Public Knowledge Still Urging Broadband Reclassification

Meeting with Federal Communications Commission staff, Public Knowledge restated that the failure to classify broadband as a Title II service raises significant difficulties for expanding the universal service fund to include creation of the Connect America Fund (CAF) and disbursement of funds high cost funds to entities other than eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs).

However, the authority asserted by the FCC under Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act and under its forbearance authority, if sufficient for the modifications proposed in a rulemaking, would also be sufficient to support the proposals made by Public Knowledge and the Benton Foundation. In particular, the authority asserted by the FCC would permit both creation of a small fund for the purchase of equipment for self-provisioning entities in unserved communities pursuant to the law's mandate to ensure deployment where broadband is not being deployed in a timely manner.
PK proposed two solutions. First, and on the most solid legal footing, the FCC could classify interconnected VoIP as a Title II service. Alternatively, the FCC could interpret the creation of CAF as occurring through a combination of Section 706 and Section 254.