Lauren Frayer

INCOMPAS, which represents competitive carriers, wants the Federal Communications Commission to hold off on planned vote April 20 on FCC chair Ajit Pai's business data services deregulation until it releases the list of counties it presumes have competition and can deregulate incumbent carrier rates.

The Tennessee Broadband Accessibility Act (HB 529/SB 1215) provides $45 million over three years in grants and tax credits for service providers to assist in making broadband available to unserved homes and businesses. In addition, the plan will permit Tennessee’s private, nonprofit electric cooperatives to provide retail broadband service and make grant funding available to the state’s local libraries to help residents improve their digital literacy skills and maximize the benefits of broadband.

The House of Representatives passed HB 529/SB 1215 93-4, and it now heads to the governor’s desk for signature. The Senate passed the legislation 31-0 on April 3. Tennessee currently ranks 29th in the U.S. for broadband access, with 34 percent of rural Tennessee residents lacking access at recognized minimum standards.

Gov. Bill Haslam (R-TN) praised the passage of the Tennessee Broadband Accessibility Act, the governor’s legislation to increase broadband access to Tennessee’s unserved citizens.

The Federal Communications Commission moved to end its push to allow people to use cellphones on flights. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai called for killing an abandoned 2013 proposal to relax the agency’s rules about the use of cellphones on flights. “I stand with airline pilots, flight attendants, and America’s flying public against the FCC’s ill-conceived 2013 plan to allow people to make cellphone calls on planes,” said Chairman Pai. “I do not believe that moving forward with this plan is in the public interest. Taking it off the table permanently will be a victory for Americans across the country who, like me, value a moment of quiet at 30,000 feet.” The proposal was first circulated in 2013 by former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. It would have relaxed the agency’s rules on using certain frequencies on aircraft, allowing airlines to choose whether to enable mobile calls.

After a comprehensive review of funding request forms (FCC Forms 462 and 466) received during the second filing window period for FY2016 (i.e., September 1 – November 30, 2016), USAC will begin issuing funding commitment letters (FCLs) on April 10, based on the total dollar value of all qualifying funding requests received during the September – November 2016 filing window period. The total dollar value of all qualifying funding requests received during this filing window period was $274,725,249. Because this amount exceeds the RHC Program funding available of $254,255,017 at the beginning of the September – November filing window period, funding requests submitted during the September – November filing window period will receive a pro-rated percentage of the qualifying funding requested. The pro-rata percentage for the FY2016 September – November filing window period is 92.5% (reduction of 7.5%) for the qualifying funding requests. The exact amount of funding each qualifying funding request will receive will be detailed in the FCLs.

John Windhausen, the Executive Director of the Schools, Healthcare and Libraries Broadband Coalition, said, “The SHLB Coalition appreciates the difficult position faced by USAC, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and applicants in the Rural Health Care (RHC) Program. For the first time, demand for RHC program funding in FY 2016 has exceeded the $400 Million cap, and as a result, several rural telehealth providers will suffer reductions in funding. Unfortunately, this will mean that many rural health centers will be forced to pay more to maintain their existing telemedicine connections, and some of these clinics may be forced off the network altogether, which jeopardizes the quality of health care delivered to rural America. This funding crisis points to the need for comprehensive reform of the RHC program, which the SHLB Coalition requested in its Petition for Rulemaking filed in December 2015. The RHC program is the only one of the four Universal Service Fund programs that has not been fully reformed, and we urge the FCC to move forward to upgrade this program as soon as possible.”

In less than two weeks, the Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to vote on an item that will have serious ramifications for the $45 billion market for business data services. An integral piece of this proposed Order is a test to determine which counties will be deemed competitive, and thus deregulated.

Chairman Pai has been a champion of transparency. It is puzzling, then, why he will release the text of the item, but omit a key appendix listing which counties are deemed competitive, until the Order is released. We have the information. It will become public when the Order is released. So why is it that the FCC has taken the position that it will vote on an Order before the public gets to see exactly what the Order does? Just what are we trying to hide? The FCC should release this list immediately. This is the only way the public can truly evaluate the practical effects of the FCC’s proposed actions. If for some reason, that is unknown to me at this time, we cannot release this list expeditiously, we should delay our vote on the proposed Order until the public can see it ‘well in advance’ of a FCC vote.

AT&T has reached a deal to buy the telecommunications company Straight Path Communications for about $1.25 billion in stock, the companies announced April 10. The deal is expected to help AT&T better position itself for deploying 5G capabilities, as Spectrum is one of the largest holders of wireless spectrum that has been approved for use in next-generation networks. Straight Path shareholders will get $95.63 per share in the deal, which is worth about $1.6 billion. The merger will be subject to Federal Communications Commission review, and the companies say that they expect the deal to close within a year. In January, the company also bought FiberTower, another large holder of spectrum licenses.

Charter Communications has been hit with a class action suit in St. Louis (MO) for selling subscribers’ personally identifiable information. A subscriber said that between 2011 and 2013, Charter sold information such as names and addresses to unknown companies without customer consent. The plaintiffs are alleging that Charter violated Missouri’s Merchandising Practices Act. The subscriber claims he was not provided with a copy of Charter’s privacy policy, which is required under that law. The complaint also said Charter failed to obtain written consent to sell the information or provide an opt-out provision.

Notably, when Comcast, Verizon and AT&T each put out statements two weeks ago swearing to not sell private customer data in the wake of the Republican Congress’ decision to dispense of Obama-era privacy protections, the nation’s No. 2 cable operator was quiet.

CenturyLink has snagged a potential $6 million-plus contract to provide Voice over Internet Protocol services to the General Services Administration. The contract is actually for $1.3 million for the first year, with four, one-year options In December, the telecom and broadband provider secured an $11.4 million contract (three years at $3.8 million per year) to provide VoIP service to the state offices of US senators. The contract could actually total $26 million if the government picks up the four, one-year options, for that contract.

The Federal Communications Commission announces the re-chartering of the Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council (CSRIC or Council), which will provide advice and recommendations to the Commission to improve the security, reliability, and interoperability of the nation’s communications systems. By this Public Notice, we seek nominations for membership on and a Chairperson for this Committee. The Commission intends to establish the CSRIC for a period of two (2) years, with an expected starting date in the early summer of 2017.

Rep Kevin Cramer (R-ND) says he’s willing to release his internet browsing history. Rep Cramer, who voted in favor of repealing an Obama-era rule that would have prevented service providers from selling customers' information without their permission, told a North Dakota radio show that he'd be willing to release his own browsing history. "Oh, of course. Yes, absolutely. No problem," Rep Cramer said in response to a question. Rep Cramer did not clarify if he would be willing to release his data in a way that would make it identifiable to him, or if he would be willing to release it anonymously, akin to how many internet companies like Facebook and Google sell user data to advertisers. Cramer said that the information internet service providers would gain from consumers is “not worth a lot of commercial value," anyway.