Universal Service Fund

The Federal Communications Commission adopted an Order on Remand in response to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit’s remand of three discrete issues for further consideration by the FCC regarding its 2017 Restoring Internet Freedom Order. The court’s Oct 2019 ruling in Mozilla Corp. v. FCC affirmed the FCC’s decision to repeal net neutrality rules. The Court’s decision also upheld the FCC’s robust transparency rule ensuring consumers are fully informed about their online options. This action addresses the few remaining issues the court asked the FCC to consider.

On Oct 27, the Federal Communications Commission voted to approve an Order on Remand that would reaffirm the agency’s 2017 net neutrality repeal. The vote is a response to a 2019 remand by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in Mozilla v. FCC ordering the agency to address how its net neutrality repeal could harm public safety, pole attachments, and even the Lifeline program. 

Chairman Pai is at it again, pushing his anti-consumer agenda – this time on the eve of an historic election.  Americans deserve strong Net Neutrality protections, but this FCC is rushing ahead of November 3rd to further cement its efforts to deprive Americans of these critical protections.  At a time when internet connectivity is especially critical for students, parents, first responders, low-income and rural Americans, the FCC should be protecting American families, not undermining them.  Time and again, this FCC has put industry interests before those of consumers, and its actions this

Can the Federal Communications Commission regulate the internet? Can it offer consumer protections for broadband subscribers? Can it regulate the content found on social media sites?

Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA-18), a senior member of the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee, wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to express her high concerns that the FCC is ignoring its court-mandated obligation to protect public safety in its latest net neutrality repeal order and called on the Chairman to drop the proposal from next week’s open meeting agenda. “California is experiencing the most horrific wildfire season in history, and I’m deeply concerned that the FCC is ignoring its mandate to protect public safety as required by statute and by a federal

AT&T reports it now has 4.7 million fiber subscribers, adding 357K net new fiber subscribers in 3Q 2020, up over 12% from 3Q 2019. AT&T now reports 33% penetration of its fiber homes passed. Verizon reported 139K net adds for consumer Fios fiber subscribers, the most net additions since 4Q 2014. That’s up over 450% from 3Q 2019. Verizon now counts 6.1 million fiber subscribers.

The vast majority of school district leaders and principals say at least some of their students still don't have sufficient internet access at home for remote learning. And most educators believe the U.S. government should be providing more funding to ensure that's no longer the case. Two recent surveys reflect strong convictions among educators that the level of home internet access in the communities they serve continues to be inadequate.

The E-rate program supports nearly every school and library in America, annually providing billions of dollars of much-needed support for Internet access, telecommunications, and computer networking. Over 21,000 applicants and 4,100 vendors currently participate in the program. For most, their perception of the program is limited to a handful of funding requests and a few personal interactions with USAC customer service representatives. The purpose of this analysis is to provide stakeholders with a broader picture of the E-rate program.

We already know that the Federal Communication Commission’s current broadband maps are flawed – they overstate broadband availability, they don’t contain pricing information, and they rely too heavily on industry-provided data. The FCC is now seeking additional funding from Congress to improve its mapping efforts.

The Federal Communications Commission announced that 386 applicants are qualified to bid in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction. The FCC's Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force, Office of Economics and Analytics, and Wireline Competition Bureau identified the qualified applicants and provided educational materials for participating in the auction. The number of qualified bidders represents a more than 75% increase in the number of bidders in 2018’s successful Connect America Fund Phase II auction and also includes bidding consortia that contain multiple service providers.