The FCC draft digital discrimination order’s definition of “economic feasibility” and Public Knowledge’s proposed clarification for it are both bad for America, said the Free State Foundation in an ex parte filing Monday in docket 22-69. The draft item defines economic feasibility “in a way that will induce, if not require,” the agency to “conduct old-fashioned public utility style rate cases,” said the FSF filing. Under the clarification PK proposed last week, when determining if a policy is economically feasible, the agency wouldn’t look at the rate of return in only the area where discrimination was taking place but also at the expected rate of return for similarly situated areas that aren’t low income. “Because rates of return are lower for low-income areas, ISPs generally underinvest in these communities or avoid them completely,” PK said. That change would “render the task of evaluating ‘economic feasibility’ even less practically implementable” than the draft order’s proposal, FSF said. “The draft’s approach to defining the ‘economic feasibility’ standard is misguided. PK’s suggested “clarification” is doubly misguided,” said the FSF filing.

The FCC is “beleaguered” and “browbeaten by Congress,” and proposed rule changes on net neutrality and digital discrimination will marginalize the agency, said former agency senior aide Adonis Hoffman Monday in an opinion column that appeared in The Hill and was published on The Media Institute's website. Hoffman, CEO of consulting firm The Advisory Counsel, is a former aide to then-FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. The FCC is criticized by consumers, and “pilloried in the press,” despite doing “amazing work," wrote Hoffman. Whether its woes are due to lack of leadership, errant enforcement or partisan politics is hard to say.” The agency will “more than likely” lose a court challenge against its net neutrality proposals, Hoffman said. The FCC would also lose legal challenges to a digital discrimination order, he said. “Signs are that the Commission is posturing to adopt a standard different from what other federal agencies have already adopted. If so, the agency’s ruling could once again be overturned by a federal appeals court.”

The USF contribution factor will likely increase to 35.4% during Q1 2024, emailed analyst Billy Jack Gregg Friday. Gregg noted that the USF contribution base for all of 2023 was $34.2 billion, the "lowest annual revenues in the history of the USF." The contribution factor could be even greater should quarterly revenues continue to decline, he added.

The FCC and Department of Health and Human Services will host a joint roundtable Nov. 17 on the intersection of broadband and maternal health. The event, beginning at 10:30 a.m. at the FCC's headquarters, will include a discussion on the role of broadband as a social determinant of health and how to improve maternal health outcomes, per a public notice Thursday in docket 23-309. The roundtable will also be livestreamed.

The FCC wants comments by Dec. 1, replies by Dec. 18, in docket 22-270 on a notice of inquiry kicking off the agency's evaluation of the state of broadband and setting higher broadband speed benchmarks (see 2307250068). "To get big things done, it is essential to set big goals," said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel: "That is why we are kicking off this inquiry to update our national broadband standard and also set a long-term goal for gigabit speeds." Commssioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington approved and concurred in part the order, which was adopted Oct. 25 and released Wednesday. "As a policy matter, it makes sense that Congress would task the commission with this type of progress-based inquiry," Carr said, adding he was glad to see the item "takes a more holistic approach to the question of setting broadband speed metrics and other benchmarks" following the addition of language he sought. Simington shared Carr's concerns about "the misframing of our inquiry."

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a joint motion from the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, Center for Media Justice and National Digital Inclusion Alliance to intervene on behalf of the FCC in Consumers' Research's new challenge of the USF Q4 2023 contribution factor (see 2310030069). An order posted Monday in case 23-60525 was denied "without prejudice" should the groups want to file amicus curiae.

The FCC Friday granted two additional participants in the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program six-month extensions of their mandate to rip and replace Huawei and ZTE equipment from their networks. Point Broadband Fiber Holding’s deadline to remove the gear was delayed from Sunday to April 29, SI Wireless’ deadline from Nov. 24 to May 24, said the Wireline Bureau order. The bureau found “each made a sufficient showing that they have been impacted by the funding shortfall” in the program “to an extent sufficient to warrant an extension.”

Tive received conditional certification to be compensated through the Telecom Relay Service Fund for providing video relay service, per an FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau public notice Friday in docket 10-51. Tive also received a 60-day waiver regarding "documentary and other evidence demonstrating that the applicant leases, licenses, or has acquired its own facilities for VRS call centers."

An FCC Monday roundtable on cybersecurity for emergency alerts (see 2310160060) will feature remarks from FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and panels on cybersecurity risk management, incident reporting and the potential cost burden of improvements, said an agenda released Thursday. The event also includes a number of cybersecurity officials from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI, and executives from alerting equipment manufacturers, AT&T, T-Mobile, E.W. Scripps and others.

NTCA representatives explained the group’s stance on an FCC proposal on rules to speed a move to next-generation 911 (see 2309110042) in a meeting with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, said a filing Tuesday in docket 21-479. “NTCA reiterated its support for reasonable steps to advance a transition to NG911 given the increased situational awareness it will provide to first responders,” the group said: “NTCA’s advocacy for an alternative cost allocation methodology in place of that proposed by the Commission is simply a surgical amendment to the overall approach as found in the NPRM in specifying that the party that is paid by and contractually responsible to state and local governmental entities to implement NG911 should be responsible for the costs of doing so.”