Today:  Broadband Infrastructure Bill introduced, FCC Seeks NANC's Input on Foreign Ownership of VoIP Providers with Numbering Resources

Broadband Infrastructure Bill Introduced

House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) introduced The Leading Infrastructure For Tomorrow’s America Act, or LIFT America Act, (H.R. 2479) which sets out five years of funding for essential infrastructure improvements including broadband, the electric grid, brownfields, and renewable energy infrastructure.  The LIFT America Act includes investments in several key areas including:

• $40 billion for the deployment of secure and resilient broadband to expand access for communities nationwide while promoting security by design.  Three quarters of this funding will be used to deploy broadband in unserved areas of the country through a national reverse auction.  The remaining funds will be given to states to distribute through separate state-wide reverse auctions.  If there are no unserved areas in a state, the state may use the funding to deploy broadband in underserved areas, to deploy broadband or connective technology to schools and libraries, or to fund the deployment of Next Generation 911.
• Over $17 billion for energy infrastructure, including $4 billion for electric grid infrastructure, $9 billion for resilient and renewable energy supply including methane pipeline replacement, and more than $4 billion for energy efficiency efforts and smart communities.

A section-by-section summary of the bill is available here.  The text of the bill is available here.

FCC Seeks NANC’s Input on Foreign Ownership Of VoIP Providers With Numbering Resources

The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau has asked the North American Numbering Council (NANC) to explore concerns that may be raised by foreign ownership of VoIP providers seeking to obtain their own numbering resources.  It directed NANC to approve a written report on its findings at its June 29, 2017, meeting and to provide that report to the Bureau on the same date.  Specifically, NANC was asked to: (1) identify what issues foreign ownership of interconnected VoIP providers seeking to obtain numbering resources may present; (2) provide information about NANC member experience with foreign-owned carriers obtaining telephone numbers from the NANC and/or use of those numbers outside the US, and (3) make specific recommendations about how to address foreign ownership of interconnected VoIP providers that seek to obtain numbers directly.  The Bureau made the request because it has received two applications for authorization to receive numbering resources from VoIP providers that involve foreign ownership and the issue has not been addressed by the full commission. 

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The Regulatory Mix, TMI’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 a TMI Briefing.