Today's Regulatory Mix: FCC Staff Issues Report on 5G Fund for Rural America, FCC 2020 Annual Access Charge Tariff Filings

FCC Staff Issues Report on 5G Fund for Rural America 

The FCC issued a staff report detailing how a plan for establishing the 5G Fund for Rural America could make as much as 67% of land in 49 states and 3 U.S. territories eligible for 5G Fund support. Later this month, the FCC will vote on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would seek comment on two different approaches to the 5G Fund: one using currently available data to start an auction in 2021, and a second option which would wait for new mobile broadband coverage data and begin the auction no earlier than 2023. 

“Under this Administration, there has been tremendous progress in bringing 5G to the 

American people,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.  “5G networks now cover more than 200 

million Americans, and T-Mobile has made enforceable commitments to the Commission to 

deploy its 5G network to 99% of Americans and 90% of rural Americans within six years.  But 

I believe every American should benefit from 5G—and that’s why I have proposed a 5G Fund 

for Rural America. I thank our tireless staff for mapping out where in rural America we could 

see benefits from this new Fund if we were to move forward quickly.  I look forward to 

reviewing the input we get from the public, state and local groups, rural providers, and others 

on how we can best meet our goals for bridging the digital divide.” 

If adopted, the 5G Fund for Rural America would distribute up to $9 billion across the country for 5G connectivity, with $8 billion available in Phase I to target rural areas unlikely to see timely deployment of 5G service absent support or under the T-Mobile transaction commitments. 

FCC 2020 Annual Access Charge Tariff Filings 

The FCC has established procedures for the 2020 filing of annual access charge tariffs and Tariff Review Plans (TRPs) for incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) subject to price cap regulation, as well as rate-of-return LECs subject to sections 61.38, 61.39, and 61.50 of the FCC’s rules.  Tes Order (1) sets an effective date of July 1, 2020 for the annual access charge tariff filings made on both 15 and 7 days’ notice; (2) establishes the dates for filing petitions to suspend or reject an incumbent LEC’s tariff filing and replies to such petitions; and (3) addresses service of the petitions and replies.  To ensure parties have sufficient times to consider and respond to petitions, the FCC waived its rules as necessary to support the following filing deadlines:  

15-DAY TARIFF FILINGS: June 16, 2020 

EFFECTIVE: July 1, 2020 

PETITIONS: June 23, 2020 

REPLIES: June 26, 2020 

7-DAY TARIFF FILINGS: June 24, 2020 

EFFECTIVE: July 1, 2020 

PETITIONS: June 26, 2020 

REPLIES: June 29, 2020

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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.