ITTA Cites ACAM Funding Push; NTCA, WTA Update Expense Proposal; Tribal Groups Urge Relief
More than 50 federal and state officials and 200 rural telcos have sent letters in recent weeks to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai urging action by year-end on additional USF broadband subsidies for RLECs using the Alternative Connect America Model support mechanism, said an ITTA release Thursday. The group said if the commission increases funding up to $200 per month per eligible location in ACAM support, carriers could bring high-speed internet access to more than 70,000 currently unserved and underserved rural residences and businesses.
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“The FCC has a unique opportunity to ensure tens of thousands of rural consumers throughout the country gain expanded and improved access to the broadband services they lack,” said ITTA President Genny Morelli in the release, noting that carriers that accept funding are obligated to deliver on the promised services: "The Commission should not overlook the opportunity to act by the end of this year.”
Among official parties sending letters in the past 10 days urging increased ACAM funding have been Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R), Mississippi Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves (R), the Arizona Corporation Commission, commissioners of the Alabama Public Service Commission, commissioners of the Michigan PSC, the Arkansas Economic Development Commission and the Minnesota Office for Broadband Development -- all in docket 10-90. Other officials and groups of RLECs from at least 19 states previously had written letters (see 1712120009).
Separately, NTCA and WTA updated a proposal to ensure RLEC accountability as they press the FCC for "greater near-term certainty" on the extent to which certain expenses are recoverable via high-cost USF support. "The Associations put forward the enclosed proposal with respect to prospective expense recovery in good faith as part of a comprehensive effort to address concerns with respect to the sufficiency of the USF budget and other steps that might be taken to improve the performance of the USF programs as recently reformed," said their filing posted Thursday.
The National Tribal Telecommunications Association and Mescalero Apache Telecommunications urged the FCC to provide "operational expense relief" for some tribal telecom companies. In a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, they cited the "critical nature" of the relief requested from operational expense caps adopted in March 2016. Mescalero noted "the USF reforms have resulted in unintentional consequences related to operational costs incurred by carriers serving Tribal lands, of which the record is clear and comprehensive," a joint filing said. "[F]inancial forecasts show that [Mescalero] will be cash flow negative at the end of 2019 unless immediate and vital steps are taken with respect to providing relief."
An FCC spokesman noted Pai's recent response to Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and other lawmakers who expressed concern about rural USF support. "For those carriers that continue to receive support from the legacy rate-of-return system, I am committed to exploring in the near term how this situation can be changed and to determine the appropriate budget levels," Pai wrote. "The Commission should address the uncertainty caused by the current budget control mechanism -- such as guaranteeing at least some minimum level of support to ease the unpredictability and allow reasonable capital planning -- while being mindful of mitigating incentives to operate inefficiently."