Groups representing smaller carriers emphasized the importance of giving carriers with fewer than 2 million subscribers priority as the FCC establishes rules to pay for ripping and replacing network gear from Chinese vendors. Huawei protested any requirement that equipment be removed from networks and said the program should be voluntary. The FCC should be aware that a global shortage of chipsets (see 2104120057) could complicate replacement, USTelecom warned. Comments were posted Tuesday in docket 18-89.

Five of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline's 180 centers nationwide already have the technology and staff training to handle text-to-988 and chat messages, and it's not clear whether they will need more if the FCC mandates that providers support texting 988, we're told. Kim Williams, CEO of Vibrant Emotional Health, which administers Lifeline, said the Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is working on a report that would include recommendations. SAMHSA said it's partnering with the FCC and carriers on the approach to implementing three-digit functionality for Lifeline. It said the ability of call centers to accommodate text-based utilization "has been -- and will continue to be -- a focus of the hotline’s operations." The FCC will vote at its April meeting on a Further NPRM on text-to-988 requirements and a possible July 16, 2022, implementation deadline (see 2103310054).

CTIA and USTelecom urged FCC action on a June petition seeking regulatory relief on pro forma filings (see 2006050039), in a call with an aide to acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “By issuing a Declaratory Ruling clarifying that no pro forma filings are required for certain non-substantial transactions and streamlining application forms, and initiating a Rulemaking to apply post-closing notification procedures to all pro forma transactions no matter the license type, the Commission can meaningfully reduce confusion and burdens associated with non-substantive assignments and transfers of control for all Commission licensees, large and small, communications and non-communications providers,” said a Friday posting in docket 20-186.

Broadband “clears the definitional hurdle” of what constitutes infrastructure, but President Joe Biden’s proposal for $100 billion in broadband spending (see 2103310064) is a “blunder,” FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said Thursday in an opinion piece in The Hill. It’s “not a good thing” that Biden’s proposal “tracks many of the ideas” contained in congressional Democrats’ Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act. HR-1783/S-745 proposes $94 billion for broadband (see 2103110060). “At the outset, their efforts ignore” the $40 billion in existing broadband funding the FCC is working to distribute, including via the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund and the new $3.2 billion emergency broadband benefit program, Carr said. “Not one penny from this $40 billion tranche has been spent.” Price tag “aside, the Democrats’ approach is plagued with substantive flaws that will only make it harder to close the digital divide,” he said. “It dedicates funds to upgrade communities that already have high-speed Internet services so that they can receive the superfast ‘future proof’ connections of tomorrow.” Carr criticized the proposal for betting “on government-owned networks as the future of connectivity” and for putting “price controls squarely on the table” when “rate regulation would be a surefire way to scare off the private sector investment needed to bridge the digital divide.” He compared the current infrastructure effort to the rollout of broadband funding in the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, in which “waste, fraud, and abuse flourished.” Congressional oversight hearings “followed with vows of ‘never again,’” yet “here we are again,” Carr said. “Rather than appropriating additional dollars in blunderbuss fashion, we can administer the substantial funds already available to the FCC while unleashing additional private sector investment” by reducing regulatory barriers, as House Commerce Committee Republicans proposed in February (see 2102160067). USTelecom and others also criticized Biden’s proposal (see 2104070057).

The Joe Biden administration is "flat wrong" to suggest that broadband providers face little competition as justification for its proposed $100 billion investment in broadband infrastructure, blogged USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter Wednesday (see 2103310064). It's a "persistent myth" that policymakers should "reject ... an otherwise historic commitment to universal connectivity," Spalter said. "Today’s broadband marketplace is ultra-competitive, defined by increasing speeds and lots of capacity, new providers and next-generation technologies like 5G.” The government should be "deepening its partnership with private broadband innovators," he said, "while lowering the barriers to deployment that saddle projects with red tape and wasteful delays."

President Joe Biden’s administration proposed $100 billion in broadband spending Wednesday as part of the $2 trillion American Jobs Plan infrastructure proposal. That level of spending and Biden’s calls for legislation to improve broadband pricing transparency and affordability mirror Democratic lawmakers' Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act (HR-1783/S-745) and Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s America Act (HR-1848), as expected (see 2103160001). Reaction to the plan divided along party lines.

The FCC is mulling a requirement that the 988 national suicide prevention hotline be reachable by text. The agency said a Further NPRM on the April 22 agenda would propose requiring text providers to implement texting to 988.

House Commerce Committee leaders urged nine ISPs and as many associations Wednesday to “raise awareness” of the FCC’s $3.2 billion emergency broadband benefit program. The FCC said Wednesday more than 200 providers say they want to participate. “It is critical that eligible customers know about the benefit, which providers are participating in the program, and how they can access the benefit,” said House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J. Also signing: House Commerce ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash.; Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa.; and Communications ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio. The letters went to: ACA Connects, Altice, AT&T, Charter, Comcast, the Competitive Carriers Association, Cox, CTIA, Frontier, Incompas, Lumen, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, NCTA, NTCA, T-Mobile, USTelecom, Verizon and the Wireless ISP Association. For EBB “to help the greatest number of people, it will require the cooperation and support" of ISPs. While “the FCC is working to establish the start date of the program, your company can play an important role in its success by proactively raising awareness of the program to your customers and the public, including households likely to be eligible,” they said. The agency is reviewing applications and “will eventually share the names of accepted providers,” emailed a spokesperson.

AT&T urged the FCC to act on a June CTIA and USTelecom petition seeking relief on pro forma filings (see 2006050039), said a posting Thursday in docket 20-186. AT&T said it reviewed the data on all pro forma applications filed in the universal licensing system in 2020. It found the three major national wireless carriers generated 17% and “the remaining unique file numbers included other communications businesses, but also state/local governments, individuals, educational institutions, healthcare providers and public safety.”

An NPRM on emergency alerting and an order on sharing outage report information with state and local agencies are expected to be approved with few changes at the FCC commissioners' meeting Wednesday, likely unanimously, according to industry officials.