Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Lifeline providers endorsed and USTelecom opposed TracFone's emergency petition for the FCC to direct Universal Service Administrative Co. to speed efforts to obtain access to key federal databases or postpone a national verifier's (NV) hard launch. Comments were posted through Thursday in docket 17-287. Sprint noted the databases contain information on consumers who participate in Medicaid, food stamps and other federal assistance programs. "Automated access to this information will help the NV to verify an end user’s ... eligibility to receive the federal Lifeline benefit in an efficient and user-friendly manner, and will reduce the need for resource-intensive manual processing" that's costly for providers and "cumbersome and frustrating for end users," said Sprint in docket 17-287. The FCC should instruct USAC to set the NV hard launch dates only after application programming interfaces and database connections are implemented, said Q Link Wireless, noting its own API petition (see 1808130034). The National Lifeline Association said FCC policy goals were undermined by USAC's initial, soft launch without automated database access to Lifeline-qualifying programs "while simultaneously refusing to accept eligibility documentation from third-party sources such as Managed Care Organizations." Sage Telecom Communications (TruConnect) also supported the petition but asked if the agency moves forward without access to key databases, it allow documentation through such third parties. USTelecom, citing the goal of combating Lifeline abuses, said the FCC shouldn't let delayed access to the databases disrupt the transition to the NV, but instead should work with USAC and states to ensure timely access to the necessary databases. A telecom consultant disputed FCC claims, based on a 2017 GAO report that Lifeline resellers caused extensive program abuses. The report "in no way supports the Commission’s assertions regarding the scale of actual waste, fraud and abuse within the program, let alone its allegations of 'unscrupulous' behavior by resellers," said Gately Consulting, in a letter to House and Senate Commerce Committee leaders posted in the docket. Gately said GAO used a "flawed methodology to verify eligibility," relied on data intended for other purposes, and the "data fell within the statistical error range."

The FCC is considering delaying Thursday's first national test of wireless emergency alerts, followed by an emergency alert system test, because of Hurricane Florence, wireless industry officials said Friday as the storm was hitting. The agency granted some telecom leeway during the storm, and also released its first outage report.

NARUC said the FCC should limit an extension of a jurisdictional separations freeze to no more than two years to allow further federal-state discussions. The group said an FCC proposal to extend the freeze of separations category and cost-allocation factors for up to 15 years (see 1807180059) would constitute a change in Part 36 rules. Communications Act Section 410(c) "does not permit the FCC to revise those procedures without first consulting with the federal-state joint board," NARUC replied, posted Tuesday in docket 80-286. It recognized most initial commenters favor an extension (see 1808280021). "But those that address the extension parrot the [Further] NPRM’s rationale with little or no amplification," NARUC said. "There is no evidence in those comments or in the record that can justify a lengthy freeze. Instead, all the comments provide strong record support for the opposite conclusion: that a Joint Board recommendation on the Part 36 rules is needed soon." The FCC in August solicited further comment from state commissions on its NPRMs regarding separations and rural business data services (see 1808200025). As of Wednesday, the only filings were NARUC's separations reply and a Sept. 5 letter from the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. "While we appreciate the direct outreach, there is no question that both rulemakings will require changes to the separations rules, as your letters concede," said CPUC commissioners, including Wendy Moser, a state joint board member who objected to the 15-year proposal (see 1807200018). "Yet in neither of the referenced proceedings, has the FCC sought the required Joint Board recommendation." FCC Commissioner and Joint Board Chairman Mike O'Rielly proposed the 15-year freeze extension (see 1802230019).

The FCC continues preparing for Hurricane Florence in coordination with state and federal partners, Chairman Ajit Pai said Wednesday. It activated the disaster information reporting system, with reports requested from some counties in Georgia, Virginia and the Carolinas starting at 10 a.m. Thursday, said a public notice. “Staff have already been deployed to survey the radiofrequency spectrum across critical areas of South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, and our Operations Center is open 24 hours a day,” Pai said. “Our staff has also reached out to broadcast associations, wireless carriers, and other telecom companies in the areas expected to be hit by Hurricane Florence. We will closely monitor communications outages data in the coming days and work to support restoration and recovery.” Pai urged people in affected areas to charge devices and sign up for emergency alerts. Carriers announced preparations this week (see 1809110046). Some state commissions also released alerts, with North Carolina and South Carolina agencies announcing closures. The FCC Public Safety Bureau should ensure emergency information in Spanish is available in four radio markets in the path of Florence that lack sufficient Spanish-language radio stations, said the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council and the League of United Latin American Citizens in a letter Wednesday. “Intervention is necessary because it does not appear that the region’s broadcasters have [emergency alert system] plans that address the urgent needs of speakers of Spanish." Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Hilton Head, South Carolina, have Hispanic populations of more than 10 percent, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is 5.8 percent Hispanic, the groups said. The Greenville-New Bern-Jacksonville, North Carolina, radio market is 8.5 percent Hispanic, a population of more than 59,000 people, the letter said. “We ask that lifesaving information be broadcast in the referenced markets” at periodic intervals throughout the day “by at least one station in each market that survives the hurricane,” they said.

Proposed rate ceilings for small-cells application fees set for an FCC vote Sept. 26 may undercut caps set by one-quarter of the 20 states that made small-cells laws in the past two years. Proposed FCC ceilings for recurring access and attachment fees appeared to equal or exceed the state laws that specified limits on such fees. Commissioner Brendan Carr said last week the draft wouldn’t “disturb nearly any” of the provisions of small-cell bills that state legislatures enacted (see 1809040056 and 1809050029).

Take “a light regulatory approach” and don't pre-empt local governments to spur wireless deployment, the Marin (California) Telecommunications Agency (MTA) urged the FCC, posted Thursday in docket 17-84. “The Commission appears to be on the cusp of a rulemaking that would cripple local government authority,” said MTA, a local authority including Marin County and nine cities and towns near San Francisco. “All this damage would be done for the purpose of providing one industry and one technology with … preferential treatment subsidized by local taxpayers and other users of the public rights of way. The MTA is struggling to identify another industry that the federal government forces local government to subsidize in such a manner, and … we believe the Commission is setting a dangerous precedent if it continues.” MTA supports communications deployment including small cells, but delays may happen due to missing or incomplete applications by industry and design, location and appearance issues, it said. The FCC last week circulated a draft order targeting “outlier” conduct by local governments said to be slowing 5G deployment, while some localities sought reconsideration of an August order to pre-empt moratoriums (see 1809050029).

All U.S. spectrum policies haven’t been success stories and that’s the way things should work, NTIA Administrator David Redl said at a Silicon Flatirons conference Thursday evening (see 1809060049) titled: “Spectrum Hall of Shame: The Worst (and Best) Radio Policy Decisions.” Others said flexible licenses have been a hallmark of U.S. success.

Local government and public, educational and government (PEG) access programming interests plan to push back on proposed rules changes governing local franchise authorities that are teed up in the Further NPRM on FCC members' Sept. 26 agenda (see 1809050056). Local government authority is seen under attack in a variety of proceedings.

State regulation of interconnected VoIP is pre-empted because it’s an information service, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday. One judge dissented. But overall, the 8th Circuit affirmed last year’s ruling by U.S. District Court in St. Paul on Charter Communications' complaint the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission overstepped its authority by imposing state regulations for traditional phone services on VoIP.

The next meeting of the FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council VI -- its sixth -- is Sept. 28, 1-5 p.m., in the Commission Meeting Room, said a notice set for Wednesday's Federal Register.