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Vol. 19, No. 49

December 11, 2023

UPCOMING EVENTS


January 11, 2024

Axcent Networks Webinar:

Integrity Matters: The Keys to Maintaining Accurate Data


March 5, 2024

The 2024 INCOMPAS

Policy Summit

Washington, D.C.

MEMBER NEWS


Arcadian Infracom Names Craig Cwiklowski as Vice President of Sales


Arcadian Names Trent Clausen as Vice President, Engineering & Construction


Crown Castle President & CEO Jay Brown to Retire; Anthony Melone Appointed Interim CEO


Dobson Fiber Commits to Fiber Internet Expansion for Residents in Sayre


IdeaTek Celebrates Fiber Coming to Garden City


State Grant Helps IdeaTek Bridge Digital Divide in Rural Scott County


Zayo Partners with U.S. National Laboratories and Rice University to Deliver Groundbreaking Research that Uncovers New Sustainable Energy Sources

COMMENT

DEADLINES


December 14

Comments Due on NPRM to Reclassify Broadband Under Title II


Comments Due on Reconsideration of RIF Remand Order


December 18

Reply Comments Due on FCC 706 NOI


Comments Due on AI Robocall NOI


December 29

Reply Comments Due on Access to Numbering Resources 


January 16

Reply Comments Due on AI Robocall NOI


January 17

Reply Comments Due on NPRM to Reclassify Broadband Under Title II


Reply Comments Due on Reconsideration of RIF Remand Order

INCOMPAS Announces 2024 Executive Leadership and Newly Elected Board Members

INCOMPAS today announced that its Board of Directors reelected Michael B. Galvin, Chief Administrative Officer of Granite Telecommunications, LLC, to serve a third year as its Chair. Kurt Van Wagenen, CEO of Summit Broadband, was elected to serve as Vice Chair, and Brian Worthen, CEO of Mammoth Networks, was reelected to serve as Treasurer.


Rounding out the Executive Committee are four at-large members: Gillian Leytham, Vice President, Underlying Rights & Government Relations at Zayo; Ronald Mudry, Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer of Uniti Group Inc.; Sean Sullivan, Vice President of MetTel; and Gary Watts, Founder and CEO of Fuse.Cloud.


“Over the past two years, INCOMPAS has seen tremendous growth in its membership and events, as well as its influence in bringing competition and broadband to cities, towns and underserved markets around the country,” said Galvin. “It’s been an honor to serve as the INCOMPAS Chairman during this important time, and I appreciate the confidence my peers have placed in me to continue in this role. I look forward to working with our board, including our newly elected board members, and the INCOMPAS staff and our members in the coming year.”


INCOMPAS held elections this month for companies to serve a two-year term running through 2025. Member companies, and their representatives, elected to this term on the Board include: 


Small Company

  • Ezee Fiber – Garner Duncan, Vice President of Government/Education and Wholesale
  • Hillary – Edward E. Hilliary Jr., Managing Partner


Medium Company

  • Bandwidth – Greg Rogers, Head of Global Policy & Regulatory Affairs
  • Boldyn Networks – Jeff Garte, President of Northeast Business


Large Company

  • MetTel – Sean Sullivan, Vice President
  • Zayo – Gillian Leytham. Vice President of Underlying Rights & Government Relations


For a full board list, please visit the INCOMPAS website

On-Demand: Webinar on

Bottom-Line Impact of Reducing Telecom Order Fallout Rates

Last week Connectbase CEO and Founder Ben Edmond hosted a webinar titled "The Bottom-Line Impact of Reducing Telecom Order Fallout Rates" that explored fallout and what you can do to transform your business by using automation to solve your fallout challenges. He discussed:


  • Two primary types of fallout
  • Impact of fallout from both a buyer’s perspective and a seller’s perspective
  • Insights on how digitization and automation can transform your results
  • Specific ways that Connectbase helps solve for fallout
  • Four proactive strategies to reduce order fallout in connectivity solutions


View the webinar on-demand here.

FCC Releases Sunshine Notice to Consider Eight Items on Dec. 13

The FCC will hold an Open Meeting on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 at 10:30 a.m. ET. The Sunshine Notice released last week has eight items for potential votes, including:

  • Rules to improve the pole attachment process that would allow the agency to require mobile service providers to block texts from certain “red-flag” numbers and updates for the FCC’s data breach–notification rules.
  • Also to be considered are proposals to require “100% hearing aid compatibility” for cellphones, administrative improvements to the agency’s Rural Health Care Program, the elimination of early termination fees (ETFs) imposed by satellite and cable TV service providers, rules to implement statutory provisions to protect low-power TV stations, and an enforcement item.


The Open Meeting will be streamed live at www.fcc.gov/live and on the FCC’s YouTube channel.

Wireline Bureau Extends CAF-II Letter of Credit Waiver

The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau has issued an order extending until December 31, 2024, the limited waiver of the letter of credit (LOC) rules for Connect America Fund Phase II (Auction 903) support recipients that have met their deployment and reporting obligations. The LOC waiver had been scheduled to expire December 31.


“We find good cause exists to grant these waivers due to some of the remaining economic and financial hardships that recipients face as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic,” the bureau said in the order, adopted and released on Wednesday.


“Based on the record, we conclude that carriers are still facing difficulties with financial markets and operational capacity due to the pandemic and tightening of credit markets and therefore find that extending the limited waiver of the LOC rules for CAF II Auction participants that have met each of their previous deployment and certification deadlines is warranted,” the bureau said. “Extending the waiver of LOC requirements to recipients that have met their deployment and reporting obligations would allow recipients to better allocate resources to operate successfully and continue to fulfill their obligations. Further, extending the waiver will provide certainty for CAF II Auction carriers to plan their future investments as they continue their deployments.”

NTIA Advisory Council on Historic Preservation to Host

Consultation Meetings on December 12 and 13

NTIA grants undergo historical preservation evaluations known as "Section 106 reviews" before any infrastructure construction can take place. Although the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) rules guide this process, the specific review criteria may vary in each state or territory, depending on the practices set by the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO).


This October, NTIA requested that the ACHP update and expand this program comment to apply both on and off federal lands to increase the predictability of historic preservation review requirements for NTIA grants across the states and territories. The ACHP Chair holds the authority to modify the program comment after consultations with State Historic Preservation Officers, Tribes, Federal agencies, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and other key industry stakeholders. 


If you are interested in participating and providing comments, please join ACHP's upcoming virtual consultation opportunities this week:


Unable to attend the consultation meetings?

Email program_alternatives@achp.gov to request meeting materials or ask questions about the proposed amendment in advance.

House E&C Subcommittee Holds NTIA Oversight Hearing

Last Tuesday, the House Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing titled “Oversight of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration” that featured NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson.


Lawmakers took the opportunity of the NTIA oversight hearing to ask Administrator Davidson about his agency’s oversight of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, its interdependence with the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), and the agency’s efforts to make federal spectrum available for commercial use.


If interested to re-watch this hearing, you can view it here.

House E&C Votes on Temporary FCC Spectrum Authority Bill

The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 46-0 in favor of the 5G SALE Act (H.R. 5677) during last Tuesday’s markup. Under H.R. 5677, the FCC would have the authority to issue licenses (2.5 GHz band licenses) to T-Mobile during a 90-day period after the bill’s enactment. The bill was introduced in September by Rep. John Joyce (R-PA).


The move comes after Congress let the FCC’s spectrum auctioning authority expire in March for the first time in three decades. The lapse also raises national security concerns over sharing certain spectrum bands reserved for the Pentagon to commercial providers to fuel their 5G networks. The FCC said without the authority, the agency can’t release previously won spectrum to wireless providers. T-Mobile spent more than $300 million on spectrum licenses last year that haven’t been administered.


“Spectrum is America’s gold in the 21st century. Nothing moves without it,” Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) said during the markup. “American companies that bid in an auction and win — and they did — have not been issued their licenses despite having paid hundreds of millions of dollars for them, and this is just unacceptable.”


The Senate unanimously passed its version of the bill (S. 2787) in September, but the chamber has yet to act on restoring the FCC’s auctioning power.

INCOMPAS | www.incompas.org
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