Today: US House FCC Oversight Hearing, FCC Mobility Fund Phase II, California Internet for All Now Act
US House FCC Oversight Hearing
The House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, chaired by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), announced it will hold a hearing on October 25, 2017, entitled “Oversight of the Federal Communications Commission.” The hearing will allow the subcommittee to “press the FCC on removing innovation-killing Title II regulations, bringing today’s media landscape into the digital age, and reforming the Lifeline program.” Members will also discuss the recently marked up FCC reauthorization bill, which will soon move to the full committee for consideration, as well as the FCC’s response and preparedness efforts in the wake of the recent natural disasters. All five members of the FCC are expected to testify.
FCC Mobility Fund Phase II Challenge Process
The FCC’s Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force with the Wireline Competition Bureau and the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau released a public notice proposing and seeking comment on specific parameters and procedures to implement the Mobility Fund Phase II (MF II) challenge process. The challenge process will begin with a new, one-time collection of current, standardized coverage data on qualified 4G LTE service, defined by download speeds of 5 Mbps at the cell edge with 80% probability and a 30% cell loading factor. The coverage data will be used, in conjunction with subsidy data from the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), to establish the map of areas presumptively eligible for MF-II support. The Public Notice describes the steps the FCC intends to use to process the coverage and subsidy data and create that map. It also proposes specific parameters for the data that challengers and respondents will submit as part of the challenge process, as well as a process for validating challenges. Comments are due November 8, 2017; reply comments are due November 29, 2017.
California Governor Signs the Internet For All Now Act
AB 1665 is intended to allocate more money to broadband projects and establishes a new account within the California Advanced Service Fund (CASF) called the Broadband Adoption Account. The Internet For All Now Act allocates $300 million to the Broadband Infrastructure Grant Account, $10 million to the Rural and Urban Regional Broadband Consortia Grant Account, and $20 million to the Broadband Adoption Account. The Act makes various changes to the CASF including revising the goal of the program to approve funding for infrastructure projects that will provide broadband access to no less than 98% of California households in each consortia region, revises the eligibility requirements for projects and project applicants, creates the Broadband Adoption Account to increase broadband access and digital inclusion, and requires additional program audits and reporting.
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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.
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