Verizon Says DC Can't Fund Broadband Access

Verizon opposed expanding the District of Columbia Universal Service Trust Fund to support broadband for low-income households. "The Commission lacks jurisdiction over broadband services, and thus may not regulate the provision of broadband services," the company commented Monday on the D.C. Public Service Commission’s notice of inquiry in docket FC988. The D.C. Office of the People’s Counsel supported expanding the District’s USF to include broadband as a measure to close the digital divide. “Federal and state programs, like the Lifeline program, designed to facilitate universal access to communications services, must continually evolve to ensure that cost and social barriers do not foreclose the participation of low-income and marginalized consumers,” OPC commented. The USTF should be “updated to reflect changes to the manner in which District residents use communications technologies,” it said. It’s legal for the D.C. program to support broadband because the Communications Act allows states to adopt regulations that advance universal service consistent with FCC rules, and the federal program now supports broadband, OPC said. Section 706(a) directs state commissions to encourage deployment of advanced telecommunications capability, it said. To further close the divide, OPC said the PSC should set up a schools and libraries fund through USTF to supplement the federal E-rate program, and help subsidize the cost of computers for District schoolchildren who participate in the National School Lunch program. In an interview last week, PSC Chairwoman Betty Ann Kane said she expects the her agency will align Lifeline rules with the updated federal program ahead of the December implementation deadline but supports a NARUC resolution seeking waivers for states that need more time (see 1611020045). “It will be tight” meeting the deadline in the District, but doable, she said. Lifeline isn’t a statutory program there, so the PSC merely must make rule changes, she said. However, some other states need legislators to change the statute and probably won’t make the FCC’s deadline, she said.