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.

FCC Lifeline Service

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai sent a letter to the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) about the Lifeline program, See the Regulatory Mix dated 8/4/16, 6/10/16, and 4/19/16, this time seeking more information on the way USAC policies the enhanced Lifeline subsidy available to eligible residents of Tribal land.  Noting that FCC and Hawaii PUC staff recently recovered $2 million in wrongful disbursements to Hawaii Lifeline subscribers that were not eligible for Tribal land discounts, See the Regulatory Mix dated 7/21/16, Pai requests additional information on how USAC validates whether that subscribers are actually eligible for the Trial lands subsidy claimed by the provider.  Among the seven different questions posed are the following:

• Does USAC have a map of qualifying Tribal lands that it uses to verify eligibility for the enhanced subsidy and does it share such map with wireless resellers?
• Are providers required to record a subscriber's eligibility for an enhanced subsidy in the National Lifeline Accountability Database (NLAD) and does the NLAD compare the subscriber's inputted address against a map of Tribal lands?
• Has USAC conducted any investigations, audits, or reviews from October 2014 to the present that examined whether a wireless carrier sought enhanced subsidies only for eligible subscribers living on Tribal lands?

NTIA Broadband Research

In furtherance of the Broadband Opportunity Council’s recommendation to improve data collection, analysis, and research on broadband, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) are requesting public comments that will inform the National Broadband Research Agenda.  They are seeking input in input in four specific areas: (i) Broadband technology; (ii) broadband deployment, adoption, and utilization by individual, business, and institutional users; (iii) assessment of economic and social impacts; and (iv) opportunities for federal leadership in data collection, research, and overall coordination.  Comments are due October 11, 2016.  Some of the questions being asked include: What are the critical data and research needs in the areas of broadband deployment and access?  What research proposals regarding broadband access should be prioritized?  How can cross-disciplinary collaboration in broadband research be enhanced?  What is needed to understand how to reach population groups that have traditionally under-utilized broadband technology?

TMI Fall 2016 Telecom Regulatory Seminar & Workshop October 18 & 19 in Maitland, FL

See agenda here.