Public Notice

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has made two appointments to the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC). First, Chairman Pai has appointed BDAC member Elizabeth Bowles to serve as Chair of the BDAC. Bowles is President and Chairman of the Board of Aristotle, Inc., an Arkansas-based wireless Internet service provider. In addition, the Chairman has appointed Larry Hanson, a member of the BDAC’s Model Code for Municipalities working group, to serve on the BDAC. Hanson represents the City of Valdosta (GA) where he is city manager.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai hereby appoints six additional members to the Consumer Advisory Committee for a term beginning September 1, 2017, and ending October 21, 2018, or, when the Committee terminates, whichever is earlier:
Consumer Technology Association – Julie Kearney (primary representative)
Digital Policy Institute – Barry Umansky (primary representative)
Kyle J. Hildebrand – (serving individually as a subject-matter expert, Special Government Employee)
T-Mobile – Luisa Lancetti (primary representative)
William Rinehart – (serving individually as a subject-matter expert, Special Government Employee)
Wireless Internet Service Providers Association – Alex Phillips (primary representative)

On August 4, 2017, the Commission released the Connect America Fund Phase II (CAF II) Auction Comment Public Notice, seeking comment on detailed proposals for conducting the Phase II reverse auction designated as Auction 903. While many of the pre-auction and bidding procedures and processes proposed for this auction are similar to those used in other Commission auctions, the proposals include some new procedures and processes. To facilitate public input on the proposals, the Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force announces that the Wireless Telecommunications and Wireline Competition Bureaus will host a webinar about the proposed auction process on September 11, 2017, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET.

This Public Notice serves as notice that the Federal Communications Commission has appointed members to serve on the working groups of the Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council (CSRIC or Council). The members of these working groups are listed in Appendix A. This Public Notice also serves as notification that the next CSRIC Meeting will beheld on October 26. The newly-chartered CSRIC held its first meeting on Friday, June 23, at which time FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced the topics of the working groups.

By this Public Notice, the Federal Communications Commission announces the states that will be part of the initial launch of the National Lifeline Eligibility Verifier (National Verifier). The Commission established the National Verifier in the 2016 Lifeline Order to make eligibility determinations and perform a variety of other functions necessary to enroll subscribers into the Lifeline program. The National Verifier will verify Lifeline subscriber eligibility, conduct checks to prevent duplicate benefits, recertify subscriber eligibility, and calculate support payments to eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs). In the 2016 Lifeline Order, the Commission set as an expectation that the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) would deploy the National Verifier in at least five states by December 31, 2017.3 USAC has announced that the National Verifier will launch in six states – Colorado, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming – in December 2017. The National Verifier will have a soft launch date of December 5, 2017, and a hard launch date of March 13, 2018.

In the 2007 700 MHz Second Report and Order, the Commission adopted rules for relicensing of 700 MHz Lower A, B, and E Block, and Upper C Block spectrum that is returned to the Commission’s inventory as a result of licensees’ failure to meet applicable construction requirements. The Commission set forth the overall rules and policies for the relicensing process and delegated authority to the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (Bureau) to implement those rules and policies. To the extent the 700 MHz Second Report and Order and other Commission rules set forth elements of the relicensing process, we cite to those rules, and, by this Public Notice, otherwise seek comment on the Bureau’s proposed approach to the remaining elements of the process, including the respective costs and benefits of the various proposals.

The Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) of the Federal Communications Commission has announced the activation of the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) in response to Hurricane Harvey. DIRS is a voluntary, web-based system that communications providers, including wireless, wireline, broadcast, cable and Voice over Internet Protocol providers, can use to report communications infrastructure status and situational awareness information during times of crisis. Reports are requested beginning 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 26, 2017, and every day after that by 10:00 a.m. until DIRS is deactivated

The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (Bureau) today released data from two separate data collections representing mobile voice and broadband deployment as of June 30, 2016, and December 31, 2016. These deployment data were collected through FCC Form 477.

This Public Notice solicits data, information, and comment for the Commission’s Nineteenth Report on the Status of Competition in the Market for the Delivery of Video Programming (19th Report). We seek to update the information and metrics provided in the Eighteenth Report (18th Report) in order to report on the state of competition in the video marketplace in 2016. Using the information collected pursuant to this Notice, we seek to enhance our analysis of competitive conditions, better understand the implications for the American consumer, and provide a solid foundation for Commission policy making with respect to the delivery of video programming to consumers. The 19th Report also will satisfy the Commission’s statutory requirement to “annually report to Congress on the status of competition in the market for the delivery of video programming.”

Section 19 of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 (1992 Cable Act) amended the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (the Act or Communications Act) and directed the Commission to establish regulations for the purpose of increasing competition and diversity in multichannel video programming distribution, increasing the availability of satellite delivered programming, and spurring the development of communications technologies. Our annual reports to Congress seek to assess progress toward these goals.

As previously announced, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) will host a public workshop on September 11, 2017 to discuss best practices for improving situational awareness during 911 outages. By this Public Notice, the Bureau announces the agenda and panelists for the workshop.