Today's Regulatory Mix: USDA Implements Measures to Help Rural Telecoms, FCC Extends Comment Deadlines for 2020 Communications Marketplace Report
The USDA Rural Development released a list of actions it has taken to help rural residents, businesses and communities affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. This includes several actions designed to assist rural utilities. For example:
Electronic applications for window two may be submitted through grants.gov beginning April 14, 2020, and are due no later than July 13, 2020. Paper applications will not be accepted under the second window
In light of the national emergency concerning the COVID-19 pandemic and community and business efforts to respond to this public safety crisis, the FCC has extended the deadline for filing comments and reply comments in its proceeding seeking input for the 2020 Communications Marketplace Report to Congress. Comments are now due April 27, 2020 and reply comments are due May 28, 2020. The original comment dates were April 13, 2020, and May 13, 2020, respectively. Inteserra Briefing Service subscribers see Briefing dated 3/6/20.
Title IV of RAY BAUM’S Act of 2018 directs the FCC n to publish in the last quarter of every even-numbered year “a report on the state of the communications marketplace.”2 Each biennial report must assess the state of all forms of competition in the communications marketplace; the state of deployment of communications capabilities; and barriers to competitive entry, including market entry barriers for entrepreneurs and other small businesses. The Report must also describe the actions taken by the FCC the previous two years to address challenges and opportunities in the communications marketplace, and the FCC’s agenda for continuing to address those challenges and opportunities over the next two years.
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The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our
regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.