Recognizing the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on financial markets and on the ability of providers to successfully conduct their operations, the Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) waived the FCC’s letter of credit (LOC) rules for Connect America Fund Phase II auction (Auction 903) and Rural Broadband Experiments (RBE) support recipients in 2020 and 2021. Recipients of support from both programs were permitted to comply with the less extensive letter of credit rules established by the FCC for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). In December 2022, the Bureau, while acknowledging the improving financial conditions that existed throughout the Nation, extended that waiver, on a limited basis, until the end of 2023. From June 2020 through December 2022, all Auction 903 support recipients were permitted to comply with the RDOF LOC rules. In 2023, however, because of the improvement in financial conditions, the Bureau concluded that a waiver of the Auction 903 LOC rules was only appropriate for Auction 903 support recipients that had met each of their previous program deadlines. Now the Bureau seeks comment on the merits of extending beyond December 31, 2023 the waiver of the letter of credit rules for Auction 903 support recipients that have met each of their deadlines and whether, and to what extent, the pandemic or other factors continue to affect the operations of telecommunications services providers and the condition of financial markets and supply chains. Are there still unique financial challenges that providers are facing that interfere with their ability to obtain the letters of credit required under the Auction 903 rules? Are there additional dynamics now that may not have been present when the FCC first granted the letter of credit waiver? If so, the FCC encourages commenters to provide specific details about the experiences they face and how these have or have not changed since the original waiver was granted.

Interested parties may file comments on or before September 11, 2023 and reply comments on or before September 26, 2023.9 All filings should refer to WC Docket Nos. 10-90, 14-58, and AU Docket No. 17-182.

We write to request information about the security risks posed by cellular connectivity modules provided by companies subject to the jurisdiction, direction, or control of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) or the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Connectivity modules are components that enable Internet of Things (IoT) devices—from cars to medical equipment to tractors—to connect to the internet. Connectivity modules are typically controlled remotely and are the necessary link between the device and the internet. Recent events demonstrate the power of these small modules. In 2022, Russia stole $5 million worth of farm equipment from a John Deere dealership in Ukraine and attempted to bring it back to Russia. Luckily, that equipment was embedded with Western-made connectivity modules. Because the modules can be controlled remotely and the vehicles require internet connectivity to operate, remotely shutting down the module allows the module provider to shut the vehicle down. When Russia moved the stolen John Deere vehicles across the border into Russia, the modules were disabled—shutting down the equipment and effectively turning the vehicles into bricks. Connectivity modules are used in a wide variety of devices throughout the US, from consumer ‘smart devices’, to electric cars, to US telecommunications networks regulated by the FCC. Serving as the link between the device and the internet, these modules have the capacity both to brick the device and to access the data flowing from the device to the web server that runs each device. As a result, if the CCP can control the module, it may be able to effectively exfiltrate data or shut down the IoT device. This raises particularly grave concerns in the context of critical infrastructure and any type of sensitive data.

The basic tenet of universal internet service—that the government should assist those who cannot afford basic access to the network—has long been a cornerstone of American telecommunications policy. Unfortunately, it is far from clear whether Lifeline, the federal program tasked with getting low-income households online, actually addresses this problem. The recently enacted Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) threatens to compound Lifeline’s errors. The advent of ACP provides a unique opportunity to rethink our approach to broadband affordability initiatives. Rather than replicating a faulty subsidy model originally developed during the Reagan administration for landline telephones, Congress should adopt a tailored, data-driven program targeting only those low-income households that currently lack broadband service or that are at significant risk of losing access absent a subsidy. With a targeted, market-based approach in place, Congress should shutter the largely duplicative and potentially ineffective Lifeline program and alleviate the pressure that it puts on the Universal Service Fund (USF) and consumers.

[January 2023]

Officials from New Mexico and Minnesota are the latest to declare that federal and state funds currently available to them will not be enough to bring broadband to the underserved and unserved in their states. Bree Maki, the executive director of Minnesota’s Office of Broadband Development, said the state’s Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) allotment of about $651.8 million is “very close to” what her office expected. “However, we have statutory goals that are different when we talk about what unserved is,” said Maki. The state of Minnesota considers unserved locations to be those without access to 100/20 Mbps speeds. New Mexico received an allocation of $675.3 million. Ovidiu Viorica, the broadband and technology manager for Connect New Mexico, said that while that is “a lot of money, the preliminary estimates indicate that it’s not going to be enough to get the job done in New Mexico, regardless of the type of technology that that we're looking at.” “We have a significant gap. A big missing piece is the middle mile on the infrastructure side,” Viorica noted. And because BEAD funding won’t be enough to complete infrastructure in New Mexico, it won’t reach into “the digital equity side, the affordability, which leads to adoption.”