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  2. December 2020

December 2020

FCC Announces Tentative Agenda for January 2021 Open Meeting

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced the tentative agenda for the January Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Wednesday, January 13, 2021. Bureau, Office, and Task Force leaders will summarize the work their teams have done over the last four years in a series of presentations:

Panel One – The Commission will hear presentations from the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, International Bureau, Office of Engineering and Technology, and Office of Economics and Analytics.

Lifeline Program Data Collection

The Federal Communications Commission is directing a group of mobile service providers to respond to a questionnaire about customer usage and costs. The responses of this group, encompassing a significant portion of the Lifeline marketplace by subscribership, will aid the development of the State of the Lifeline Marketplace Report. The FCC also expects this data to inform the policy choices before the FCC regarding the mobile broadband minimum service standards—standards established in 2016 and annually updated.

Database of Urban and Rural Rates for the Telecommunications Program

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau directed the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) to add to the Database of Urban and Rural Rates for the Telecommunications Program (Telecom Program Rates Database) rates for all funding requests committed since its launch.

FCC Settles with IBM in NYC and El Paso E-Rate Program Investigations

The Federal Communications Commission announced a settlement with IBM for alleged violations of the FCC’s E-Rate program rules in connection with the New York City and El Paso school districts. IBM agreed to return $24.25 million to the Universal Service Fund. In past years, IBM provided communications services to the New York City Department of Education and the El Paso Independent School District in Texas using E-Rate subsidies.

CWA Shows Frontier Some Love in RDOF Funding Debate

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) has asked the Federal Communications Commission to reject efforts by West Virginia legislators to block Frontier Communications’ successful bid for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) funding. Frontier won $247 million to serve almost 79,000 locations in the state. It says that it will bring gigabit connectivity to many of those locations. The company is currently in bankruptcy, but expects to emerge in the first quarter of 2021.

Top Broadband and Telecom Trends of 2020

The broadband and telecom industry managed not only to meet increased demand during the pandemic but also to make progress on broader initiatives, as we note in our roundup of 2020 telecom trends.

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