Emergency Connectivity Fund; Development of broadband access rules

First funding round of the Emergency Connectivity Fund

Last week, the FCC announced it was committing more than $ 1.2 billion to 3,020 schools, 260 libraries and 24 consortia that requested support from the Emergency Connectivity Fund (Vol. XVIII, Number 27) . Approximately $ 1.17 billion in funding will support schools, $ 23.97 million will support libraries, and $ 12.03 million will support school and library consortia. The Council continues to review applications for the first application window and will announce future funding commitments in the coming weeks. A second application window will open on September 28 and close on October 13.

2.5 GHz Mutual Exclusive Resolution

The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau issued a public notice last week urging applicants for rural tribal priority windows in the 2.5 GHz band to resolve mutual exclusivity issues (Vol. XVIII, Issue 20). Mutual exclusivity occurs when more than one application requests a certain amount of overlapping geographic area, spectrum, or both, regardless of the minimum degree of overlap. Mutually exclusive requests cannot be processed through the Board’s normal request review process unless the overlap is eliminated. The Commission therefore encourages those tribal entities with pending applications to take voluntary measures to remedy any overlap. The Bureau also announced that 20 more applications have been accepted for filing, with a total of 270 licenses granted to tribes or tribal-controlled entities to date.

MTE NPRM comment deadlines

The FCC last week published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the comment and response deadlines for the Public Notice (Vol. XVIII, Issue 37) seeking to update the record on a 2019 regulatory proposal notice on the ‘improved broadband access in multi-tenant environments. (“MTE”). The FCC invites parties to “update the record” on matters “including, but not limited to (1) revenue sharing agreements; (2) exclusive cabling agreements, including sale-leaseback agreements; and (3) exclusive marketing agreements. Comments and replies are due no later than October 21, 2021 and November 4, 2021, respectively.

Senators support Rosenworcel as permanent chair

A group of 25 senators last week issued a letter to President Joseph Biden urging the president to appoint interim president Jessica Rosenworcel for a full term as commissioner and appoint her as permanent chair. President Rosenworcel’s term expired last year, although she may serve until the end of Congress’ current term and is expected to step down if not reconfirmed at this point. If that happened and no other Democrats were confirmed beforehand, the Republicans would have a 2-1 majority with Commissioner Geoffrey Starks as interim chairman.

Co-authors: Jason P. Chun, Timothy A. Doughty, C. Douglas Jarrett, Gregory E. Kunkle, Thomas B. Magee, Tracy P. Marshall and Kathleen Slattery Thompson