The White House upped its emphasis Friday on the potential impact President Donald Trump's infrastructure legislative proposal could have on rural broadband deployments, saying in a news release it will “provide critical funding” for such projects. The proposal, released earlier this month, includes $50 billion in block grants to state governments for rural infrastructure deployments that broadband projects could qualify for but no dedicated broadband funding (see 1802120001). “Inadequate broadband access is a barrier to rural prosperity,” the White House said. “It stunts economic growth and prevents many rural Americans from engaging in the modern economy. Further, lack of broadband access deprives many rural students of educational opportunities afforded to those living in areas with better connectivity. Expanded broadband access will offer a better quality of life and more economic opportunity for rural communities that have been left behind for too long.” Trump drew criticism for not specifically mentioning broadband when he highlighted his then-pending infrastructure proposal during his January State of the Union speech (see 1801310071). The White House has since repeatedly cited in press materials on the infrastructure proposal Trump's commitment to broadband (see 1802140052, 1802200050 and 1802220064).

The FCC released its NPRM, OK'd Thursday, seeking comment on proposed rules implementing Section 7 of the Communications Act, approved by Congress in 1983 to speed review of “innovative” technologies and services (see 1802220045). Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel dissented and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn partially dissented. “Although the forces of competition and technological growth work together to enable the development and deployment of many new technologies and services to the public, the Commission has at times been slow to identify and take action to ensure that important new technologies or services are made available as quickly as possible,” the NPRM says. “The Commission has sought to overcome these impediments by streamlining many of its processes, but all too often regulatory delays can adversely impact newly proposed technologies or services.” The notice says the FCC has long encouraged innovation, with its experimental licensing program started in 1939. Through its Part 15 unlicensed rules, the FCC “enabled the development of significant technical innovation for devices used on an unlicensed basis including, for example, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, and a wide variety of other technologies,” the NPRM said. It addresses the Pioneer’s Preference Program, which Rosenworcel cited in her dissent as an example of why such rules won’t work. “The program was discontinued in 1997 by Congressional action, following the advent of the auctioning of wireless licenses,” said a footnote to the notice.

More net neutrality petitions for review emerged after Thursday’s Federal Register publication of the FCC’s December "Restoring Internet Freedom" order (see 1802220049). In addition to previously reported lawsuits, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit got petitions from Mozilla (in Pacer), Vimeo, National Hispanic Media Coalition and New America’s Open Technology Institute. California’s Santa Clara County filed a petition (in Pacer) at the 9th Circuit.

Some process and structural changes at the FCC should help ensure the agency operates differently even under future administrations, the agency's Republican commissioners said Friday at the American Conservative Union's (ACU) 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference. There, Chairman Ajit Pai was a surprise recipient of the National Rifle Association's Charlton Heston Courage Under Fire Award for his role in and the fallout from the net neutrality Title II rollback. Pai "saved the Internet" and weathered numerous death threats and having his property "invaded by the George Soros crowd," said ACU Executive Director Dan Schneider. Citing the newly created Office of Economics and Analytics (see 1801300026), Commissioner Brendan Carr said institutionalizing the idea of considering economic impacts of regulations should ensure that decision has long-term effect. Pai said his successor "will face a big fight" in the name of government openness if there are efforts to roll back his process change of making agenda items publicly available before meetings. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said the best way to help ensure that the free market path the FCC is on continues is to elect conservatives to the House and Senate and make sure President Donald Trump is re-elected. He also said "we could use everyone's help" in the looming fight in the Senate over Title II. Pai said his administration's focus on a Title II rollback was against the advice of some who urged him to take smaller, more incremental deregulatory steps, but "I don't play small ball." Carr and O'Rielly both highlighted the agency's efforts to foster 5G; Carr said the FCC should be able to complete this year the streamlining of federal permitting and processing procedures needed for 5G deployment. Asked about the vitriol he received on the net neutrality proceeding, Pai said it has "not been an easy time" and quoted a passage from Gandalf in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring: "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” He also said he would continue to speak out about the "poisonous political culture." The NRA award pre-empted a speech Pai was to deliver. The FCC didn't make available a copy of the speech but said Pai was "honored" by the recognition. According to the NRA, recipients have included talk show host Rush Limbaugh and Vice President Mike Pence, and the award is a Kentucky handmade long gun to be stored at an NRA museum.

The first meeting for 2018 of the FCC Technological Advisory Council will be April 12 rather than March 7, as originally scheduled, said a notice, citing scheduling conflicts. The main topic will be the workload for the rest of 2018, the agency said. The meeting starts at 12:30 p.m. in the Commission Meeting Room.

FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly called Tom Wheeler's cybersecurity regulation views unhinged from the law. O'Rielly said he had ignored Wheeler's "musings, despite their inaccuracies and overall misguided perspectives," but felt compelled to call out the former chairman for "gibberish" he had "pontificated" (here) on the commission's lack of action on internet network security. "Wheeler's views reaffirm that he is unwilling to read the law and follow basic principles of statutory construction," O'Rielly blogged Wednesday. He said Wheeler is "abusing" Communications Act Section 1 (which explained the purposes for creating the FCC) by arguing it gives the commission direct "authority over all communications activity, especially cybersecurity." That reading would constitute a "massive" expansion of jurisdiction, giving the FCC "authority over 'communications by wire or radio' ... without bounds," O'Rielly said. He said the plain reading of Section 1 is as a preamble, offering a "policy statement, not actual authority." If the section gave the FCC direct authority, he said, it wouldn't need "ancillary authority" or the rest of the Act. O'Rielly said U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rulings support his view, including Comcast v. FCC (2010) on net neutrality. While respecting O'Rielly "as a patriot," Wheeler said Thursday the blog post "seems to be in keeping with Donald Trump's refusal to respond to Russia's attack on our system. Networks have always been attack vectors; that a new network has opened up a new means of attack is no surprise. What is surprising is that when our nation is under attack we decide to have law-school quibbles about language instead of stepping up and protecting the nation."

More parties opposed an FCC plan to exclude resellers from Lifeline USF participation and voiced a mix of concerns and some support for other proposals, as dozens of additional comments posted in docket 17-287 Wednesday and Thursday. Major industry players joined consumer advocates, state regulators and others in objecting to an FCC proposal to shift Lifeline low-income support to facilities-based service. CTIA, ITTA, Mobile Future, Sprint, USTelecom and Verizon voiced resistance to the proposed exclusion of resellers. The commission should "reject proposals to condition receipt of federal Lifeline support on network build-out," said Sprint: "The modest per-subscriber subsidy, whose receipt is not guaranteed, makes the Lifeline program ill-suited as a direct mechanism to spur capital-intensive broadband deployment." USTelecom "strongly supports policies that encourage investment in broadband-capable networks," saying "the Commission should not utilize the Lifeline program to achieve a goal for which it is not designed. Instead, the Commission should focus its efforts on ensuring the successful implementation of the National Verifier, which will cure the clear majority of the issues raised in the Notice." Among others objecting to the facilities-based proposal were: NARUC; some state regulatory commissions; National Grange; NATOA and National League of Cities (here); National Urban League and others (here); New York City; Boston, Los Angeles and other cities (here); the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council and others (here); Rainbow Push Coalition's Jesse Jackson Sr. and former Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio. ATN International backed the FCC proposal to dedicate support to facilities-based carriers, as did District of Columbia Public Service Commission Chairman Betty Ann Kane, with a caveat. Various parties opposed capping the Lifeline budget and argued for continuing to support voice-only services. There were mixed views on whether a federal Lifeline broadband provider designation should be eliminated.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Republican Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Brendan Carr are scheduled to speak Friday at the American Conservative Union's Conservative Political Action Conference. Pai is to speak at 12:30 p.m., followed at 12:40 by the three on a panel on the agency and innovation, said the CPAC agenda. The event will be at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center at National Harbor, Maryland.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai touted a draft order to give rural telcos more than $500 million in new USF support, "including those participating in the Alternative Connect America Model (A-CAM) plan" (see 1801170048). He responded similarly this month to over 20 lawmakers who urged him to consider additional A-CAM funding, in numerous exchanges posted in docket 18-5. The draft, which includes an NPRM, "seeks public input on both further increasing support to current A-CAM recipients and on giving legacy rate-of-return carriers a new chance to elect model-based support," Pai wrote. The draft would provide about $180 million in high-cost funding to rate-of-return carriers by June 30, and up to $360 million over the next decade to A-CAM recipients (see 1801160040). Pai also cited the rural USF proposal in responding (here) to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and (here) to Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md. They had voiced concern about a Telecom Act Section 706 FCC inquiry; Pai noted the agency kept a 25/3 fixed broadband benchmark and found mobile wasn't a full substitute for fixed service. Pai cited his efforts to "shut the door on waste, fraud, and abuse" in USF programs, in an exchange with Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., ranking Commerce Committee member who expressed concern about high-cost abuses. Pai also cited the backing of some Native American groups for his efforts to target higher per-subscriber tribal Lifeline support to "incentivize providers to deploy networks on rural Tribal lands and direct support to areas where it is needed most," in an exchange with Rep. Tom O'Halleran, D-Ariz., who objected to a November order "taken without any consultation with the affected tribes." Responding to other USF queries, Pai added handwritten notes to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, saying, "I love your Twitter feed! Even with the stiff competition from Senator [Orrin] Hatch [R-Utah], you're holding your own," and sending Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., his "condolences in advance on the [Kentucky] Wildcats impending loss to the Kansas Jayhawks during March Madness!"

The FCC E-rate USF annual budget cap will be $4.06 billion for funding year 2018 starting July 1, a 1.8 percent inflation-based increase over the $3.99 billion FY 2017 cap, said a Wireline Bureau public notice Tuesday in docket 02-6. It said the school and library discount program has been indexed for inflation since 2010. A bureau PN in docket 11-42 provided guidance on three new "universal forms" to be used for verifying and recertifying consumer eligibility for the Lifeline low-income subsidy program. The forms are intended to be used in all states and territories regardless of whether a national verifier, which is being rolled out in phases, is operational in a particular state or territory, the PN said, but if state law requires carriers to use pre-existing forms, they may use those instead of the new FCC universal forms. TracFone Wireless criticized Universal Service Administrative Co.'s updated Lifeline national verifier plan (see 1802010033) as including "processes that are unnecessarily inefficient and burdensome and that contradict" FCC goals. The plan "fails to require the use of an Automated Programming Interface to facilitate the efficient delivery of Lifeline applicant eligibility information from Lifeline service providers to the National Verifier," TracFone said. "Certain aspects of the application process ... will limit the channels through which consumers can apply for Lifeline service."