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
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
The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) reverse auction, a $20.4 Billion broadband funding opportunity, will require substantial advance preparation for interested participants Vantage Point Solutions is pleased to introduce the RDOF Concierge Prep Service, a package of information and services for broadband providers interested in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund reverse auction. The Rural Digital … 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
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
Vantage Point Solutions recently filed comments in response to the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on several contemplated changes to its rules governing Priority Access Licenses (PALs) that are to be issued in 3550-3700 MHz band (3.5 GHz Band). Comments summary: You can view Vantage Point’s full comments here: VPS Comments to FCC … 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
Larry Thompson, CEO of Vantage Point Solutions, was recently appointed to serve on the Streamlining Federal Siting Working Group of the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC). Thompson was named to the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee in April 2017. Since the committee’s inception, several working groups have been established to focus on developing solutions to specific … Read more
On July 7, the FCC released a Report and Order eliminating several reporting requirements of the annual FCC Form 481 that it deems to be either duplicative of other reporting requirements or are simply no longer necessary. The requirements eliminated were: These eliminations are schedule to be effective immediately following approval by the Office of … 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
Subhead text Originally filed January 5, 2016 Re: Connect America Fund, WC Docket No. 10-90 On July 13, 2015, Vantage Point Solutions filed an FCC ex parte letter examining the accuracy of the Alternative Connect America Model (A-CAM). The Vantage Point analysis compared results of the A-CAM “cost to serve” module to actual engineering data … 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
