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FCC Invites Comment on Pole Attachment Issues Related to 5G

The wireless industry continues to push for almost tariff-like regulation of communications attachments on utility poles. Despite prior statements by the FCC favoring negotiated agreements, the wireless industry is now asking the FCC to prohibit a utility pole owner from even attempting to reach a negotiated agreement, ironically stifling the […]

The Commission Creates A Fraud Division

On August 12, 2019 the FCC created a new Fraud Division within the Enforcement Bureau. The mission of the Fraud Division is to uncover, investigate, and prosecute attempts to commit waste, fraud, and abuse within the Commission’s universal service funds, including the high cost fund, the E-rate fund, the low-income […]

Pole Attachment Dispute Involves Claims at Both State Court and the FCC

The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau issued a detailed decision this week (MAW Communications, Inc. v. PPL Electric Utilities Corporation, DA 19-771) addressing the relative rights and responsibilities of a pole-owning electric utility and a telecommunications carrier for the carrier’s unauthorized attachment to the utility’s poles, the carrier’s refusal to pay an […]

The FCC’S Newly Reformed Rural Healthcare Program

The Commission’s Rural Healthcare (RHC) Program is divided into two parts: (1) the Telecommunications (Telecom) Program; and (2) the Healthcare Connect Fund Program. The Telecom Program, established in 1997, subsidizes the difference between urban and rural rates for telecommunications services. The Healthcare Connect Fund, which was created in 2012, provides […]