Universal Service Fund

January 20 marks the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump’s inauguration. With little indication of what his communications policy plans were before the election, now seems a good time to reflect on what his Administration’s priorities have been over the past 12 months. Here’s a look at what Trump's Federal Communications Commission decided to tackle first in 2017.

[Commentary] If some areas end up with no winning bidder, does that mean the Federal Communications Commission's Connect America Fund Phase II auction is a failure? The answer is “No!” The FCC will need to look at the results of the Phase II auction to evaluate how universal service auctions are different in practice from spectrum auctions, and adjust accordingly, as necessary.

Today I want to discuss Federal Communications Commission Chairman Pai’s belief that we are on the cusp of a new era of partnership between the FCC and rural electric cooperatives. Specifically: our hope that electric coops will become a bigger part of closing the digital divide and delivering online opportunity to rural Americans who have been bypassed by the broadband revolution. And how the FCC can work with you all to bring about this change. 

While USAC is encouraged that its information technology systems delivered continual reliability and availability improvements for our universal service program participants and contributors in 2017, we agree with your assessment that USAC must redouble its efforts to ensure that we are adequately planning, coordinating, testing and reviewing our systems to ensure that they are functional, reliable, and secure.

With network neutrality in the rearview mirror, is E-Rate next on the Federal Communications Commission’s chopping block?  Experts admit it’s possible, if unlikely, but suggest a more probable series of modest changes in the short term. “I understand there are concerns about [FCC Chairman Ajit] Pai,” says John Harrington, CEO of the E-Rate consultancy Funds For Learning.

The Federal Communications Commission announced it has settled its investigations of five providers that received improper payments from the Lifeline program. Noting that the companies have already repaid the program for improper payments, the FCC found that the public interest would be served by adopting the Consent Decrees, which resolve the Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeitures issued to the companies. As part of each settlement, the companies have agreed to make additional payments to the U.S.

There's still a lot to be gleaned about the state of the E-rate and school connectivity. Here are six big numbers to know.

Letters from rural carriers have been pouring into the Federal Communications Commission to urge the commission to close the broadband Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM) funding gap before the end of 2017. It was just about a year ago that more carriers than expected chose to participate in the A-CAM broadband program, which will pay part of a carrier’s costs to bring broadband to unserved areas based on a cost model.

AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier and other providers that want to further expand rural broadband will soon be able to bid in the Federal Communications Commission’s $2 billion additional Connect America Fund II auction. The FCC has identified nearly 1 million homes and small businesses that will be eligible for broadband deployment support over the next 10 years. A large majority of the rural areas the FCC identified do not have access to broadband internet service. Given the low density of these areas, service providers are unlikely to expand service without federal support. 

Continuing its push to expand access to broadband in rural America, the Federal Communications Commission identified the locations of nearly 1 million homes and small businesses in 48 states that are eligible for up to $2 billion in support for broadband deployment over the next decade. Currently unserved by high speed Internet access, these locations are in largely rural areas, where, absent support, carriers are unlikely to expand service.