Today's Regulatory Mix: FCC Releases Tropical Storm Isaias Communications Status Report, FCC's Pai on Freeing Up Spectrum for 5G, FCC Actions on Stage 2 of the Uniendo A Puerto Rico Fund and Connect USVI Funds

FCC Releases Tropical Storm Isaias Communications Status Report

The FCC released a report on the status of communications services in geographic areas impacted by Tropical Storm Isaias in Connecticut as of August 10, 2020 at 11:30 a.m. EST. This report incorporates network outage data submitted by communications providers to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS). DIRS is currently activated for all eight counties in Connecticut.  According to the report:

• There are no outages affecting PSAPs in the disaster area.
• There are 1.6% (down from 3.6 %) of the cell sites out of service in the affected areas.
• Cable and wireline companies reported 69,996 (down from 120,948) subscribers out of service in Connecticut; this may include the loss of telephone, television, and/or Internet services.

No broadcast stations reported being out of service.

FCC’s Pai on Freeing Up Spectrum for 5G

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai issued the following statement on today’s announcement by the White House and Department of Defense that the 3.45-3.55 GHz band will be made available for next-generation, commercial wireless services:

“I commend the President and Department of Defense for today’s announcement that the 3.45- 3.55 GHz band will be made available for commercial 5G deployment. This is a key milestone in securing United States leadership in 5G. I also would like to thank FCC staff for their work to help create a framework that will promote 5G service in this important band. Together with the spectrum being made available for 5G in the C-band as well as the 3.5 GHz band, we are now on track to have a 530-megahertz swath of mid-band spectrum available for 5G from 3.45 to 3.98 GHz. The FCC looks forward to moving quickly to adopt service rules for the 3.45 GHz band and then hold an auction to bring this prime mid-band spectrum to market.”

FCC Actions on Stage 2 of the Uniendo A Puerto Rico Fund and Connect USVI Funds

The FCC released an updated list of the eligible minimum geographic areas and associated annual reserve prices, and location counts for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands for Stage 2 fixed support for the Uniendo A Puerto Rico Fund And Connect USVI Funds.  The FCC previously allocated budgets of $504.7 million in Stage 2 fixed support to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and $186.5 million in Stage 2 fixed support to the U.S. Virgin Islands over a 10-year period and required staff to recalculate the reserve prices.  Based on this recalculation, the FCC now establishes a high cost threshold of $28.58 per-location per-month for Puerto Rico and $23.34 per-location per-month for the U.S. Virgin Islands and a new reserve price for each geographic area in proportion to the support amounts calculated for each census block within that area.

Separately, it announced that that the application window for the Stage 2 competitive process of the Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund and the Connect USVI Fund will open on Thursday, August 6, 2020 and close on Thursday, September 3, 2020 at 6:00 PM ET.  In addition, it has posted various information on its Uniendo a Puerto Rico and Connect USVI Fund Stage 2 webpage to assist interested parties in preparing and submitting timely and properly filed applications. 

____________________________

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.