(May 16) In a meeting with the FCC Wireline Competition Bureau, NTCA highlighted the substantial progress that small rural providers are making in deploying broadband above and beyond baseline program deployment obligations, and urged the commission to take these and other factors (such as the interplay with other broadband funding programs) into account in defining or recalibrating such obligations under the Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM) and Connect America Fund Broadband Loop Support programs. NTCA also raised the need for recalibration of the obligation under the Enhanced A-CAM program to submit plans that reflect certain cybersecurity and risk management “best practices,” and reiterated concerns raised in recent meetings regarding the interplay of the commission’s National Broadband Map and its high-cost Universal Service Fund programs.
