Today:  US House on 911 Fee Diversion, FCC CAF Support, FCC Lifeline Forbearance  

US House On 911 Fee Diversion

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR), Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Gregg Harper (R-MS) today sent a letter to the FCC regarding 911 fee diversion and its impact on public safety.  The legislators note that since 2009, 21 states and one territory have reported to the FCC diverting over $1 billion of 911 fees for unrelated purposes.  In addition, ten states, six territories, and the District of Columbia did not submit expenditure information to the FCC at least once, thus indicating that fee diversion may be even more prevalent than reported.  The letter seeks a briefing from the FCC to better understand how this practice affects public safety and what can be done to prevent fee diversion in the future.  Walden, Blackburn, and Harper wrote: “The amount of 9-1-1 funds that have been diverted for nearly a decade is troubling. When critical moments occur, all Americans rely on 9-1-1 to provide emergency services. Diverting 9-1-1 fees may result in understaffed calling centers, training issues, longer wait times during an emergency, and inhibit the transition to Next Generation 9-1-1 systems so 9-1-1 call centers can flourish with digital age technologies.” 

Congressman Chris Collins (NY-27) recently introduced legislation aimed at preventing states from diverting 911 fees.

See the Regulatory Mix dated 7/19/18

FCC CAF Support

The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau authorized  75 rate-of-return companies that elected 210 revised offers of Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM) support to receive additional model-based support in exchange for extending broadband service to additional locations.  The revised authorization amounts and deployment obligations for each carrier that elected a revised offer are available here.  These carriers are among the rate-of-return carriers nationwide that previously had been authorized to receive ACAM support.  The Bureau also released a summary report showing the state-level amounts of model-based support and associated deployment obligations for all carriers that have been authorized to receive model-based support.

The Bureau said that, collectively, the net increase in annualized support compared to the previously-elected A-CAM amounts is approximately $36 million. However, this increase will be partially offset by transition payments already disbursed that will be reduced or eliminated going forward due to the per-location cap’s increase.

FCC Lifeline Forbearance

The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau announced the counties in which conditional forbearance from the obligation to offer Lifeline-supported voice service applies, pursuant to the Commission’s 2016 Lifeline Order.  Inteserra Briefing Service subscribers see Briefing dated 5/9/16.  This forbearance applies only to the Lifeline voice obligation of eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) that are designated for purposes of receiving both high-cost and Lifeline support (high-cost/Lifeline ETCs), and not to Lifeline-only ETCs.  The Appendix lists the counties where the Commission’s conditional forbearance from high-cost/Lifeline ETCs’ Lifeline voice obligation will apply effective on September 21, 2018. 

The 2016 Lifeline Order established conditional forbearance from Lifeline voice obligations in targeted areas where certain competitive conditions are met.3 To accomplish this forbearance, the FCC directed the Bureau to release a yearly public notice announcing the counties in which the competitive conditions are met.  The forbearance relates to the high cost/Lifeline ETCs’ obligation to offer and advertise Lifeline voice service in counties where the following conditions are met: (1) 51 percent of Lifeline subscribers in the county are obtaining broadband Internet access service; (2) there are at least three other providers of Lifeline broadband Internet access service that each serve at least five percent of the Lifeline broadband subscribers in that county; and (3) the ETC does not actually receive federal high-cost universal service support. The forbearance applies only in areas within the county where the ETC does not receive high-cost support.

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The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s daily 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.