On February 8, 2021, the Consortium for School Networking, the Alliance for Excellent Education, the Council of the Great City Schools, the Schools, Health, & Libraries Broadband Coalition, the State Educational Technology Directors Association, and the State E-rate Coordinators’ Alliance (“Petitioners”) filed a petition for rulemaking.
On February 1, 2021, the Federal Communications Commission today issued a Public Notice seeking comment on several petitions asking the FCC to permit the use of E-rate funds to support remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Comments are due February 16, 2021 and reply comments are due February 23, 2021. All filings should refer to WC Docket No. 21-31.
The Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) directed the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) on December 23, 2020, to update its urban and rural rates database (RHC Database) for the Rural Health Care Telecommunications Program for all funding requests committed since its July 1, 2020, launch.
On December 23, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission announced a settlement of more than $24 million with IBM for E-rate violations.
Today, in a Public Notice, the FCC announced that the proposed USF contribution factor for the first quarter of 2021 will be 31.8 percent.
Yesterday, the Wireline Competition Bureau released an Order extending its waivers of the Rural Healthcare and E-Rate program gift rules through June 30, 2021.
On November 30, 2020, the Wireline Competition Bureau released an Order accelerating the effective dates of certain rules it had previously delayed until FY 2021.
