Today:  FCC CAF II Auction, FCC Considers Adopting Rule to Prohibit Purchase of Certain Equipment Using FCC-Provided Funding  

FCC CAF II Auction

The FCC announced the status of the 277 short-form applications received for the CAF II Auction (Auction 903).  The auction, which is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, July 24, 2018, will award up to $1.98 billion over 10 years to service providers that commit to offer voice and broadband services to fixed locations in unserved high-cost areas.  47 applications were deemed complete and 230 applications were deemed incomplete.  Each of the applicants that filed a complete application will a qualified bidder in all the states it selected for all the performance tier and latency combinations it selected, provided that it maintains the accuracy of its short-form application as required by FCC rules.  Applicants that filed incomplete applications will receive a letter from the FCC identifying the deficiency(ies) in its application. Each applicant whose application for Auction 903 was identified as incomplete must address the identified deficiencies in its application during the resubmission window, which will open at 10:00 a.m. ET on May 15, 2018.  Corrected applications must be filed prior to 6:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, June 5, 2018.  This will be the only opportunity to cure application deficiencies.  Late resubmissions will not be accepted.  If an application is incomplete or otherwise deficient after the resubmission deadline has passed, the applicant will not be qualified to participate in bidding.  Following FCC review of resubmitted short-form applications, a public notice listing all applicants qualified to bid in Auction 903 will be released.  The same public notice will also include bidding schedules for both the mock auction and the first day of bidding.

FCC Considers Adopting Rule to Prohibit Purchase of Certain Equipment Using FCC-Provided Funding

The FCC is seeking comment on whether it should adopt a rule prohibiting recipients of Universal Service Fund (USF) support from using that money to purchase or obtain any equipment or services produced or provided by a company posing a national security threat. The FCC seeks comment on, among other things, the types of equipment and services that should be covered, how existing contracts should be treated, how the rule would apply in the case of E-Rate funding recipients, and how any rule should be enforced.  Inteserra Briefing Service subscribers see Briefing dated 5/8/18

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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.