For Immediate Release
Contact: Hillary Crowder Smith, 703-351-2086, [email protected]
Arlington, Va. (March 31, 2016)—NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association issued statements today from Chief Executive Officer Shirley Bloomfield in response to the actions taken by the FCC regarding broadband consumer privacy and modernization of the Universal Service Fund’s (USF) Lifeline program and the agency’s March open meeting.
Regarding the Lifeline third report and order, further report and order and order on reconsideration:
“As the only providers operating across vast portions of rural America, members of NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association have a great deal of experience in serving low-income consumers in rural areas and with the universal service programs that help such consumers afford communications services. NTCA welcomes FCC action today that will make it easier for carriers to focus on the job of serving consumers by centralizing and streamlining verification of program eligibility. NTCA also applauds the commission for taking steps in the past two days to make both the high-cost USF program and the low-income USF program more responsive to consumer demand for broadband.
“At the same time, NTCA finds it quite striking and discordant that, in an order released yesterday the high-cost USF program was put under a hard and self-executing budget, while the very next day the ‘target’ Lifeline program budget is: (1) increased, (2) given the ability to increase further over time with inflation, and (3) left without any firm controls to manage that increased budget target. Rural and low-income consumers must have the same opportunities to access quality services at affordable rates, and the starkly disparate regulatory treatment of the budgets for the two programs from one day to the next risks undermining achievement of this goal.
“With the commission having thankfully taken the important step yesterday of supporting standalone broadband services in high-cost areas, it’s now time for the next step. Specifically, NTCA urges the commission to ensure that the high-cost USF program is sufficiently funded so that rural consumers can actually afford to adopt the broadband services that are now being supported. To start, even just putting all four USF programs on more equal regulatory footing by applying an inflationary factor to all budgets—just as the commission now has done for Lifeline, and as it did for E-Rate before that—would go a long way toward addressing this concern. It’s long past time for that to happen.
“To be clear, we are grateful to the commission for yesterday’s action to support standalone broadband in high-cost areas, and for today’s action to reorient the Lifeline program toward broadband as well. But we are eager for much-needed additional conversations with the commission regarding how to ensure greater regulatory parity in the administration of USF budgets and how to achieve our shared goal of ensuring that every consumer—whether rural or low-income—can participate meaningfully in our country’s broadband future.”
Regarding the broadband privacy notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM):
“NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association supports efforts to ensure broadband consumer privacy. As small rural network operators committed to the communities in which they live and serve, NTCA members are committed to protecting their customers’ data. This includes maintaining secure networks and protocols that protect user information consistent with fair and reasonable market expectations and practices. The Commission’s action today provides an opportunity for the industry and policymakers to gather and review information that will disclose the proper balance necessary to protect consumer data while avoiding unnecessarily burdensome obligations.
“As it has noted previously in related contexts, however, NTCA observes that many content owners and other ‘edge providers’ have as much or even greater access, ability, and incentive to maintain and utilize consumer data. Consumer information that warrants protection should be subject to a standard of care that is consistent across all fields of those who might control it, and no one class of industry should be subject to greater obligations when the same data is considered.”
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NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association is the premier association representing nearly 900 independent, community-based telecommunications companies that are leading innovation in rural and small-town America. NTCA advocates on behalf of its members in the legislative and regulatory arenas, and it provides training and development; publications and industry events; and an array of employee benefit programs. In an era of exploding technology, deregulation and marketplace competition, NTCA’s members are leading the IP evolution for rural consumers, delivering technologies that make rural communities vibrant places in which to live and do business. Because of their efforts, rural America is fertile ground for innovation in economic development and commerce, education, health care, government services, security and smart energy use. Visit us at www.ntca.org.