The FCC Wireline Bureau granted Fusion's request for transfer of control as part of its bankruptcy reorganization, a public notice said Thursday (see 2102230053). The exercise of special warrants and issuance of new common stock in exchange will result in the voting and equity interests of Fusion's subsidiary Telecom Holdings decreasing to non-controlling levels. Fusion will be "widely held by numerous stockholders, nearly all of whom will hold non-disclosable interests," staff noted.
The Department of Agriculture announced a $42.3 million investment in telehealth and remote learning grants to benefit 5 million rural residents, with $24 million provided through the Cares Act, a news release said Thursday. The University of Maine received the largest amount, $1 million to install "interactive video-teleconferencing equipment" at 42 locations and expand educational opportunities at remote rural centers and campuses. Other big recipients include West Virginia's Morgan County Board of Education, $999,999; Georgia's Morehouse School of Medicine, $997,194; Mississippi's Delta Regional Medical Center, $995,958; New Hampshire's Fall Mountain Regional School District, $995,158; and Vermont's North Country Hospital Health Center, $994,326.
Industry groups clashed with consumer advocates and wireless providers whether E-rate should be used for self-provisioning services to students, in replies posted Wednesday in docket 21-31 on a Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition's petition to temporarily support remote learning (see 2101260055). That would raise "practical, financial, and legal issues that are too complex," and funding should be used to support existing services, said Verizon. USTelecom, NTCA and NCTA agreed. ACA Connects said its members "readily install wireline service within days of getting an order," and it "exceeds the performance of mobile wireless service." A coalition of advocacy groups, including New America, Public Knowledge, Consumers Reports, Common Sense, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society and Access Humboldt, disagreed: Verizon's argument is "self-serving" and "willfully ignores the Herculean efforts many school districts have already undertaken" to connect students during the pandemic. Schools should be given the flexibility to "use hybrid approaches tailored to local circumstances," like fixed wireless services that "authenticate students directly to the school's network," the groups said. Approve the use of fixed wireless services because they can be deployed "very quickly," the Wireless ISP Association urged. Incompas agreed: Allow "hotspots, mobile wireless towers, or equipment that can reasonably be expected to support remote learning." UScellular and the National School Boards Association echoed that. "Setting aside support for any technology should be rejected in favor of permitting people to choose services that best suit their educational needs," said UScellular. Allow E-rate funds to be used for remote learning beyond the pandemic because "not all students will be able to reenter the classroom when doors reopen on day one," said Zoom.
The FCC Office of Economics and Analytics extended the March 1 filing deadline for Form 477 data due to "significant unanticipated technical issues that have required the site to be inaccessible," a public notice said Tuesday. A new deadline will be announced once the issues are resolved, it said.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied the National Lifeline Association's petition for a writ of mandamus (in Pacer) for FCC Lifeline minimum service standards in case 20-1460 (see 2101130061). The court cited "insufficient evidence of irreparable harm" Monday. The decision was disappointing, NaLA said, but it's "optimistic that the FCC, under new leadership and with a renewed focus on ensuring affordable access to broadband services for Lifeline-eligible subscribers, will finally address the problems created by an [MSS] rule and formula that fails to consider affordability," emailed John Heitmann of Kelley Drye.
Let ISPs offer bundled services as part of the $3.2 billion emergency broadband benefit program, "Emergency Broadband Benefit Carriers" asked staff for FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, per a filing Friday in docket 20-445. Bundled offerings "that include talk and text is critical to the success of the EBB program"; otherwise it would "unnecessarily complicate matters for mobile carriers," the letter said. It didn't say which carriers participated. Members are UScellular, Smith Bagley, Cellular South and Cellular South Licenses, Union Wireless, Viaero Wireless and East Kentucky Network, according to past filings provided to us by agency officials. Lukas LaFuria, the law firm representing the carriers, didn't comment.
The Biden administration should take more action on universal broadband access, trade groups wrote the White House Thursday. Reports about children doing their homework in parking lots due to a lack of broadband access are a "national tragedy," and the federal government should invest more in broadband and 5G infrastructure, per Incompas, NTCA and the Wireless Infrastructure Association. The groups asked the administration to increase "transparency and accountability by relying on verifiable maps that comply with Congress’ recently passed Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act." They support "any effort" to build on the $3.2 billion emergency broadband benefit program.
Frontier Communications is closely monitoring the winter storm events and power outages in several states, the company said Thursday. “Broadband service depends on local electric power and may be disrupted any time commercial power is out,” the telco said. “Commercial power companies maintain a hierarchy of customers -- such as hospitals, police and emergency responders -- which get priority restoration.”
The FCC will re-charter the North American Numbering Council for two years starting in the fall, a public notice said Tuesday. NANC membership nominations are due March 18.
The FCC extended the Rural Health Care program application filing deadline for FY 2021 until June 1, a Wireline Bureau order said Friday. "Hospitals and health clinics have been overwhelmed since the coronavirus,” said John Windhausen, executive director of the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition, in a statement. Extending the filing deadline allows these institutions to “focus their attention and energy on what matters most: keeping Americans healthy throughout this crisis.”