Don't Burden Mobility Fund II Challengers, Say Competitive Carriers; Verizon Disagrees
Don't make Mobility Fund II challenges overly challenging, small and competitive carriers said in replies Thursday in docket 10-90. The FCC should “be mindful of the burdens placed on challenging parties, particularly rural and regional providers” and “wary of requirements…
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that could be cost-prohibitive and constrain already-limited resources,” the Competitive Carriers Association said. CCA said parts of the U.S., especially those likely to have unreliable mobile broadband, “are subject to extreme weather conditions and rugged terrain, and the FCC should be cognizant of the ripple effects caused by data collection in these areas.” U.S. Cellular said that “the challenge process should balance the need for coverage data accuracy against the burdens imposed on interested parties, particularly smaller rural carriers.” Certain proposals on speed testing by challengers, the challenge process timeline and use of grid cells and buffers could burden challengers, it said. Verizon replied the FCC should reject proposals “that would weaken the standards for a successful challenge, delay the start of the challenge process, or impose additional burdens on respondents.” The agency should "require challengers to report information about the server used for speed testing; clarify that respondents may submit technical data without using the proposed templates; and require challengers to conduct all speed tests using devices that are not subject to reduced speed under the terms of the challenger’s service plan,” the carrier said.