Mayors demand that cable operators pay for broadband access

Mayors demand that cable operators pay for broadband access

Yesterday, at the 92nd meeting, a resolution was adopted^II The annual United States Conference of Mayors asks the FCC to allow municipalities to charge cable operators who use municipal property to provide Internet service to the public. Currently, cable television operators are exempt from generally applicable right-of-way fees for the broadband and other non-cable services they provide. The United States Conference of Mayors requests that Art. 47 USC Section 542 to clarify that nothing in the Cable Act limits or waives state or local fees or taxes imposed on cable operators and the non-cable services they provide. Earlier this month, the City of Portland filed comments with the Commission requesting that the FCC rescind the Mixed Use Rule that prohibits local franchise authorities from regulating any services other than cable services provided by a cable operator.

DIRS reports on wildfires in New Mexico

The FCC continues to publish reports on the status of communications services in geographic areas affected by the New Mexico wildfires. The reports are prepared based on data collected from the Disaster Information Reporting System (“DIRS”). DIRS is an online system through which the Commission collects operational and restoration information from telecommunications service providers during major disasters and subsequent recovery actions. When DIRS is enabled, the FCC typically posts daily communications status reports online.

Kentucky and Maine approved for BEAD funding

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has approved Kentucky and Maine’s initial proposals for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (“BEAD”) program. Kentucky and Maine now join 15 jurisdictions to gain full approval of their initial proposals to access $42.5 billion in BEAD funds. Kentucky received access to over $1 billion and Maine accessed over $271 million to deploy or modernize high-speed internet networks to provide access to reliable, affordable and high-speed internet service.

A derogation from the 800 MHz rule has been granted

The FCC has granted American Electric Power Service Corporation’s (“AEP”) request to waive Section 90.621(b), which requires a separation distance of 70 miles (113 kilometers) between stations in the 806/851-824/869 band. AEP requested support for temporary low-power 800 MHz repeaters and cellular communications in remote areas beyond the coverage of the existing 800 MHz network. The FCC concluded that, in light of the factual circumstances, the application of the separation distance requirement would be contrary to the public interest.

Thomas B. Magee, Tracy P. Marshall, Sean A. Stokes and Wesley K. Wright contributed to this article