September 12 Webinar to Focus on Future of Business Services

Join us on Thursday, September 12 at 2 p.m. ET for the latest in the INCOMPAS Webinar Series - Revamping Technology: The Future of Business Services.

For communications service providers (CSPs), selling business services is a critical component of the product portfolio and overall financial returns. Much like with residential voice - which moved from fixed to mobile wireless - business customers are in the midst of a similar transition. Businesses are swapping their existing on-premises phone systems for cloud-based solutions. As traditional vendors that supplied technology to the CSPs exit the market, it has created once-in-a-generation opportunities for CSPs to evaluate their business portfolio and adopt new technology and platforms.

This webinar, featuring Brian Gregory, senior director of Product Marketing for Intermedia Cloud Communications, will discuss this paradigm shift and options for CSPs as they look to the future.

Advanced registration is required. If you are unable to attend, please register so you can receive the link to the recording following the webinar.

FCC Adopts Rules for 5G Fund for Rural America

The FCC adopted new rules to move forward with targeted investments in the deployment of advanced, 5G mobile wireless broadband services in rural communities. An FCC press release said, "[t]he bipartisan vote on these rules reinstates the 5G Fund for Rural America using the FCC’s new and improved broadband coverage map, which shows that millions of homes and businesses lack mobile 5G coverage." 

For Phase I of the 5G Fund, the FCC will use a multi-round reverse auction to distribute up to $9 billion to bring voice and 5G mobile broadband service to rural areas of the country unlikely to otherwise see unsubsidized deployment of 5G-capable networks. Once the FCC is ready, we will announce the expected start of the auction through a public notice. The 5G Fund Phase I auction will rely on the mobile coverage data obtained in the Broadband Data Collection – including through the FCC’s Mobile Speed Test app – and reflected on the FCC’s National Broadband Map.

INCOMPAS had advocated for a temporary pause in the 5G Fund proceeding until such time as states had an opportunity to disburse BEAD funding and study which areas still needed additional funding for 5G services. In responding to those concerns, which were shared by a number of other trade associations, the FCC responded "in evaluating the impact of the BEAD Program on our implementation of the 5G Fund, we find that both programs are necessary to ensuring that all Americans have access to advanced telecommunications capability...[W]e are not persuaded by commenters that urge us to delay the 5G Fund Phase I auction until after BEAD support has been awarded because BEAD funding could be used to support mobile services as part of the BEAD recipients’ broader deployment commitments."

FCC Wireline Bureau Seeks Nominations for USAC Board

The FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau issued a public notice seeking nominations for six positions on the USAC board of directors for a three-year term and two additional vacancies resulting from a resignation and carryover vacancy of USAC board members. The bureau seeks nominations for representatives from:

• IXCs with annual operating revenues of more than $3 billion
• Rural health care providers
• State telecommunications regulators
• ILECs (non-Bell Operating Companies) with $40 million or less in annual revenues
• Schools eligible to receive discounts
• Information service providers
• IXCs with annual operating revenues of $3 billion or less.

Nominations are due October 28, 2024.

Fifth Circuit Grants Stay of Universal Service Contribution Decision

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an order granting the FCC’s motion to stay the decision granting Consumer’s Research, et al.’s petition for review of the FCC’s first quarter 2022 universal service contribution factor, pending the FCC’s filing of a petition for writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court.

The court said the stay will expire and the mandate shall issue on October 1, 2024, unless the FCC files a petition on or before September 30, 2024, in which case the stay shall continue until the Supreme Court’s final disposition.