Today's Regulatory Mix: FCC’s Rosenworcel Releases New Podcast, FCC T-Mobile Divestiture, FCC Releases 1Q 2020 Adjustment Factor For Cable Operators, RDOF Auction Window Opens

FCC’s Rosenworcel Releases New Podcast

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel announced the release of new episode of Broadband Conversations, her podcast dedicated to uplifting the voices of women from the innovation, technology, and media sectors.  Listeners get to hear what these leading women are doing, how they are making a difference, and what they think the future of our digital life can look like.

The most recent episode features Dr. Nicol Turner Lee, the new Director of the Center for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institution.  Dr. Turner Lee’s career has been dedicated to closing the digital divide and expanding communications access for all. Her recent research has focused on a range of technology issues, including broadband deployment and adoption, educational access to internet services, telemedicine, and artificial intelligence.

Rosenworcel said: “Broadband Conversations was created to amplify the voices of women doing important work to move our country forward—and Nicol is definitely one of these women. Nicol has long been at the forefront of discussions about the intersection of race, access to technology, civic engagement and how we can create communities where no one is left offline. As she says in this episode, we need to build a technology ecosystem that is focused on ‘how we service people, how we connect to people, how we educate people, and how we integrate them into the next wave of digital innovation.’”

FCC T-Mobile Divestiture

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai issued a statement reacting to the announcement by T-Mobile and DISH Network that the divestiture of Boost Mobile to DISH has been completed. “I’m pleased to see that T-Mobile has met one of its most important merger commitments,” said Chairman Pai. “Today’s action is a key step towards promoting vigorous competition in the wireless marketplace, particularly for price-conscious consumers in our nation’s cities. I also welcome DISH’s entry into the mobile industry. With this divestiture and its existing spectrum resources, DISH has the potential to make a big impact on a wireless marketplace that is transitioning to 5G, the next generation of wireless connectivity. Of course, while this divestiture is good news, the Commission remains committed to ensuring that T-Mobile and DISH comply in the coming months and years with all of the conditions imposed by the FCC in this proceeding.”

By leveraging T-Mobile’s network and spectrum resources through a network access agreement, DISH will be able to offer competitive service options while it builds out its own 5G network. DISH has made a commitment to use its acquisition of Boost Mobile, along with 5G infrastructure investments, to deploy a competitive 5G wireless service using its long-held spectrum licenses. DISH’s buildout plan includes a first-of-its-kind greenfield standalone 5G network using open radio access network equipment and virtualized, cloud-native 5G-RAN software.

FCC Releases 1Q 2020 Adjustment Factor For Cable Operators

The FCC announced  the most recent inflation adjustment factors for rate-regulated cable operators.  For operators filing quarterly using FCC Form 1240, the 1Q20 inflation factor is 1.41%.  Operators calculating the Inflation Factor for a True-Up Period that includes some portion of the 1Q20 should enter the inflation factor on the appropriate lines of Worksheet 1 of FCC Form 1240 as “0.0141.” Operators using this factor for calculating the Projected Period Inflation Segment of FCC Form 1240 should enter this number on Line C3 (January 1996 version), or Line C5 (July 1996 version) as “1.0141.”

RDOF Auction Window Opens

The FCC issued a Public Notice announcing the opening of the window for entities to file the short-form application (FCC Form 183) to participate in Auction 904 (Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I).  The Auction 904 application window opened at 12:00 noon EDT on July 1, 2020. The Auction 904 application window will close at 6:00 pm EDT on July 15, 2020. All entities seeking to participate in Auction 904 must complete a short-form application by the close of the application window. Interested entities are encouraged to certify and submit their application well in advance of the deadline. Late applications will not be accepted.

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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.