Calling the FCC's COVID-19-related changes to its Lifeline broadband subsidy program "small steps" and "tweaks," Some House Democrats are calling for bolder action. 

In a letter Thursday (Aug. 13) to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, 15 members of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, which has principal jurisdiction over the FCC, urged him to use Lifeline funds to subsidize unlimited voice minutes and mobile data for Lifeline users for the duration of the pandemic. 

Related: Groups Want Unlimited Talk, Text, for Lifeline Subs 

“A strong response is critical given the supreme importance of connectivity while the country continues its efforts to combat the unprecedented and devastating COVID-19 pandemic," they wrote.  

They also took issue with a recent draft rule proposal from Pai that would reduce the amount of mobile data subsidized by the program. 

Saying he was cleaning up a mess made by the previous commission, Pai last month circulated a draft order that would cut the new minimum mobile broadband data capacity provided to low income residents by the Lifeline subsidy from 11.75 GB to 4.5 GB.  

"Now more than ever, Americans need this Lifeline to support telework, telehealth, education, and other services offered online to keep individuals and our communities safe and healthy," they wrote. "Unfortunately, your proposed rules seem to ignore the fact that coronavirus cases continue to rise, and the country has experienced nineteen consecutive weeks of over one million unemployment claims.” 

The legislators pointed out that while the Lifeline program generally provides $9.25 per month in subsidies, after Hurricane Katrina, the FCC provided $130 to qualifying households for handsets and voice minutes "to help them get back on their feet." They said that, "given the importance of connectivity and remote learning, working, and healthcare during the pandemic," the FCC should similarly take "aggressive action" to help struggling Americans. 

Signing on to the letter were Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA), and Reps Jerry McNerney (D-CA), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Marc Veasey (D-TX), Donald McEachin (D-VA), Darren Soto (D-FL), Tom O’Halleran (D-AZ), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Diana DeGette (D-CO), G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), Doris Matsui (D-CA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) and Tony Cárdenas (D-CA). 

They asked for a response from Pai by Sept. 3. 

Among the Lifeline "tweaks" the FCC has already made include extending Lifeline-related waivers on recertification, reverification, general de-enrollment, usage, and income documentation and agreeing not to drop suspect subs.

FCC commissioner Brendan Carr said the hands-off approach to Big Tech has failed, likening it to the bipartisan approach to China and the Trump Administration's shift to one of "much more strength. 

Carr was interviewed on the Hudson Institute's podcast, The Realignment, the last installment of that podcast under the Hudson aegis, where he was asked whether he agreed that he was breaking somewhat with deregulatory orthodoxy. 

Carr suggested that he remained a limited government libertarian who believed the marketplace trumped heavy handed regulation. 

Related: Pai Says He Won't Pre-Judge Sec. 230 Petition 

But he also said that Big Tech has amassed more power than any entity in history, "with more control over more speech than anything we have ever seen." He said the preservation of individual liberty "can sometimes come in conflict with zero regulation of massive corporations." 

He said there can be an appropriate government role when it comes to Big Tech that will "actually further liberty rather than inhibiting it." 

The podcast came only a few days before the Trump Administration is petitioning the FCC to clarify under what circumstances the government can regulate social media, stemming from an executive order that Carr supports. 

Asked how his position on regulating the internet has evolved, Carr said that initially he bought the high-level talking points about the Sec. 230 shield for Web sites from third-party liability were "the 23 words that created the internet" and the didn't want to tamper with that. But he said when he peeled that back, Twitter and Facebook and Google operate in Europe, where Sec. 230 doesn't apply. "So, maybe 230 isn't as integral to the way we have the internet today as it used to." 

He also said he concluded that there were plenty of paths forward for reforming Sec. 230 and winding up with more speech and more viewpoints, which is what the section is all about. 

Related: Rep. Khanna Says Big Tech Needs Well-Crafted Regulation

He said 230 is not an efficient, operating free-market, system, but one skewed by the presence of Sec. 230, "which gives one set of political actors special protections that every other political actor that  aren't covered by that provision don't enjoy." 

Carr said the Sec. 230 debate is a fork in the road. One path is historic approach of interpreting light-touch regulation as being "no-touch" regulation, the other is "appropriately scaled regulation." He said he applies it in many cases, but it does not to be "slavishly" applied. He said he voted to remove net neutrality rules, but is asked how he squares that with supporting more reg on Big Tech.  

He said 1) the scope and scale of the power of Big Tech and ISPs is no longer comparable and 2) Big Tech's biased application of that power. He said there is much more reg on ISPs than edge providers. While the FCC eliminated the rules, but kept the transparency rules. He said the country would be better off if Big Tech had at least that transparency requirement. Big Tech is a "black box," he said. "There is just no transparency."

A "partially" divided FCC voted Tuesday (June 9) to establish rules of the road for the auction of $16 billion in subsidies for rural broadband buildouts via its Rural Digital Opportunities Fund (RDOF). 

The vote was technically unanimous, but the Democratic members hammered the item for giving out money before the FCC had fixed its broadband maps, so both cast partial dissents from that part. 

That came at the FCC's first virtual video public meeting Tuesday (June 9)--previously socially distanced meetings had been via teleconference. 

The money will be awarded over 10 years to providers to offer fixed voice and broadband to unserved, high-cost, areas, at speeds of at least 25/3 Mbps. 

The auction (904) is scheduled to launch Oct. 29. Short-form applications can be filed beginning July 1. That application window closes July 15. 

The public notice establishing the rules also: 1) adopts census blocks as the smallest geographic area for bidding, 2) reserves bids only for technologies proven to provide mass market retail broadband, 3) insures that bidders have the experience, the money, and the technology to meet performance requirements, and 4) adopts a multi-round, descending clock auction, which means low bid that meets performance and latency requirements wins. 

The FCC is prohibiting commonly controlled entities from filing more than one application and banning joint bidding arrangements.  

Related: Bipartisan Bill Would Goose Broadband Buildouts 

FCC chair Ajit Pai circulated the draft public notice last month. 

Pai said that in his three-plus years, closing the digital divide has been his top priority, and the FCC has gotten results. 

He said more work remains to be done and events in 2020 have driven home how important that connection is. He said the procedures for phase one of the auction will get money to areas "everyone agrees" lacks service. 

He said politically motivated calls to delay the auction miss the mark. He said the country cannot afford to wait for more granular coverage maps. "Digital opportunity delayed is digital opportunity denied." 

Commissioner Michael O'Rielly said the item put the FCC one step closer to the auction and, "hopefully," significantly expanded broadband access.  

O'Rielly said he would have preferred no upfront technology restrictions. He did say he was grateful for changing language that was prejudicial to certain providers. The FCC will also reevaluate participation conditions for the second phase of the program, said O'Rielly, something he had asked for. 

Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, who cast a partial dissent, said the FCC does not have accurate data so it lacks an honest picture of who has broadband and who is falling behind. She said the current pandemic and protests means that the country needs connections that support bonds between people. She said the FCC needs a real plan for broadband for all. She said job one of getting the job done is good data. She criticized the FCC for not addressing the mapping issue years ago.  

Rosenworcel said the FCC made no effort to improve the data, and is now handing out billions of dollars using maps they know is wrong. She called the item "rushed out the door electioneering." 

She called the item the wrong way to close the digital divide, and irresponsible in the bargain. She also took issue with not giving the money in places where states are already using other government subsidy money. Rosenworcel said rushing the money out was a "fatal flaw." 

FCC commissioner Brendan Carr also called it the next step to serving the hardest-to-serve. He said the FCC's broadband maps are accurate for what the FCC is doing with the first part of the auction, which is to serve the unserved.  

Commissioner Geoffrey Starks dissented in part, unhappy with the bulk of the money being handed out before the FCC gets a better hand on where broadband is. 

"I would have preferred to start with a smaller budget or shorter term of support so that the bulk of the RDOF funds could be spent after we complete the mapping overhaul that data-driven policymaking and the Broadband DATA Act require," he said. "Because this item builds on that flawed foundation, I must dissent in part." 

In August 2019, the FCC voted to propose handing out over $20 billion in Universal Service Fund (USF) subsidies for rural broadband over the next decade, money that could go to cable broadband providers as well as telecoms.   

Related: Are You Ready for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund  

The first phase of the program will hand out $16 billion for census tracks where there is no service. In the second, $4.4 billion, plus whatever money is left over from phase one, will be available for building out partially served census tracts.  

The FCC has taken some criticism for handing out the $16 billion before it collects better broadband availability data, but Pai has pointed out that while the FCC concedes it needs better data, that is generally for areas that might show service where there is none, not where the data shows there is no service. He also points out that, in the wake of COVID-19, getting that broadband out to unserved rural areas ASAP is a priority. 

“The Fiber Broadband Association supports today’s action by the FCC to adopt procedures and a timeframe for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction," said Lisa Youngers, president of the Fiber Broadband Association. "This universal service program has the potential to drive the deployment of all-fiber networks to many locations in unserved areas, giving consumers and businesses access to infrastructure essential for full participation in our 21st-century society and economy. The COVID-19 pandemic, during which broadband traffic has surged, has revealed that all-fiber network access for all Americans has never been more important. Our members remain committed to connecting Americans, both rural and urban, with all-fiber broadband and will continue to work to make this a reality.”

“ACA Connects supports today’s action by the FCC to move forward with the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program, which will bring higher-performance broadband service to millions of unserved locations," said ACA Connects President Matt Polka. "With the RDOF, the FCC also takes another step to ensure limited government funding will be distributed more efficiently by giving providers of all stripes, including ACA Connects members, a fair and reasonable opportunity to participate in the program.

“Just as with the 2018 Connect America Fund auction, we expect many ACA Connects members will seek to take part in October’s RDOF auction. In the end, the winners will be consumers in unserved areas, who will get upgraded broadband service, and the American public, who will see government funding used more effectively.”

Cable operators are split over the FCC's vertical integration record-keeping requirements as the FCC considers changes to its program access and carriage rules.  

Back in March, the FCC voted unanimously to seek comment on some proposed changes to those rules.  

In its comments on the changes, NCTA-The Internet & Television Association, suggested the FCC should eliminate the requirement that large cable operators compile and upload attributable interest information that can be used by a potential program access complainant. It said that ACA Connect's position that the requirement was necessary, was speculative and unwarranted, as well as "self-serving and factually unsupported," and "should be rejected," a characterization ACAC disputed in reply comments. 

ACAC said the fact that complainants have used other sources does not make the current record-keeping requirement--that they compile and post the info online--less helpful or essential in some cases. For example, it said, while it is not hard to figure out that Comcast owns NBC Sports Washington, it would be hard to retro engineer the info about Charter's vertical integration contained in its online file, and impossible with a private company like Cox. 

ACAC also said there is no evidence that the requirement is particularly onerous, and added there are ways to make it even less difficult. 

"The record-keeping requirement, in other words, provides useful information at minimal cost and even such minimal cost can be reduced," it told the commission.