1. Monthly archive
  2. January 2018

January 2018

FCC Commissioner Carr Remarks at US Chamber of Commerce

I met with small and rural broadband providers that told me that the Commission’s paperwork and reporting obligations alone now consume 23 weeks of work per year or five months of full-time labor. I heard from a small wireless provider that they have to take one of the few people they employ off of a customer service job or marketing effort and sit them in a room to complete FCC paperwork. These small businesses are not corporate behemoths. They do not have, and simply cannot afford, an army of regulatory lawyers.

Rep Pallone Requests Access to Audits of FCC High-Cost Fund

House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) sent a letter to Universal Service Administrative Company CEO Radha Sekar requesting the audits conducted during the preceding three fiscal years for both the Federal Communications Commission’s Legacy High-Cost and Rural Health Care programs in order to better understand the potential for waste, fraud and abuse in the programs. The High-Cost Program is by far the largest Universal Service Program, spending $4.5 billion each year. Rep Pallone is requesting that the Universal Service Administrative Company provide:

Dark Fiber Versus Lit Fiber

The city of San Francisco should be lauded for showing how a major metropolitan area can implement two models of a ubiquitous, open, fiberto-the premises network. The dark fiber model has limitations but is far preferable to today’s model. The lit fiber model eliminates a barrier to entry and opens the broadband network to a wide array of new services. Yes, there are challenges, but the outcome for the community would be epic. 

[Greg Whelan is a principal of Greywale Advisors, broadband consultants specializing in broadband networks and neutral communications infrastructure]

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