[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 44 (Wednesday, March 6, 2019)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 8003-8006]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-03635]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 54

[WC Docket No. 10-90, WT Docket No. 10-208; FCC 18-183]


Connect America Fund; Universal Service Reform--Mobility Fund

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final action.

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SUMMARY: In this document, the Commission extends the timeframe for the 
collection of speed test data for Mobility Fund Phase II (MF-II) 
challenges and for the collection of data by respondents to MF-II 
challenges by 90 days. Speed test data in support of a challenge will 
be accepted if collected on or after February 27, 2018, and through 
November 26, 2018. Respondents may submit information that was 
collected any time on or after April 29, 2018, through the close of the 
response window.

DATES: The Order is effective March 6, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Office of Economics and Analytics, 
Auctions Division, Audra Hale-Maddox, at (202) 418-0660.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's Third 
Report and Order in WC Docket No. 10-90 and WT Docket No. 10-208; FCC 
18-183, adopted on December 13, 2018, and released on January 03, 2019. 
The complete text of this document is available for public inspection 
and copying from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) Monday through 
Thursday or from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. ET on Fridays in the FCC 
Reference Information Center, 445 12th Street SW, Room CY-A257, 
Washington, DC 20554. The complete text is also available on the 
Commission's website at http://wireless.fcc.gov, or by using the search 
function on the EDOCS web page at https://www.fcc.gov/edocs. 
Alternative formats are available to persons with disabilities by 
sending an email to [email protected] or by calling the Consumer & 
Governmental Affairs Bureau at (202) 418-0530 (voice), (202) 418-0432 
(TTY).
    Regulatory Flexibility Analysis: As required by the Regulatory 
Flexibility

[[Page 8004]]

Act of 1980, the Commission has prepared a Final Regulatory Flexibility 
Analysis (FRFA) of the possible significant economic impact on small 
entities of the policies and rules adopted in this document. The FRFA 
is set forth in the Third Report and Order and is summarized below. The 
Commission's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, Reference 
Information Center, will send a copy of this Third Report and Order, 
including the FRFA, to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small 
Business Administration (SBA).
    Paperwork Reduction Act: This Third Report and Order implements the 
information collection requirements adopted in the MF-II Challenge 
Process Order, 82 FR 42473, September 8, 2017, (PRA approval published 
83 FR 6562 (Feb. 14, 2018)), and does not contain any additional 
information collection requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 (PRA), Public Law 104-13. On February 7, 2018, the 
Commission received PRA approval from the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for the information collection requirements related to the 
challenge process, as adopted in the MF-II Challenge Process Order. 
Because this Third Report and Order does not adopt any additional 
information collection requirements beyond those adopted in the MF-II 
Challenge Process Order and approved by OMB, it does not implicate the 
procedural requirements of the PRA or the Small Business Paperwork 
Relief Act of 2002, Public Law 107-198.
    Congressional Review Act: The Commission will send a copy of this 
Third Report and Order to Congress and the Government Accountability 
Office pursuant to the Congressional Review Act.
    Synposis: On December 13, 2018, the Commission adopted a Third 
Report and Order in WC Docket No. 10-90 and WT Docket No. 10-208 
extending the data collection periods for MF-II challenges and 
responses by 90 days. Previously, the Commission extended the deadline 
for the close of the Mobility Fund Phase II challenge window by 90 
days. Challengers had until November 26, 2018, to submit speed test 
data in support of a challenge. At the time that the Commission 
extended the challenge window, it also proposed to extend by 90 days 
the periods during which challengers and respondents could collect 
data.

I. Background

    1. In 2017, the Commission adopted rules to move forward on a 
reverse auction that will direct up to $4.53 billion of MF-II support 
over ten years to providers in geographic areas lacking unsubsidized 4G 
Long Term Evolution (LTE) services. The Commission also determined that 
it would establish standards for mobile providers to make a one-time 
submission of current 4G LTE coverage data, compile a list of areas 
that were presumptively eligible for MF-II support, and provide a 
timeframe before the auction during which interested parties could 
challenge areas that were not listed as presumptively eligible (i.e., 
``presumptively ineligible'' areas). Mobile providers had to file their 
coverage data with certifications by a qualified engineer, under 
penalty of perjury. The Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force, in 
conjunction with the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and the 
Wireline Competition Bureau, compiled the one-time collection of 4G LTE 
coverage data and subsidy data from the Universal Service 
Administrative Company (USAC) to create the resulting map of areas 
presumptively eligible for MF-II support.
    2. The MF-II Challenge Process Order established the framework for 
a robust challenge process that will refine the map of areas 
presumptively eligible to receive MF-II support. This challenge process 
is designed to efficiently resolve disputes about the eligibility of 
presumptively ineligible areas using mobile network speed test data. 
During the challenge window, interested parties could contest the 
initial determination of areas deemed presumptively ineligible for MF-
II support. An eligible challenger could access USAC's web data portal 
and download the provider-specific confidential coverage data necessary 
to begin conducting speed tests to challenge assertions of coverage. 
After the close of the challenge window, a respondent would have the 
opportunity to respond to challenges by submitting its own speed test 
data or certain technical information that is probative of the validity 
of the challenger's speed tests. Challenged parties will have 30 days 
to review challenges and supporting data in the USAC portal before the 
opening of the response window. Once opened, the response window will 
close 30 days later.
    3. The Commission initially established a challenge window of 150 
days, which began on March 29, 2018, and it was scheduled to close on 
August 27, 2018. After the Commission adopted the timeframe for the 
challenge window, the Rural Wireless Association (RWA) submitted ex 
parte data regarding estimated burdens of the challenge process, 
including specific estimates of the amount of time required to conduct 
speed tests in certain areas. Taking this ex parte burden data into 
account, the Commission extended the challenge window in its August 
2018 MF-II Challenge Process Extension Order, 83 FR 44241, August 30, 
2018, for an additional 90 days, to November 26, 2018.
    4. Under the standards adopted in the MF-II Challenge Process 
Order, speed test data for a challenge would only be accepted if such 
data were collected within the six months preceding the scheduled close 
of the challenge window. The Commission adopted the six-month 
collection period for speed test data because ongoing deployment of new 
4G LTE service raised concerns ``that speed measurements taken before 
the submission of updated coverage maps may not reflect the current 
consumer experience.'' That six-month period commenced on February 27, 
2018, upon the publication of the map of presumptively eligible areas. 
Similarly, the standard for data to be submitted by a respondent 
required that such data be collected within six months before the close 
of the response window.
    5. When extending the challenge window in the MF-II Challenge 
Process Extension Order, the Commission proposed in the MF-II Challenge 
Process Extension Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 83 FR 44254, August 
30, 2018, to extend the periods during which both challengers and 
challenged parties could collect information from six months to at 
least nine months. The Commission offered these proposals in 
recognition that challengers could have already collected speed test 
data before the challenge window was extended, in which case data 
collected between February 27, 2018, and May 28, 2018, would not be 
acceptable absent an expansion of the initially adopted six-month data 
collection period. The Commission tentatively concluded that this 
modification to the data timeframe requirements would serve the public 
interest by preventing challengers from having to repeat speed tests 
and would more effectively implement MF-II policy. Three parties 
submitted comments in response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 
(NPRM). No commenters opposed the proposed modification to the data 
timeframe requirements.

II. Order Extending the Challenge Data Collection Window

    6. The Commission adopts the proposal to accept speed test data for

[[Page 8005]]

MF-II challenges collected on or after February 27, 2018, through the 
new close of the challenge window, November 26, 2018. All commenters 
support the proposal. RWA stated that some of its member companies 
spent significant amounts of money performing testing before May 28 and 
that those expenses would be wasted if the timeframe for acceptable 
testing were not also extended. U.S. Cellular and Competitive Carriers 
Association (CCA) agreed with the Commission's stated rationale that 
extending the timeframe would avoid unnecessary retesting while 
collecting accurate data. To relieve challengers of the needless 
repetition of speed tests conducted before May 28 and to more 
effectively implement the MF-II challenge process, the Commission 
modifies the initially adopted requirement that challenger speed test 
data be collected within six months before the scheduled close of the 
challenge window. This modification allows challengers to submit the 
results of speed tests taken during the entire nine-month challenge 
process data collection window. When setting the original challenge 
process data collection window, the Commission stated that it was 
concerned that challenge data collected before deployments made in 
conjunction with the submission of updated coverage maps from current 
providers might not reflect the current consumer experience. The 
Commission therefore required that challenge data be collected after 
the publication of the initial eligibility map and within six months of 
the scheduled close of the challenge window (which at the time were 
exactly contiguous periods). But given the Commission's extension of 
the challenge window by three months, extending the data collection 
period by a similar period does not permit submission of data collected 
prior to the submission of the updated coverage maps.
    7. Likewise, the Commission adopts the proposal to afford 
respondents the same additional amount of time as challengers to 
collect information for the MF-II challenge process. Hence, during the 
response window, respondents may submit information that was collected 
any time on or after April 29, 2018, through the close of the response 
window. This change is consistent with the MF-II Challenge Process 
Order's generally parallel standards for challengers and respondents. 
CCA supports an extension to provide respondents with a similar timing 
requirement as challengers. As CCA observes, providing respondents with 
a similar data collection time period appropriately balances the 
interests of respondents with the Commission's interest in receiving 
data collected recently. As stated above for challengers, this 
extension of the data collection period for respondents would not 
permit submission of any data collected before the publication of the 
presumptively eligible areas map, and therefore the permitted data 
would not create data recency concerns. Accordingly, a respondent would 
have at least nine months to collect speed test data for its own 
network or certain technical information probative of the validity of 
the challenger's speed tests. Respondents' speed tests collected on or 
after April 29, 2018, will be considered valid.

III. Procedural Matters

A. Paperwork Reduction Act Analysis

    8. The Third Report and Order implements the information collection 
requirements adopted in the MF-II Challenge Process Order and does not 
contain any additional information collection requirements subject to 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), Public Law 104-13. On 
February 7, 2018, the Commission received PRA approval from the Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB) for the information collection 
requirements related to the challenge process, as adopted in the MF-II 
Challenge Process Order. Because this Order does not adopt any 
additional information collection requirements beyond those adopted in 
the MF-II Challenge Process Order and approved by OMB, this Order does 
not implicate the procedural requirements of the PRA or the Small 
Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, Public Law 107-198.

B. Congressional Review Act

    9. The Commission will send a copy of the Third Report and Order to 
Congress and the Government Accountability Office pursuant to the 
Congressional Review Act.

C. Final Regulatory Flexibility Certification

    10. The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended (RFA), 
requires that a regulatory flexibility analysis be prepared for a 
notice-and-comment rulemaking proceeding, unless the agency certifies 
that ``the rule will not, if promulgated, have a significant economic 
impact on a substantial number of small entities.'' The RFA generally 
defines the term ``small entity'' as having the same meaning as the 
terms ``small business,'' ``small organization,'' and ``small 
governmental jurisdiction.'' In addition, the term ``small business'' 
has the same meaning as the term ``small business concern'' under the 
Small Business Act. A small business concern is one which: (1) Is 
independently owned and operated; (2) is not dominant in its field of 
operation; and (3) satisfies any additional criteria established by the 
Small Business Administration (SBA).
    11. As required by the RFA, the Commission prepared Initial 
Regulatory Flexibility Analyses (IRFAs) in connection with the USF/ICC 
Transformation FNPRM, 76 FR 78384, December 16, 2011, the 2014 CAF 
FNPRM, 79 FR 39195, July 9, 2014, and the MF-II FNPRM, 82 FR 13413, 
March 13, 2017 (collectively, MF-II FNPRMs). The Commission sought 
written public comment on the proposals in MF-II FNPRMs including 
comments on the IRFAs and Supplemental IRFA. The Commission included 
Final Regulatory Flexibility Analyses (FRFAs) in connection with the 
CAF Report & Order, 79 FR 39163, July 9, 2014, and Further Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM), 79 FR 39196, July 9, 2014, the MF-II 
Report & Order, 82 FR 15422, March 28, 2017, the MF-II Challenge 
Process Order, and the MF-II Second Order on Reconsideration, 83 FR 
17934, April 25, 2018 (collectively, the MF-II Orders).
    12. The new requirements adopted in this Order provide additional 
time for valid data collection for both challengers and respondents. In 
so doing, this change will align the challenge process data 
requirements with the procedural rule change, adopted in the MF-II 
Challenge Process Extension Order, extending the challenge window 
deadline by 90 days. Due to the minor effect of these changes, the 
Commission anticipates that there will be no significant economic 
impact on any of the small entities identified in the MF-II FNPRMs and 
MF-II Orders. Therefore, the Commission certifies that the requirements 
of the Order will not have a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities.

IV. Ordering Clauses

    13. Accordingly, it is ordered that pursuant to the authority 
contained in sections 1, 4(i) and (j), 254, 303(r), and 332 of the 
Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 151, 154(i), (j), 
254, 303(r), 332, and Sec. Sec.  1.1 and 1.425 of the Commission's 
rules, 47 CFR 1.1, 1.425, this Order is adopted.
    14. It is further ordered that, pursuant to the authority contained 
in sections 1, 4(i) and (j), 254, 303(r), and 332 of the Communications 
Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 151, 154(i), (j), 254,

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303(r), 332, and Sec. Sec.  1.1 and 1.425 of the Commission's rules, 47 
CFR 1.1, 1.425, the windows for challengers and respondents to collect 
information in connection with the MF-II challenge process are 
extended, to the extent described herein.
    15. It is further ordered that, pursuant to Sec.  1.427(b) of the 
Commission's rules, 47 CFR 1.427(b), this Order shall be effective upon 
its publication in the Federal Register.
    16. It is further ordered that the Commission's Consumer and 
Governmental Affairs Bureau, Reference Information Center, shall send a 
copy of this Order, including the Final Regulatory Flexibility 
Certification, to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the SBA.


Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene Dortch,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2019-03635 Filed 3-5-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6712-01-P