Today's Regulatory Mix:  FCC Releases 2Q 2020 Adjustment Factors For Cable Operators, FCC’s Rosenworcel Releases New Podcast,  FCC and Rural Providers Collaborate on Broadband for Low-Income Students, USDA Broadband Funding in Mississippi

FCC Releases 2Q 2020 Adjustment Factors For Cable Operators

The FCC announced  the most recent inflation adjustment factors for rate-regulated cable operators. Operators filing FCC Form 1210 may make an annual adjustment based on inflation occurring from June 30 of the previous year to June 30 of the year in which the inflation adjustment is made. The inflation factor for the twelve months ended June 30, 2020 is 1.0060. Operators who wish to take this year’s inflation adjustment using FCC Form 1210 should enter the figure “1.006” on Lines I5 and J5 of the form.  This year’s inflation adjustment factor is calculated by dividing the second quarter 2020 GNPPI (112.822) by the second quarter 2019 GNP-PI (112.412). Operators may take this year’s inflation adjustment between October 1, 2020 and August 31, 2021

For operators filing quarterly using FCC Form 1240, the 2Q20 inflation factor is a negative amount, -1.82%. The negative adjustment factor of -1.82% is a measure of the annualized change in prices occurring over the period from April 1, 2020 to June 30, 2020.1.41%.  Operators calculating the Inflation Factor for a True-Up Period that includes some portion of the 2Q20 should enter the negative inflation factor on the appropriate lines of Worksheet 1 of FCC Form 1240 as “-0.0182.”  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 “0.9818” (1 plus -0.0182 = 0.9818).

FCC’s Rosenworcel Releases New Podcast

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel announced the release of a new, two-part episode of her podcast, Broadband Conversations.  The most recent episode is Part I of her conversation with five female school Superintendents from across the country. Listeners will get to meet Dr. Kristi Wilson from Arizona, Dr. Ann Levett from Georgia, Krestin Bahr and Dr. Susan Enfield from Washington, and Heidi Sipe from Oregon.

Rosenworcel said: “The new school year is underway, but so much is different.  With a public health emergency still keeping many keep schools closed, millions of students are at home learning remotely.  Yet nearly 17 million children are unable to reach the virtual classroom because they do not have broadband at home and are stuck in the Homework Gap.  I wanted to speak to education leaders from across the country who can talk about what this looks like on the ground and what solutions they want to see to fix this problem.  I learned so much from Kristi, Ann, Krestin, Susan and Heidi that we had to break up the conversation into two parts.  I’m so grateful these women are working as hard as they are to ensure no child is left behind in this crisis.”

FCC and Rural Providers Collaborate on Broadband for Low-Income Students

The FCC announced that, to help connect low-income students to remote learning, the National Exchange Carrier Association worked with its Wireline Competition Bureau staff on tariff revisions that will provide eligible new customers of rural carriers a 25% discount on certain broadband services and offer existing eligible customers faster connections at no cost.  The tariff revisions went into effect on October 1, 2020 and the promotional offerings will be in effect through the end of June 2021. Each participating carrier will decide how to reach out to its community and to verify customer eligibility.  The programs will allow companies to offer:

• a temporary discount on certain new broadband services or
• a speed upgrade at no additional charge on certain existing broadband service from 1/6 to 50/100 Mbps (asymmetric digital subscriber line) or from 10/10 to 100/100 Mbps (symmetric digital subscriber line).

“I applaud the hundreds of NECA members that are committed to helping low-income students in their service areas connect and stay connected to the Internet,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “With the continued reliance upon remote learning in many parts of the country, students need connectivity to learn from and communicate with their teachers and classmates.  I’m pleased the Commission worked with these rural carriers to enable more low-income students in their communities to benefit from cheaper, faster broadband service.”

USDA Broadband Funding in Mississippi

The USDA announced it is investing $4.6 million to provide broadband service in unserved and underserved rural areas in Mississippi. Specifically, Bay Springs Telephone Company, Inc. will use a $4.6 million grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network to connect 5,139 people, 69 businesses, 77 farms, three fire stations, two post offices, two health care facilities and five educational facilities to high-speed broadband internet in Jasper, Jones, Newton, Lauderdale and Smith counties in Mississippi.

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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.