FCC Seeks to Target USF Support for Rural Wireless
Broadband Services by Leveraging Improved Maps
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The FCC took action last week to seek further comment on the 5G Fund for Rural America to reignite the Commission’s plan to expand the deployment of 5G service to rural communities that remain trapped on the wrong side of the digital divide. Taking advantage of the agency’s new and improved broadband coverage map, which shows that over 14 million homes and businesses lack mobile 5G coverage, the FCC seeks comment on how to define the areas that will be eligible for support in the 5G Fund Phase I auction and proposes to modify the metric used to accept bids and identify winning bids, in order to target support to places where people live, work and travel in rural America.
The 5G Fund, a Universal Service Fund-supported program, was established in 2020 to distribute up to $9 billion to bring voice and 5G mobile broadband service to rural areas of the country unlikely to otherwise see unsubsidized deployment of 5G-capable networks. As adopted, the 5G Fund will use multi-round reverse auctions to distribute support, in two phases, to target mobile universal service in the high-cost program using the FCC's more precise, verified mobile coverage data gathered through its Broadband Data Collection.
The FNPRM adopted last Thursday will refresh the record on the 5G Fund. Among the other issues raised are whether to modify the $9 billion 5G Fund budget, how to best aggregate areas eligible for support to minimum geographic areas for bidding, whether to make 5G Fund support available to areas in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands that meet the eligible areas definition, whether to require 5G Fund support recipients to implement cybersecurity and supply chain risk management plans, and whether the 5G Fund should be used to encourage the deployment of Open Radio Access Networks
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FCC Updates Rules to Curb Robocaller Access to Phone Numbers |
The FCC last week adopted rules that would strengthen and modernize the FCC's requirements for VoIP providers to obtain direct access to telephone numbers. The action adopts important guardrails to reduce access to phone numbers by perpetrators of illegal robocalls, protect national security and law enforcement, safeguard the nation’s finite numbering resources, reduce the opportunity for regulatory arbitrage and further promote public safety.
In addition, last Thursday’s item codifies the FCC's direct access application review, application rejection, and authorization revocation processes; directs NANC to study number use, resale, and reclamation to inform potential future FCC action in furtherance of its public interest goals; and seeks comment on proposals to further increase FCC oversight of entities with access to numbers, including those gaining access indirectly.
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NANC Meeting Scheduled for October 25 |
The first meeting of the rechartered North American Numbering Council (NANC) will take place on Wednesday, October 25 at 2 p.m. ET via video conference and will be available to the public via the Internet at www.fcc.gov/live.
This meeting is open to members of the general public. The public may submit written statements to the NANC, which must be received two business days before the meeting. In addition, oral statements at the meeting by parties or entities not represented on the NANC will be permitted to the extent time permits.
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California Bill to Allow Batch Processing of Broadband
Permit Applications Sent to Governor Newsom
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A bill that would require local government permitting authorities to process two or more similar broadband permit applications at the same time has been sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) for his signature.
AB 965, which is sponsored by Assembly member Juan Carrillo (D-District 39), would require a city or county to undertake batch broadband permit processing when receiving two or more “substantially similar broadband permit applications submitted at the same time, within a presumptively reasonable time.” If the city or permitting authority doesn’t approve those substantially similar broadband permit applications and issue permits or reject the applications and notify the applicants within the presumptively reasonable time, the bill would require that all of the permits be deemed approved.
Senate amendments further specify that a local agency may place reasonable limits on the number of broadband project sites that are grouped into a single permit, as follows:
- For a city with a population of fewer than 50,000 or a county with a population of fewer than 150,000, including each city within that county, 25 project sites
- For a city or county with a population greater than the applicable population, 50 project sites.
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Bill Introduced to Increase Broadband Access on Federal Land |
Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) introduced legislation to increase access to high-speed internet on federal land. Permitting for broadband projects and telecommunications infrastructure on federal land can take up to 48 months, causing significant impacts on rural communities. These delays jeopardize broadband projects, increase costs, and limit access to high-speed internet and vital telehealth services.
The CLOSE THE GAP Act will modernize and streamline the permitting process to help expand access to high-speed internet and close the digital divide in rural communities.
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