On July 28, 2023, Sens. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and John Thune (R-S.D.), co-chairs of the Universal Service Fund (USF) Working Group, announced that the public can submit comments to the working group on the following USF questions:
On July 25, 2023, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced that she shared an updated Notice of Inquiry (NOI) with her colleagues which will begin the Commission’s evaluation of the state of broadband across the country, specifically addressing affordability, adoption, availability, and equitable access.
The E-rate Tribal Library Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was adopted by the Commission on July 20, 2023 during its open meeting.
On March 29, 2023, USAC estimated the demand for E-rate services at $2.944 billion for Funding Year 2023. This estimate includes $1.658 billion for Category 1 services and $1.286 billion for Category 2 services.
On March 23, 2023,
the Order on Reconsideration, Second
Report and Order, Order, and Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for
the USF Rural Health Care program was published in the Federal Register. The Federal Register publication set the
comment cycle for the Further Notice: comments are due on April 24,
2023 and reply comments are due on May 22, 2023.
On March 20, 2023, the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau granted a request filed by the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority Wireless, LLC (NTUAW) seeking waiver of the invoice filing deadline rule under the Rural Health Care Program’s Telecom Program for funding year 2020. Broadband Legal Strategies represented NTUAW in this proceeding.
On February 16, 2023, the Wireline Competition Bureau issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Schools and Libraries E-rate program regarding improvements to the E-rate program for Tribal applicants.
