Universal Service Fund

The Federal Communications Commission published its new rule for its Lifeline program making January 27, 2020 the date the changes will go into effect. The changes include:

House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR), Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Subcommittee Ranking Member Bob Latta (R-OH) sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai in response to the FCC’s recent announcement that the Mobility Fund Phase II (MF II) will be replaced with a new 5G Fund.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau announces the E-Rate program category two budget multipliers and funding floor amounts for funding year 2020. In the recently adopted Category Two Report and Order, the FCC extended the test period for the category two budget approach from five years to six years and provided a pro-rated portion of category two funding for all applicants for funding year 2020, the sixth and final year of the test period. The FCC then directed the Bureau to release the updated category two budget multipliers and funding floor, adjusted for i

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai proposed the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, or RDOF, a ten-year, $20.4 billion program designed to support broadband deployment in those rural-remote areas left behind by the private market. RDOF will go a long way in bridging the digital divide if it is spent correctly. But there are major issues with RDOF that require attention. My concern is that companies that win this public support will build networks using antiquated or untrusted tech that are only capable of 25/3 service.

In an era where most people take mobile broadband technology for granted, one out of four Fresno County households lack any internet access whatsoever – not even a smartphone. It’s indicative of a “digital divide” that puts low-income and rural households at an economic and educational disadvantage relative to residents who have ready access to up-to-date internet technology. Nationwide, about 17 million households – or 14% of U.S. households – have no internet access.

Huawei's Fifth Circuit challenge to a Federal Communications Commission ban against carriers using federal subsidies to buy its equipment is unlikely to succeed, attorneys and academics watching the case say. The Communications Act gives the FCC near “plenary authority” over how it disperses more than $4 billion in subsidies aimed at furthering universal access to internet and telephone services, Philip Verveer, who served as senior counselor to former Democratic FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, said. The subsidies generally go to rural carriers to expand services in remote areas.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai appointed six members to the Board of Directors of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). The three-year term for these positions begins on January 1, 2020.