmakers are hopeful they will be able to reach a final deal in the coming days to include a short-term extension of the FCC’s expiring spectrum auction authority in a potential continuing resolution to extend federal appropriations past Sept. 30 (see 2209090053). Talks Wednesday appeared to be strongly coalescing around a stopgap reauthorization through Dec. 16 -- in line with the likely expiration of the overall CR -- but there’s been no final deal, lawmakers and lobbyists told us. Lawmakers believe the temporary renewal will give them more breathing room to reach a deal on a broader spectrum legislative package during the lame-duck session (see 2208090001).

The Senate is highly unlikely to act on FCC nominee Gigi Sohn before the November election amid a busy legislative calendar and a campaign-centric atmosphere on Capitol Hill that’s made confirmation next to impossible for any Biden administration picks who lack GOP support, lawmakers and lobbyists said in interviews. Top Senate Commerce Committee Republicans all but shot down speculation that circulated during the August recess that pairing Sohn with an eventual replacement for retiring GOP FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips (see 2208170039) could ease GOP opposition to the FCC nominee’s confirmation.

Industry and state regulators disagreed on whether the FCC should grant Midcontinent's petition for declaratory ruling on rules for obtaining local interconnection. Reply comments were posted Monday in docket 22-277 (see 2207200050). Midcontinent asked the FCC to affirm that, under its Time Warner and CRC Communications rulings, that any telecom carrier is "entitled to interconnection for the purpose of providing wholesale local interconnection services."

Additional money to fully fund the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program and a short-term extension of the FCC’s expiring spectrum auction authority both remain under consideration as additions to a planned continuing resolution to extend federal appropriations past Sept. 30, but talks remain highly fluid, lawmakers and lobbyists told us last week. Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and other committee leaders left open the possibility of a short-term auction authority renewal as a stopgap, telling us they hadn’t reached a deal during the August recess on a broader spectrum legislative package.

Industry continued to disagree whether the FCC should revisit its cost allocation framework for utility pole replacements or attachments, in reply comments posted Monday in docket 17-84 (see 2206280066). Central to the debate was whether pole owners directly benefit from pole replacements and how much information owners should be required to disclose to requesting attachers.

On one of the big spectrum inquiries of the summer, most commenters agreed the FCC can do more to address spectrum offshore needs, though there was little consensus on what the agency should do. One big area of disagreement is the role unlicensed should have. Replies were due Friday on a notice of inquiry commissioners approved 4-0 in June (see 2206080055) and most were posted Monday in docket 22-204. In initial comments, carriers urged caution (see 2207280032).

Backers of a bid to fully fund the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program believe appropriations legislation, including a likely continuing resolution to extend federal payments past Sept. 30, is the most viable vehicle for formally allocating the additional money, due to concerns about delayed action on the House-passed (see 2207280052) Spectrum Innovation Act (HR-7624). Senate Commerce Committee leaders are grappling during the August recess with how to respond to HR-7624, which would allocate some proceeds from a proposed auction of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band for rip and replace reimbursements, given disagreements on spectrum policy priorities (see 2208090001).

Tech and antitrust staffers on the Senate Commerce and Senate Judiciary Committees top the list of potential successors to FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips, former officials and industry representatives told us.

With more than 13 million households now enrolled in the FCC’s affordable connectivity program, commissioners approved an order Friday establishing an outreach grant program to further boost participation (see 2207150063). Commissioners at the monthly meeting also adopted an order establishing a one-year pilot program to increase ACP enrollment among households receiving federal housing assistance and a notice of inquiry seeking comment on space innovation and operations.