Universal Service Fund
Setting the Bar for Public Funding: Aiming Higher with the Connect America Fund
[Commentary] How can we improve the biggest tool to closing the digital divide in the Federal Communications Commission’s toolbox: the Connect America Fund. Back in 2011, the FCC adopted a performance goal for the Connect America Fund of ensuring universal access to fixed broadband and concluded it would measure progress towards this outcome based on the number of newly served locations — but it did not articulate any concrete vision for when this universal service goal might be achieved.
Chairman Pai announced that the following items are tentatively on the agenda for the February Open Commission Meeting ...
FCC Chairman Pai's Response to Rep. Matsui Regarding Implementation of the Lifeline National Verifier
On January 31, 2018, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai provided Rep Doris Matsui (D-CA) an update on the FCC's efforts to advance the implementation of the National Life Verifier. Over the last quarter, FCC staff have:

Remarks of FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly Before the Hudson Institute, "A Conservative Perspective"
I would like to discuss how my approach to select communications policies is informed by certain conservative principles, with a fair hint of libertarianism. In my first visit to Hudson, I declared preserving and advancing economic freedom to be my primary goal
and the paramount lens by which I would examine issues at the Commission. Fast forward four years and economic freedom has generated some subcomponents worthy of discussion, thereby allowing a more fulsome examination of certain policy matters. So, with your indulgence, I’d like to explore some of these this afternoon:
Which carriers received the most rural broadband funding in 2017?
So which US-based providers got the most amount of federal rural broadband funding in 2017?
SHLB Urges the FCC to Reform and Increase Funding for Rural Health Care Program
The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition, a broad-based membership organization that includes health providers and telehealth networks, filed comments with the Federal Communication Commission asking for an increase in funding for the Rural Health Care (RHC) program to improve the quality of health care in rural markets across the United States.
FCC and Tribal Broadband Deployment
FCC Commissioner Clyburn: “When it comes to the FCC’s commitment to expand tribal broadband, what’s the hold up? Chairman Pai repeatedly claims that closing the digital divide is among his top priorities, yet nearly a year has elapsed since a proposal was first put forward to help improve connectivity for Native communities and still no action. As my colleagues in the Majority are fond of saying, companies need certainty. I agree.
Communities of color often face challenges connecting to and maintaining affordable broadband and voice service. The federal Lifeline program has been around since the mid-1980s. While it started as a low-income program to help households afford voice service, it has been expanded to include wireless voice and broadband Internet support.

Did Some Consensus Break Out at a House Broadband Hearing?
On Tuesday, January 30, the House Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology convened a hearing on broadband deployment in the US entitled Closing the Digital Divide: Broadband Infrastructure Solutions. The aim of the hearing was to discuss twenty-five resolutions and bills that address federal permitting, siting, and permissions to access rights-of-way, which some stakeholders identify as barriers to investment and broadband infrastructure deployment. True to recent form in DC, there were contentious moments at the start of the event.
CenturyLink says FCC should maintain 3.5 GHz PALs to ease rural broadband deployments
As CenturyLink looks to continue its broadband expansion efforts in harder to build rural areas using a mix of wireline and wireless technologies, the service provider says the Federl Communications Commission should not alter the rules governing the Priority Access Licenses (PALs) that will be issued in the 3.5 GHz band. CenturyLink, which asked the FCC for permission last fall to test 3.4 GHz wireless spectrum in some of its rural markets, told the FCC that the “use of PEAs as the geographic license area for PALs will inhibit higher-speed broadband deployment in rural areas.”