Today: San Francisco Seeks to Protect Net Neutrality, FCC E-Rate Cap for Funding Year 2018    

San Francisco Seeks to Protect Net Neutrality

The city of San Francisco released a Request For Qualifications (RFQ)  for interested companies to submit plans to provide and maintain a broadband fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network.  The company that is chosen would have to adhere to the city’s net neutrality rules set out in the RFQ.  Unlike a previous plan in Los Angeles, the city of San Francisco will cover a portion of the cost for the project and provide or lease access to city property and infrastructure.  However, the winning bidder is “expected to assume the full performance risk.”  The deadline for  respondent team submittals is March 26, 2018 and the city will issue a list of qualified bidders on April 30, 2018. 

FCC E-Rate Cap for Funding Year 2018

The FCC announced that the E-rate program funding cap for funding year 2018 is $4,062,030,726.  This represents a 1.8% inflation-adjusted increase in the $3,990,207,000 cap from funding year 2017.  The FCC has been indexing the funding cap to inflation since 2010 to ensure that E-rate program funding keeps pace with the changing broadband and telecommunications needs of schools and libraries.

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The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’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 an Inteserra Briefing.