Broadband interests back a draft order on the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund up for a vote at the Jan. 30 FCC meeting (see 2001080049). They told us to expect commissioners to approve the rulemaking this month. Industry continues visiting the agency's eighth floor to ask for changes.

The Commerce Department should establish a bright-line process similar to the export administration regulations’ entity list for identifying supply chain threats, USTelecom said in comments Friday. The Information Technology Industry Council recommended Commerce designate foreign adversaries threatening the supply chain with specific criteria. In response to President Donald Trump’s May executive order, Commerce proposed new procedures for reviewing transactions, including imports, that involve information and communications technology and services seen as potential national security threats (see 1911260044). Commerce's bright-line process should rely on Homeland Security Department “risk assessment and related tools to draw lines between prohibited and permitted transactions,” USTelecom said. The association asked Commerce to coordinate its transaction evaluations with other agencies at “every step.” ITI called for a narrow scope for what transactions will trigger security reviews and a waiver process. It urged avoiding duplicative transaction reviews with export administration regulations, international traffic in arms regulations and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. Commerce's proposed rules are “overly-broad and highly subjective,” BSA|The Software Alliance said Friday. The proposed procedures would let Commerce “launch a review of virtually any ‘transaction’ involving almost any form of commercial technology, regardless of whether it has a clear nexus to national security or to a foreign adversary,” BSA wrote, saying it would create much industry uncertainty. The EO directs Commerce to issue regulations barring technology from foreign companies -- like Huawei and ZTE -- from U.S. networks.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai placed action on the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund atop his agenda for the new year in announcing the Jan. 30 meeting, he blogged Wednesday. Commissioners will vote on auction rules for bidders on the first phase of a $20.4 billion RDOF program (see 1912190073). Also on the agenda are updated standards for hearing-aid compatibility on smartphones, an item on a program to allow video relay service-qualified sign language interpreters to work from home, and a media modernization item about MVPDs emailing required notices to TV stations rather than using certified mail. Missing from Jan. 30's meeting, the agency indicated, will be a vote on the C band.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai appoints D’wana Terry, from Wireline Bureau, as acting director, Office of Workplace Diversity, following Larry Hudson’s transition to Office of Communications Business Opportunities. Diane Holland, ex-National Urban League, returns to agency as Commissioner Geoffrey Starks’ legal adviser-media and consumer protection issues, succeeding Michael Scurato, moving to Media Bureau Policy Division management.

Cisco joined USTelecom, the association said Monday.

America’s Communications Association and NTCA urged the FCC to reject a request to lower the proposed 100/20 Mbps tier in its upcoming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund to 100/10. "The commission will not achieve the objective of reasonable comparability" under USF standards "by cutting in half the upload speed for one of the highest performance tiers from the previous auction to a level that is less than 25 percent of the average upload speed today," said the groups in a letter Monday for docket 19-126. USTelecom filed several ex parte letters on the RDOF docket, including one Friday. Fiber-to-the-home "should be supported but the commission must strike the right balance to cover more rural American locations with speeds well in excess of the baseline," it said: Adding a 50/5 Mbps tier "would allow providers to serve broad geographic areas with speeds twice the baseline" and adjusting the upload requirement to 100/10 "would cut the cost of service by half, freeing up more funding for more broadband across rural America."

The Wireless ISP Association supports USTelecom's argument the FCC "should reject the proposal to adopt a 'symmetrical bonus'" for participants in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, WISPA said, posted Tuesday in docket 19-126. WISPA wants the agency to modify its proposed "above baseline" tier for the program from 100/20 Mbps to 100/10 Mbps. It said lowered infrastructure equipment costs would allow applicants to place lower bids in the auction and make the limited RDOF dollars "reach further."

ISPs expect wide participation in the first phase of the $20 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auctions FCC Chairman Ajit Pai signaled he wants in 2020, they said in interviews this month. RDOF replaces the Connect America Fund phase II USF program that supports deployment in high-cost, sparsely populated areas (see 1907110031). "We'll start to see the pace of things quicken in 2020," said Mike Saperstein, USTelecom vice president-policy and advocacy.

Oppositions are due Jan. 3, replies Jan. 13 in docket 17-310 on petitions for reconsideration of FCC rural telehealth rules and Alaska cost recovery rate mechanisms, said Thursday's Federal Register. USTelecom, Alaska, Alaska Communications and the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition had petitioned (see 1911130022).

Net neutrality won a prime spot in New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2020 agenda. The Democrat proposed a bill Thursday that would build on a 2018 executive order that restricted procurement to ISPs that follow open-internet principles, codifying that and banning zero rating and blocking, throttling and paid prioritization. It would direct the Department of Public Service to hold mobile and fixed ISPs accountable by investigating and fining providers that violate net neutrality. ISPs would have to disclose net management practices and annually certify compliance with New York net neutrality rules. The bill would give a private right of action so any New Yorker could bring a complaint against violators. Cuomo said "while the federal administration works to undermine this asset, in New York we are advancing the strongest net neutrality proposal in the nation so big corporations can't control what information we access or stymie smaller competitors.” Assemblymember Patricia Fahy (D) praised Cuomo for seeking to codify his 2018 EO: “The principles of a free and open internet are essential.” Fahy is one of several New York lawmakers with net neutrality bills; legislators were expected to talk before January about possible coordination (see 1910240024). It's "promising and shows that the governor’s team is thinking about the issue comprehensively,” said Free Press Action Fund General Counsel Matt Wood. Public Knowledge also wants to see the text but is encouraged, said Policy Director Phillip Berenbroick. “With the FCC missing in action, it is critical that state governments step up.” New America’s Open Technology Institute also welcomed it. DPS, NCTA and CTIA declined comment; the FCC and USTelecom didn’t respond.