Today:  FCC E-Rate Year 2018 Funding, FCC Satellite Communications Competition  

FCC E-Rate Year 2018 Funding

The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) announced that there is sufficient funding available to fully meet the Universal Service Administrative Company’s (USAC) estimated demand for category one and category two requests for E-Rate supported services for funding year 2018.  The Bureau previously announced that the E-Rate program funding cap for funding year 2018 is $4.06 billion.  USAC estimated that the total demand for funding year 2018 will be $2.77 billion, which includes estimated demand for category one services of $2.025 billion and of $745 million for category two services.  In light of the current funding cap of $4.06 billion and available carry forward funding of $1.2 billion, the Bureau said there was  sufficient funding to fully fund all category one and category two funding requests.  Accordingly, it directed USAC to fully fund eligible category one and category two requests.

FCC Satellite Communications Competition

The FCC’s International Bureau is seeking data, information, and comment on the delivery of voice, video, audio, and data services by providers of satellite communications to inform the FCC’s required Report to Congress on the state of competition in the communications marketplace.  Comments are due September 7, 2018. Among other things, commenters are invited to submit data and information on:

• Retail and wholesale communications services that are provided by satellite communications providers;
• Identification of satellite communications providers and description of the communications services;
• The types of buyers of satellite communications services;
• Requirements for entry into the marketplace and significant barriers to such entry;
• Recent and prospective entry into and exit from the marketplace;
• Orbital and spectrum resources, access to spectrum, spectrum usage, and spectrum aggregation;
• Price levels, as well as trends in service offerings, pricing, and consumer behavior;
• Investment, subscribership, and financial indicators (such as revenues or profitability);
• Network quality and speed of service;
• Innovation in the market; and
• The extent of competition as it relates to satellite communications, including the effects of intermodal competition with other fixed or mobile providers of communications services.

Commenters are asked to submit information, data, and statistics for 2016 and 2017, as well as information on any notable trends and developments that have occurred during 2018 to date.

 INTESERRA FALL SEMINAR OCTOBER 16 & 17, 2019 IN MAITLAND, FLORIDA

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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.