August 2017

Bringing high-speed internet access to more of rural America is a policy goal that’s popular among Republicans and Democrats alike. But the issue isn’t moving very fast on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers from both parties, along with President Donald Trump, want to include rural broadband provisions in a larger infrastructure bill, a move that would benefit smaller wireless providers such as United States Cellular Corp. and C Spire Wireless as well as equipment companies. But infrastructure has taken a back seat so far to health-care and tax legislation in the 115th Congress. It’s unclear, at best, whether any infrastructure legislation will advance in 2017.

For now, all of the action on rural broadband is at the Federal Communications Commission, where Chairman Ajit Pai has made the issue a top priority. The commission plans to vote Aug. 3 on several related initiatives. Despite the commission’s focus, however, small and rural wireless providers worry that the agency will be slow or insufficient in serving the areas that need broadband most.

The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) filed an updated version of the Lifeline National Verifier Plan, which was created in response to the Lifeline Modernization Order on January 19, 2017. USAC said the plan contains a section detailing each of ten key components, as well as an introduction and a glossary of key terms. It also contains a section responding to public comments received on its draft plan, and has been approved by the Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau and the Office of the Managing Director. This updated version reflects progress of the system build and its related processes.

A class-action complaint against Comcast can move forward after a federal judge rejected a Comcast motion to dismiss it. The lawsuit, filed in October 2016 in US District Court in Northern California, accuses Comcast of falsely advertising low prices and then using poorly disclosed fees to increase the amount paid by cable TV customers. Those fees are the "Broadcast TV Fee," which had increased from $1.50 a month to $6.50 since 2014, and the "Regional Sports Fee" that rose from $1 to $4.50 since 2015. These fees are not included in the advertised prices, so customers end up paying higher prices than the ones they are led to believe they will pay, the lawsuit said.

When customers question Comcast reps about the fees, "Comcast staff and agents explicitly lie by stating that the Broadcast TV Fee and the Regional Sports Fee are government-related fees or taxes over which Comcast has no control," the complaint said. Comcast filed a motion to dismiss, claiming that its order submission process could not have created a contract and that customers agreed to pay the fees in the "Subscriber Agreement" and "Minimum Term Agreement." But US District Court Judge Vince Chhabria disputed Comcast's reasoning and wrote that the class-action plaintiffs have made plausible claims.