T-Mobile will take California regulators to federal court over a decision to switch state USF contribution to a connections-based mechanism. In a complaint Wednesday against the California Public Utilities Commission (case 3:23-cv-00483), T-Mobile and subsidiaries urged the U.S. District Court of Northern California to preliminarily enjoin a $1.11 monthly per-line fee from taking effect April 1. The CPUC in October required carriers to count access lines to determine contributions to California public purpose programs including state USF (see 2210200073). The per-line fee will replace a revenue-based assessment. A handful of other states previously switched to a flat fee, including Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Utah.
T-Mobile will take California regulators to federal court over a decision to switch state USF contribution to a connections-based mechanism. In a complaint Wednesday against the California Public Utilities Commission (case 3:23-cv-00483), T-Mobile and subsidiaries urged the U.S. District Court of Northern California to preliminarily enjoin a $1.11 monthly per-line fee from taking effect April 1. A consumer advocate scoffed Thursday at T-Mobile’s claim that the order hurts low-income households.
Nebraska legislators may consider allowing municipal broadband. Sen. Justin Wayne (D) introduced a bill (LB-26) Thursday that would allow municipal broadband on a retail or wholesale basis within its own jurisdiction if located in an underserved or unserved area. “A municipality may initiate the process of developing a broadband network by conducting a feasibility study and ordering the preparation of a resolution of intent to develop such broadband network … by a vote of the majority of the members of the governing body of the municipality,” it said. Under a separate state bill (LB-63) introduced Thursday by Sen. Eliot Bostar (D), Nebraska would withhold state USF support from any telecom company using equipment or services deemed to pose a national security threat. The proposed law would rely on a list published by the FCC Public Safety Bureau. Another Nebraska bill introduced Thursday would authorize licensing of dark fiber by any state agency or political subdivision. LB-61 by Sen. Tom Brandt (R) would also eliminate Nebraska Public Service Commission jurisdiction over certain violations and appeals.
California will shift to a connections-based state USF contribution method and adopt one-touch, make-ready (OTMR) rules for pole attachments, utility commissioners decided at a livestreamed meeting Thursday. Also, the California Public Utilities Commission denied -- at least for now -- eligible telecom carrier designation for Starlink, needed for federal Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) support.
Alaska would shift to connections-based contribution for state USF under a joint proposal by many of the state’s local exchange carriers. The Alaska attorney general’s regulatory affairs and public advocacy (RAPA) section urged the Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) Monday to adopt the Friday-filed plan, which would push back an imminent sunset of the Alaska USF (AUSF) by three years to June 30, 2026. “By that time, the focus of significant federal infrastructure funding in Alaska will be better known, and the Commission will have more information that it may use to determine the best AUSF policy for the long term,” said the proposal.
Nebraska USF (NUSF) accountability needs improvement, said Nebraska Public Service Commission member Crystal Rhoades at a livestreamed meeting Tuesday. The PSC’s lone Democrat cast the only vote against an order, adopted 4-1, to release a list of qualified bidders for the commission’s reverse auction (docket NUSF-131). With the auction, the PSC seeks to expand 100 Mbps symmetrical broadband using $13 million of redistributed NUSF support. Rhoades said she generally agreed with the proposed order’s recommendations but couldn’t support it because it wasn’t clear to her how evaluations were made, by whom and if they were consistent across applications. “I have a lot of concerns about this agency continuing to issue funding without having concrete processes that are transparent and that are followed every time without exception,” the commissioner said. "We leave ourselves vulnerable to all kinds of gamesmanship.” Rhoades called for overarching changes. “We've got some real process problems and accountability problems with this NUSF fund -- and we have for a long time -- and I think we need to get serious about correcting it."
NARUC should press states and the federal government to lower barriers, including through increased funding and awareness campaigns, to enrollment in the affordable connectivity program, Telecom Committee member Crystal Rhoades said in an interview Thursday. The Nebraska Public Service Commission’s lone Democrat said she doesn’t expect controversy over her proposed resolution, which is up for vote at NARUC’s July 17-20 policy summit in San Diego (see 2207060037). However, Next Century Cities Senior Policy Counsel Ryan Johnston raised concerns that the draft omits local governments’ key role in raising awareness.
The Supreme Court appeared to raise questions about the future of the Chevron doctrine Wednesday, under which agencies like the FCC and FTC are afforded deference by the courts in their decisions as expert agencies. The unanimous court ruled in American Hospital Assn. v. Becerra that the Department of Health and Human Service’s decision to reduce yearly Medicare payments to hospitals as part of the 340B program was unlawful. The government raised Chevron deference, but the decision by Justice Brett Kavanaugh never addresses the doctrine. The case had been decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
E-rate groups and industry broadly rejected the FCC’s proposal to establish a centralized online bidding portal for the E-rate program, as expected (see 2112070053). Groups asked the agency to abandon the NPRM, saying the record doesn’t reflect a need for such a change to E-rate, in comments posted Thursday in docket 21-455.
Nebraska can’t wait for the FCC to get good broadband maps, said state Sen. Bruce Bostelman (R) at a livestreamed hearing Tuesday in the unicameral legislature’s Transportation and Telecommunications Committee. But the telecom industry poo-pooed having the Nebraska Public Service Commission draw its own map as proposed by Bostelman’s LB-914.