Utah Public Service Commission staff is pleased with early results of changing state USF to a connections-based contribution from the earlier revenue-based model, said PSC Telecom Manager Bill Duncan in an interview this week. The change to 36 cents per line took effect Jan. 1; PSC telecom staff released its first status report taking connections into account on April 19. CTIA opposes the change and its lawsuit created legal uncertainty for Utah's pioneering shift away from revenue-based contribution, the method used for federal and other state USFs (see 1804120046). Separately, industry supported an Idaho Public Utilities Commission staff finding that revamping state USF requires the state legislature to act.
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Despite some progress in a decade-old fight over the FCC's embattled 2008 leased access rules, there's no clear picture as to what -- if anything -- the agency will do next, with implementation facing big hurdles and some seeing the possibility of the agency instead seeking to roll them back. “I don’t think anybody cares,” said Georgetown Institute for Public Representation lawyer Andy Schwartzman, since the tougher rules former Republican Chairman Kevin Martin tried to put in place never went into effect.
House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Democrats used a hearing Thursday on the FCC's FY 2019 budget request to criticize Ajit Pai's actions since becoming chairman at the beginning of 2017, including media ownership actions seen as benefiting Sinclair's proposed buy of Tribune and the December rescission of net neutrality rules. Republican appropriators highlighted Pai's goals and dived into how the commission would implement telecom policy elements included in the FY 2018 omnibus spending bill that President Donald Trump signed in March (see 1803210041, 1803210068, 1803220048 and 1803230038). The omnibus included text of the Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization and spectrum legislative package (HR-4986).
Facebook won't appear Thursday at the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing on social media filtering, despite an invitation from concerned committee lawmakers from both parties (see 1804200049). Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., told us he wants to better understand how Twitter decided to block a political video from House Communications Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., this fall. He voiced concern that other networks are censoring users over political differences: “Facebook is a leftist organization -- Twitter, Google. These are all [Democrat]-founded and Democrat-leaning, and it doesn’t mean that they’re absolutely unfair by any means, but they clearly have a preference.”
Sinclair’s latest modifications to its deal to buy Tribune appears designed to make it more palatable to the FCC and DOJ, attorneys and analysts said in interviews. The amended plan does away with divestiture trusts, puts less pressure on the FCC’s new and untried policy on top-four duopolies, and -- as detailed Tuesday (see 1804240076) -- specifies buyers for most of the 23 stations to be divested. Though the deal still includes plans to unload stations to “sidecar” companies seen as affiliated with Sinclair, the latest iteration is expected to be acceptable to Justice because none of the stations operated through sharing agreements will be top-four stations, said Justin Nielson, senior researcher for S&P Global Market Intelligence.
The Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee cleared model codes for state and municipalities for a later reconciliation process, amid a flurry of questions on what that process might entail, at a daylong Wednesday meeting. Model Code for Municipalities Working Group Chair Douglas Dimitroff presented what he called a “consensus” final draft. On the state code, local officials continued to resist proposals they said are tilted toward industry, and members from various backgrounds clashed on definitions and other details. Some committee members called for more data about pole attachment rates’ actual effect on spreading broadband. BDAC overcame electric utility concerns to agree to an addendum to a previously adopted report by the Competitive Access to Broadband Infrastructure Working Group.
The Senate Commerce Committee advanced FTC nominee Rebecca Slaughter Wednesday on a voice vote, setting up a potential final confirmation vote on her and President Donald Trump's four other nominees to the commission as soon as Thursday. The committee put forward the four other FTC nominees during a February markup, including antitrust lawyer Joseph Simons, whom Trump plans to designate chairman (see 1802280044). The other nominees are former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Assistant Director Rohit Chopra; Noah Phillips, aide to Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas; and Delta Air Lines' Christine Wilson (see 1801250055 and 1801250066).
The FCC and the executive branch are looking at modifying "Team Telecom" reviews of foreign takeovers of U.S. communications assets, according to FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly and some industry representatives. O'Rielly last week suggested the FCC will soon revise its process for Team Telecom participation in commission reviews of foreign takeovers of U.S. communications companies and assets. It's up to others how Team Telecom -- DOJ, DOD and the Department of Homeland Security -- structures itself, but the FCC "can certainly decide how comments are going to be processed in our agency," he said at the American Enterprise Institute April 19 (see 1804190045).
The Trump administration is developing a national spectrum strategy, NTIA Administrator David Redl said at a Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee meeting Wednesday. The Obama administration took an active role on spectrum policy, promoting sharing over exclusive use licenses in many cases, but the Trump administration has been relatively quiet (see 1712270032). Redl said NTIA is working with the administration on a plan. FCC and industry officials welcomed the administration’s long-awaited deep dive.
Connecting rural America is a key priority for the Trump administration, said Kelsey Guyselman, policy adviser to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, on a New America panel Tuesday. New Wireless Internet Service Provider Association President Claude Aiken said fixed wireless has to play a key role in any plan for rural America. Other panelists said WISPs need more spectrum to compete.