NARUC Telecom Subcommittee Passes Draft RDOF Resolution
The NARUC Telecom Subcommittee unanimously cleared a draft resolution urging the FCC to scrutinize Rural Digital Opportunity Fund long-form applications (see 2101290028). Thursday at NARUC’s virtual winter meeting, the staff-level panel tweaked the RDOF measure to specify that the FCC…
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should ensure winners follow through “at the speeds and latency tiers” they promised. The Telecom Committee plans to vote on the measure at its Wednesday business meeting. Subcommittee Chair Joseph Witmer from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission noted many RDOF winners in his state are new carriers. Based on conversation with the Biden transition team, including DLA Piper's Smitty Smith, NARUC General Counsel Brad Ramsay hopes FCC Democrats “will really see much, much more benefit in working closely with states on these policy issues, as they have at the state level ... for the last four years” on issues like net neutrality, he said earlier in the meeting. NARUC wants the FCC to quickly reengage with state members of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service about a contribution overhaul, said Ramsay, noting the state association wrote the Biden transition team about it in December. He suspects the commission won’t want to address the subject until it has a permanent chair, he said. Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel was federal chair when Democrats last ran the FCC and the joint board was close to consensus, but there wasn’t agreement in the Republican-controlled FCC, he said. The board’s new federal side should take up the proposal submitted by state members during the Trump administration or submit an alternative plan for debate, he said.