Public Notice

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA),  announces its Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) Grant Program application window for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018.

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an Agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), announces that it is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2018 for the Rural Broadband Access Loans and Loan Guarantees Program (the Broadband Program). Applications will be processed on a first come, first served basis. Every ninety (90) days, RUS will conduct an evaluation of the submitted applications.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announces the appointment of members to serve on three working groups of the Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment (ACDDE). These working groups -- Broadcast Diversity and Development, Digital Empowerment and Inclusion, and Diversity in the Tech Sector -- will assist the ACDDE in carrying out its work. As previously announced, Chairman Pai has designated Julia Johnson, President, NetCommunications, LLC, to serve as Chair of the ACDDE, and Diane Sutter, President/CEO, ShootingStar Broadcasting, to serve as Vice Chair.

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), herein referred to as RUS or the Agency, announces its Community Connect Grant Program application window for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018.

The Federal Communications Commission appoints the Honorable Gregg C. Sayre, Commissioner, New York State Public Service Commission, to serve on the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service. Commissioner Sayre replaces the Honorable Ronald A. Brise, former Commissioner, Florida Public Service Commission, who vacated his position on the Universal Service Joint Board.

Federal Communications Chairman Ajit Pai hereby appoints Sarah Freeman, Commissioner, Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission as member to the Board of Directors of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). The appointment fills the vacancy left by the Honorable Ronald A. Brise, former Commissioner, Florida Public Service Commission.

In this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Notice), we take steps to harmonize our rules regarding jurisdictional separations to reflect the Federal Communications Commission’s actions in February 2017 to reduce and eliminate unnecessary accounting rules. We further our goal of updating and modernizing the Commission’s rules to minimize outdated compliance burdens on carriers and to free up scarce resources that can accordingly be used to expand modern networks that bring economic opportunity, job creation and civic engagement to all Americans.

This is a summary of the Commission’s Declaratory Ruling, Report and Order, and Order (‘‘Restoring Internet Freedom Order’’) in WC Docket No. 17–108, adopted on December 14, 2017 and released on January 4, 2018. The full text of this document is available at https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-17-166A1.pdf  Effective date: April 23, 2018, except for amendatory instructions 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8, which are delayed as follows.

This Erratum amends the Restoring Internet Freedom Order as indicated below.

Since its establishment in March 2011, the Federal Communications Commission Native Nations Communications Task Force has been composed of senior FCC staff and elected or appointed leaders from federally recognized Tribal governments or governmental entities, or their designated employees, and has helped the Commission fulfill its commitment to increasing broadband deployment and adoption on Tribal lands.  In view of the Task Force’s increasing involvement in a range of Commission matters and undertakings going beyond broadband deployment and adoption, the Commission, through its Office of