FCC Approves Targeted Tribal USF Opex Relief; Democrats Hit Absence of Broader Action
The FCC gave a few tribal-oriented telcos additional USF support for operating costs it said were well above average. The two Democratic commissioners partially dissented and the agency's chief partially concurred, citing changes he made to win OK. The commission Thursday released as expected (see 1804040056) a modified, long-pending order to relax 2016 operating-expense (opex) restrictions on rate-of-return telco high-cost support for carriers primarily serving tribal land. Broadband deployment and competition conditions were added to target the relief to an estimated five providers.
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Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Brendan Carr said the action addressed pressing tribal needs, while Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said the revisions would better target the support. Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel backed opex relief, but said the FCC should have gone further, including by approving a tribal broadband factor. Clyburn said she wouldn't have tied the opex support to carrier deployment levels.
There was continuing squabble over a changed vote. Pai said he would have provided broader opex relief but made modifications to finally get the order done after one commissioner's vote for a February 2017 draft disappeared into "quicksand."
A 2016 NPRM asked if the opex limitations should be altered for carriers serving tribal lands, said the order in docket 10-90. The National Tribal Telecommunications Association proposed eliminating or at least relaxing the restrictions for carriers primarily serving tribal lands. Agreeing there were "unique" tribal costs, the FCC relaxed "the opex limit for those study areas most in need where the majority of the housing units are on Tribal lands," citing a "standard deviation" methodology using regression analysis.
The FCC attached conditions to target the USF relief: A carrier mustn't have deployed 10/1 Mbps broadband to 90 percent or more of housing units on tribal lands in its study area; and unsubsidized competitors can't have deployed 10/1 Mbps to 85 percent or more of the housing units on the carrier's tribal lands in its study area. "These conditions will limit this relief to those carriers with the greatest need to accelerate broadband deployment," the order said. Noting questions could arise about providers' revenues and costs, the commission expects tribal carriers to be able to demonstrate their USF support is necessary. Carriers expected by staff to qualify for relief are: Pine Telephone, Terral Telephone, Gila River Telecommunications, Fort Mojave Telecommunications and Saddleback Communications. Tribal attorneys didn't comment.
"Too many Native Americans today are on the wrong side of that divide," Pai said. "That’s why this order is so welcome. ... Of course more needs to be done." He noted the FCC recently sought comment on a possible tribal broadband factor (see 1803230025). Carr was pleased to cast one of his first votes in August for the relief, and while it took time, he's glad the order was finalized.
Pai acknowledged the order wasn't what he originally proposed over a year ago and said he "would have extended support to even more carriers," including Mescalero Apache Telecom. "For many months, we actually had three votes for this approach," he said. "Unfortunately, our office was informed that one of those votes was set in quicksand, and would disappear were the vote actually called. Therefore, in the interest of finally getting something done, I chose to find agreement with those commissioners who were willing to work in good faith on ways to help carriers serving Tribal lands." Pai and Clyburn sparred in February over her decision to change her vote to a partial dissent (see 1802020058). One eighth-floor official disputed Pai's account: "There were the votes to extend opex relief to all the carriers. It’s disappointing we didn’t achieve that result on a bipartisan basis."
Noting his reluctance to relax USF safeguards, O'Rielly lauded the order's conditions to target support "to those areas where it is truly needed most" and not to areas served by unsubsidized competitors. He welcomed the commission's intent to review carrier support if questions arose about their revenues, costs or fees imposed by tribes. He also questioned the need for a general tribal broadband factor, and said support should remain focused on needy areas, whether tribal or nontribal.
"This item should have gone further, Clyburn said. "We could have comprehensively addressed not only the Tribal Broadband Factor and operational expenditure limitations, but sought comment on additional incentives for Tribal broadband deployment, removing barriers to infrastructure deployment on Tribal lands, and improving Tribal Lifeline. We should not have tied the relief to the deployment levels on Tribal lands which now means some carriers that provide service to Tribal lands will not receive relief. This represents a significant departure from the Chairman’s original proposal which extended support to all carriers that serve Tribal lands."
"What we have here is not a full plan," Rosenworcel said. "We provide a bit of relief to a handful of carriers serving a subset of Tribal lands. ... [I]t will allow a few carriers to keep the lights on and ensure their staff can come in each day. This action is limited and imprecise. But I support it, because the challenge of providing service on Tribal lands is so great that the power of even small measures is real. I dissent in part, however, because there is so much more to do and I regret that we are not doing it here and now." She backed a tribal broadband factor: "It’s past time for the commission to resolve what is outstanding and develop a bigger plan to address the unacceptable state of broadband deployment on Tribal lands."