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…
Continue ReadingOriginally 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 from 144 wire-center-wide fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP)…
Continue ReadingOn a national committee to expand broadband access, Larry Thompson will represent the little guy. But that’s not to say Mitchell-based Vantage Point Solutions (VPS) is little. With approximately 200 employees and an international footprint, the telecom and broadband consulting engineering firm helped Mitchell become one of the world’s top seven Intelligent Communities in 2015,…
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Last year’s USF order established requirements for both model and rate-of-return carriers to report the geocoded coordinates of new broadband locations. The first deadline to file geocoded coordinates for those locations is March 1, 2018. Companies failing to timely report geocodes for their newly-available broadband locations may permanently lose the opportunity to count those locations…
Continue ReadingAt 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)…
Continue ReadingVantage 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: System wide impacts are modest Per line impacts are substantial Demand for HCLS and BLS-Voice are flat Budget shortfall (and budget controls) are driven by CBOL…
Continue ReadingIn 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…
Continue ReadingUnder the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), Internet Service Providers (ISPs) may be afforded safe harbor protections from copyright infringement liability if they meet certain requirements including electronically designating an agent to receive takedown notices and other notices of infringement. The Copyright Office has implemented a new electronic registration process and all ISPs must file…
Continue ReadingOn 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…
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