The Federal Communications Commission announced that its Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) has undergone a system upgrade which will help enable expanded features and functions to be introduced into ECFS in the coming year. The update transitions ECFS to a cloud-based platform, which will make the system scalable and more agile. In addition, reCAPTCHA functionality has been added to the system. This first phase of the multi-phase ECFS upgrade effort will enable development of new functions that take advantage of the upgraded technology platform. To access the Electronic Comment Filing System, visit https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/ 

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Rosenworcel sent a letter to Rep. Frank Mrvan (D-IN) in response to his letter on the efforts of the FCC to collect more precise and reliable broadband deployment data, and urging the FCC to include veterans in the FCC’s data collection and reporting. Chairwoman Rosenworcel said when the FCC completes its initial efforts to improve broadband data collection, veterans across the country will have better access to information about what services are available where they live.

The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) will utilize a new process to confirm existing subscribers’ Lifeline program eligibility if there is reason to believe that a subscriber is no longer eligible for their Lifeline service. USAC will reach out to the subscriber and direct them to the National Verifier to verify their eligibility through a continued eligibility application. The National Verifier supports the continued eligibility process by streamlining, automating, and tracking subscriber outreach and response, a process that was previously manual and ad hoc in nature. This new process functions similarly to the Death Master File (DMF) monthly process. In response to USAC’s outreach, consumers are able to confirm their eligibility using the National Verifier consumer portal, National Verifier service provider portal, Eligibility Check API, or via mail. USAC will de-enroll subscribers who do not complete a qualified continued eligibility application five business days after the end of their 30-day resolution window. Service providers can access the Continued Eligibility Subscriber Status Report in NLAD in order to see which of their subscribers are going through the process. The report provides detail for each subscriber, including the contact information, Application ID, expiration date, and errors to be resolved. Subscriber de-enrollment information is also listed (if applicable). The Continued Eligibility Subscriber Status Report updates daily, based on data received from the National Verifier. This new process does not impact the recently extended Lifeline COVID-19 Waivers, and USAC will implement this process in accordance with those waivers.

Consolidated Communications is building the biggest fiber-optic internet network in Maine and said it plans to offer connections to tens of thousands of homes and businesses by the end of 2022. It is building networks in Portland, Biddeford-Saco, the Augusta area, Rockland, Waterville, Falmouth, and Bangor. The goal is a comprehensive network covering nearly all the customers in the communities Consolidated has targeted. The Consolidated expansion will be a major shakeup in Maine’s internet market, said Peggy Schaffer, executive director of ConnectMaine, a government agency dedicated to universal broadband in the state. Many of the areas Consolidated has targeted are already served by high-speed internet and therefore not eligible to use state or federal money to expand fiber-optic service, Schaffer said. Despite being able to access high-speed internet, reliability and affordability remain concerns, and there is pent-up consumer demand for fiber to the home. “In many of these markets they are head-to-head with competitors, including the cable companies,” Schaffer said. “The fiber connections they are putting in are high quality, with low latency. Competition will help drive down costs.” Consolidated – formerly named FairPoint Communications – is the state’s largest telecommunications company and has an existing network of landline telephone lines, she said. That means the company can rapidly install new fiber-optic lines. “They have a cost advantage and a time advantage because they own the poles, and they are on them already,” Schaffer said. The expansion is privately funded, although Consolidated is a partner in a federal grant to install fiber internet in Rangeley, Farmington and Blue Hill. Maine has set aside about $250 million to bring broadband service to underserved parts of the state.

Amazon is stepping up plans for its proposed fleet of internet satellites that would compete with a service operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, buying dozens of space launches from three rocket companies. Amazon’s Project Kuiper said it secured up to 83 planned launches that would ferry satellites to orbit over a five-year stretch. The Amazon unit hasn’t sent up any satellites yet, though it has said it will have two prototypes launched in 2022. Project Kuiper and SpaceX, whose formal name is Space Exploration Technologies Corp., are among the businesses and government agencies racing to send broadband satellites into low-Earth orbit, in some cases and markets betting they can compete with traditional broadband providers. Amazon’s new planned launches depend on larger rockets still under development that must show they can fly as expected. The launch companies hired to take Project Kuiper’s satellites into orbit, including Blue Origin LLC, have faced delays in developing those rockets.

Brightspeed is looking to blanket more than three million locations with fiber over the coming years once parent Apollo’s acquisition of assets in 20 states from Lumen Technologies closes. But the company is not planning to use your father’s network architecture. The company has enlisted the help of several major vendors, including fiber supplier Corning, cloud platform provider Calix, and construction company Dycom. Most of the nearly 7 million passings Brightspeed expects to inherit from Lumen are currently served with copper, meaning the company has the chance to build a new fiber network its own way. A traditional fiber network uses a setup that relies on a centralized spilt. So, a feeder cable runs out from a central office location to a fiber distribution hub (FDH), and from there multiple distribution cables branch out to different neighborhood terminals where the line is split again to run drop cables to customers’ homes. Technicians will use fiber jumpers to connect the feeder and distribution cables when a customer requests service. Brightspeed’s architecture, however, will eliminate the FDH from the equation. The strategy will save money, eliminate the work usually required to deploy an FDH and allow it to roll out its new network faster and therefore start generating revenue sooner.