Court Upholds Majority of Restoring Internet Freedom Order On October 1, 2019, in the case of Mozilla Corporation v. Federal Communications Commission et al., the U.S. Court of Appeals (“the Court”) confirmed a majority of the FCC rule changes included in the 2017 Restoring Internet Freedom Order (“RIF Order”) which overturned the prior FCC’s 2015 … Read more
Memos
USDA Releases Details on the 2nd Round of ReConnect The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released the highly anticipated details for the second round of funding for the ReConnect Program. The ReConnect Program will provide up to $512M in loan and grant funding to assist with building broadband infrastructure in rural areas of … Read more
Order on Reconsideration to be considered on October 25th Open Commission Meeting On October 4, 2019, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) issued an Order on Reconsideration regarding Measuring CAF Recipients’ Broadband Performance (the requirement commonly referred to as “CAF Performance Testing” or “Performance Testing”) that clarifies and modifies certain portions and parameters of the Performance … Read more
FCC Seeks Comment on Bidding Procedures for 3.5 GHz Auction 105 Comment Date: October 28, 2019Reply Comment Date: November 12, 2019 On September 26, 2019, the FCC adopted the public notice seeking comment on proposed competitive bidding procedures for the auction of the Priority Access Licenses (PALs) within the 3550-3650 MHz portion of the 3.5 … Read more
Connect America Fund – Report and Order, FNPRM and Order on Reconsideration – WC Docket 10-90 The Federal Communications Commission (“Commission”) has released for circulation a draft Report and Order, Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order on Reconsideration on the Connect America Fund (“FCC November 2018 Draft Order and NPRM”) in response to the … Read more
Attention: WY – 700 MHz Lower Band (Blocks A, B, and E) License Holders and WZ – 700 MHz Lower Band (Blocks C and D) License Holders The End of License Term Construction deadlines for both WY and WZ license holders are coming due in June of 2019. Please note also that leased spectrum may have license … Read more
On June 19, 2018, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted procedures to meet the increased demand for funding from the Rural Health Care (RHC) Program. The RHC program promotes health care delivery and telemedicine in rural America. In the last five years telehealth technology has advanced and became more prevalent in rural areas. The RHC … Read more
Published September 2017 Not all broadband services are created equal. The usefulness of a broadband service is determined by how well online applications work or whether they work at all. The quality of the broadband connection can be measured by certain “standards” which include speed, latency, monthly capacity, reliability and scalability. When a broadband service does not … Read more
The Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) has just released the final list of CAF II eligible areas, as well as the reserve price for each block group for the upcoming CAF II Auction. VPSs initial analysis indicates a nationwide decrease in the CAF II reserve price of $323 million or 34%. In total 42 states saw … Read more
On Monday, September 18, Vantage Point Solutions filed comments with the FCC on the upcoming CAF II auction rules. This auction will be one of the most complex auctions in the history of humankind, and shaping the rules of the process is critical to ensuring reasonable, well-developed, and effective procedures. To that end, there are … Read more
Originally written July 13, 2015 Re: Connect America Fund, WC Docket No. 10-90 Broadband is a vital part of our modern economy, education, and everyday life. The FCC is to be commended for their efforts to achieve additional fiber deployment across rural America. At Vantage Point we’ve helped hundreds of rural telecommunications providers in more … Read more
At the FCC’s Open Meeting held on April 20, 2017, the Commission granted the Petition for Reconsideration filed by NTCA of the Commission’s Rate‐of‐Return Reform Order with respect to the average per location, per project construction limitation on universal service support. Background: In the Rate‐of‐Return Reform Order, the Commission adopted a Capital Investment Allowance (CIA) … Read more
Vantage Point Solutions has analyzed USAC’s newly released budget control mechanisms (BCMs) taking effect on July 1, 2017. There are a number of key takeaways evident from the data: View the full Impact of USAC Budget Controls report here.
In today’s May 18, 2017, Open Meeting, the FCC voted to freeze the current rate floor at $18 and potentially later this year eliminate the local service rate floor rule and accompanying reporting obligations. Since 2012, the FCC began the phase in of a national rate floor for carriers receiving high-cost support. RLECs were forced … Read more
Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), Internet Service Providers (ISPs) may beafforded safe harbor protections from copyright infringement liability if they meet certainrequirements including electronically designating an agent to receive takedown notices andother notices of infringement. The Copyright Office has implemented a new electronicregistration process and all ISPs must file electronic agent designations with … Read more
On May 12, 2017, a new ransomware program was discovered known as WannaCry, WCry, or Wanna Decryptor. As of May 16, there are over 374,000 unique addresses infected – and growing every minute. WannaCry attacks by encrypting and holding data for ransom, currently set at 0.1781 bitcoins (approximately $300 USD). According to the FBI Cyber … Read more
Summary Each individual company differs when it comes to Internet pricing. Many factors must be considereddepending on the region the company is providing services. Vantage Point’s purpose of this survey isto help RLEC/CLEC/ISPs remain competitive. There are further studies that can be done to examine,in high level detail, the prices set by companies. It’s important … Read more
Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) Grandfathered Protection Zones Filing Window and Procedures Announced On April 7, 2017, the FCC released its Public Notice, DA 17‐340, in which the FCC has opened the fourmonth filing window for Part 90 licensees to submit the required supplemental information in order todefine their Grandfathered Wireless Protection Zones. The deadline … Read more
Summary Overview On March 2, 2017, the FCC released an order taking another step towards implementing the CAF II Auction. The FCC finalized the performance tier weightings, latency weightings, and how to calculate a bid score based on them. In the order the FCC clearly stated they want the auction process to be simple in … Read more
