Before the
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554
In the Matter of
Lifeline and Link Up Reform and
Modernization
Federal-State Joint Board on Universal
Service
Lifeline and Link Up
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)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
WC Docket No. 11-42
CC Docket No. 96-45
WC Docket No. 03-109
Comments of Educational Services Network, Corp.
Felix M. Santiago CMC
President
Educational Services Network, Corp.
Box 1570
Juncos Puerto Rico 00777
(787) 852-5045
Apri121,2011
Comments of Educational Services Network, Corp.
WC Docket No. 11-42
April 21, 2011
Summary
In these comments, EDNet urges the Commission, not only to create a Lifeline
and Link Up pilot program focused on broadband services, but also to authorize at least
one such pilot for Puerto Rico that would focus on the needs of non-native speakers of
English and insular areas. As discussed herein, EDNet is well positioned to participate in
the pilot program and would welcome the opportunity to lead a project in Puerto Rico
focused on insular areas and non-native speakers of English.
There is broad consensus that the Commission's universal service support
mechanisms in general, and the Low-income mechanisms in particular, must evolve to
support broadband services. In doing so, EDNet believes that a low-income pilot
program would be an appropriate way for the Commission to gain experience with the
relative effectiveness of a variety of discount structures and time periods. EDNet
believes that the Commission should commit to pilot projects of at least 24-36 months,
and should not require participants to be designated as Eligible Telecommunications
Carriers.
Comments of Educational Services Network, Corp.
WC Docket No. 11-42
April 21, 2011
Table of Contents
I. EDNet's Interest in this Proceeding 2
II. EDNet's Seeks the Opportunity to Lead a Pilot Project in Puerto Rico
focused on Insular Areas and Non-Native Speakers of English 3
III. Discussion of Issues Raised in the Notice 4
A. The Commission Should Create a Lifeline and Linkup Broadband Pilot
Program with at least One Pilot Project Focused on Non-Native Speakers of
English 6
B. The Commission Should Not Require Pilot Program Participants to be
Eligible Telecommunications Carriers 8
C. The Commission Should Require Detailed Proposals from Pilot Program
Applicants, and Ensure Collection of Adequate Performance Data over a
Period of years 10
IV. Conclusion 12
Before the
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554
In the Matter of
Lifeline and Link Up Reform and
Modernization
Federal-State Joint Board on Universal
Service
Lifeline and Link Up
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
WC Docket No. 11-42
CC Docket No. 96-45
WC Docket No. 03-109
Comments of Educational Services Network, Corp.
Educational Services Network, Corp. ("EDNet"), hereby submits these comments
on the Commission's March 4,2011 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the above-
captioned dockets (the "Notice,,).l EDNet strongly supports the Commission's proposal
to create a Lifeline and Link Up pilot program to support provision of broadband services
to low-income individuals, and in particular applauds the Commission's proposal to
include pilot projects that focus on the needs of non-native speakers of English.2 For
many years, EDNet has been finding innovative ways to deliver broadband services to
low-income individuals, chiefly in rural areas of Puerto Rico.
In these comments, EDNet urges the Commission, not only to create a Lifeline
and Link Up pilot program focused on broadband services, but also to authorize at least
one such pilot for Puerto Rico that would focus on the needs of non-native speakers of
English and insular areas. As discussed herein, EDNet is well positioned to participate in
1 Lifeline and Link Up Reform and Modernization, WC Docket No. 11-42, Notice of Proposed
Ru1emaking, FCC 11-32 (reI. Mar. 4, 2011).
2 Notice at para. 280.
Comments ofEducational Services Network, Corp.
WC Docket No. 11-42
April 21, 2011
Page 2
the pilot program and would welcome the opportunity to lead a project in Puerto Rico
focused on insular areas and non-native speakers of English.
I. EDNet's Interest in this Proceeding
EDNet is a Puerto Rico-based company that provides educational services
through the integration of technology, Internet access and related broadband services to
schools, libraries, government entities and others. EDNet's senior administrators have
over 25 years of combined experience in the technology arena and federal funds
administration. EDNet has been providing services over the last seven years, helping
schools, libraries and governmental entities implement their technology plans and
services supported under the federal schools and libraries universal service support
mechanism ("E-Rate"). The main objectives of these projects are to support and enhance
the education of children and adults through the use of Internet and technology, create
technological environments to improve broadband services, and help close the gap
between rural areas and developed municipalities throughout Puerto Rico by providing
services and technological tools to help the less advantaged population.
EDNet provides services to more than 100 public schools, 30 private schools, 44
municipal libraries, and 110 technology centers, as well as specialized schools in Science,
Math, Technology, Arts, Family Literacy among others. EDNet's services impact over
600,000 residents of Puerto Rico, including but not limited to students, parents and
teachers. Some of these people would otherwise have limited or no access to Internet and
other technology-related services. As a local company, EDNet has the mission to help
Puerto Ricans create opportunities to improve their quality of life and economy by
bringing the benefits of the Internet and education technology closer to them, enabling
Comments ofEducational Services Network, Corp.
WC Docket No. 11-42
Apri121,2011
Page 3
them to acquire the tools, information and knowledge they need to succeed as they
continue their college education or develop their own businesses.
II. EDNet's Seeks the Opportunity to Lead a Pilot Project in Puerto Rico
focused on Insular Areas and Non-Native Speakers of English
EDNet's existing operations position it well to participate in the Lifeline and Link
Up pilot program and to lead a project in Puerto Rico focused on insular areas and non-
native speakers of English. Our broadband network provides Internet services to schools,
libraries, and community technology centers in 44 municipalities in Puerto Rico,
including the municipal islands ofVieques and Culebra. Most of the locations EDNet
serves are located within the remote, economically depressed central region of Puerto
Rico that faces high unemployment, school dropout, and poverty rates. Many of EDNet's
technology centers in this region are more than 1~ hours away from the nearest
metropolitan areas because of the mountainous inland terrain and poor road conditions.
EdNet's corporate commitment and business model support the provision of broadband
Internet services to these rural and mountainous areas that are not attractive to other
service providers. EDNet's emphasis on this customer base is consistent with the
Commission's historical concern for service to rural, insular, and high cost areas, and
low-income consumers.
In cooperation and partnership with municipalities and community-based
organizations in Puerto Rico, EDNet has already put in place broadband Internet adoption
programs focused on providing access through institutional structures. EDNet provides
broadband Internet service to K-12 after-school programs, as well as adult computer
literacy, technology education, and Internet access programs located within public libraries
Comments ofEducationa1 Services Network, Corp.
WC Docket No. 11-42
April 21, 2011
Page 4
and technology centers. EDNet's business model, in partnership with local credit unions,
also enables low-income families to acquire computer equipment and software programs.
A Lifeline and Link Up broadband pilot project would augment these efforts by
leveraging EDNet's experience and expertise, as well as other government Internet and
technology-related initiatives. EDNet urges the Commission to resolve the eligibility
issues raised in the Notice to enable EDNet to apply to lead such a project, which could
be the final link in providing many low-income Puerto Rican families and individuals
with access over the Internet to health, education and economic development programs.
Complementing this access, EDNet's computer and related technology, public health and
personal development distance learning modules would support participants and promote
sustainability of their broadband adoption by fostering digital literacy and demonstrating
the value of broadband Internet access in daily life. Moreover, technology planning is
already integral to EDNet's business model. EDNet routinely sets performance goals and
metrics to guide implementation of its existing programs. In consultation with its
partners and intended beneficiaries, EDNet establishes specific goals and objectives when
services are provided to schools and libraries. EDNet then puts appropriate metrics in
place to document results over time and to evaluate strategies, reinforce or modify
programs initiatives.
III. Discussion of Issues Raised in the Notice
There is broad consensus that the Commission's universal service programs in
general, and the Lifeline and Link Up programs in particular, must evolve to recognize
the growing importance of broadband in meeting the communications needs of the
American people. The Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service ("Joint Board")
Comments ofEducational Services Network, Corp.
WC Docket No. 11-42
April 21, 2011
Page 5
has previously recommended that the FCC include among the nation's communications
policy goals the "universal availability of broadband Internet services ... at affordable
and comparable rates for all rural and non-rural areas.,,3 More recently, the Joint Board
recommended that the Commission adopt, among its core universal service principles,
that "support should be directed where possible to networks that provide both advanced
and voice service.,,4 Echoing this theme, the Government Accountability Office found
that, "addition of discounted broadband to the Low Income Program may increase
participation by making broadband more affordable for low-income households."s In the
Notice, the Commission itself asserted that, "supporting basic voice service alone may no
longer be adequate to meet the basic communications needs of low-income Americans.
Broadband is becoming an essential communications platform.,,6
While it is increasingly beyond cavil that the Lifeline and Link Up programs must
evolve to include broadband, the legal and operational details of how to create that reality
are still coming into focus. While these comments do not address every detail the
3 High-Cost Universal Service Support; Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service; Lifeline
and Link Up, WC Docket No. 05-337, CC Docket No 96-45, Recommended Decision, FCC
07J-4, 22 FCC Rcd 20477 (Jt. Bd. 2007), at para. 4 ("2007 Recommended Decision").
4 Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service; Lifeline and Link Up, CC Docket No 96-45,
WC Docket No. 03-109, Recommended Decision, FCC 10J-3, 25 FCC Rcd 15598 (Jt. Bd.
2010), at para. 73 ("2010 Recommended Decision").
5 Government Accountability Office, Improved Management Can Enhance FCC Decision
Makingfor the Universal Service Fund Low-Income Program, GAO 11-11 (October 2010), at
21 ("GAO Low-Income Report").
6 Notice at para. 10. See also Joint Statement on Broadband, GN Docket No. 10-66, FCC 10-42,
25 FCC Rcd 3420 (2010), at para. 3 ("Every American should have a meaningful opportunity
to benefit from the broadband communications era-regardless of geography, race, economic
status, disability, residence on tribal land, or degree of digital literacy .... [Universal service]
should be comprehensively reformed to increase accountability and efficiency, encourage
targeted investment in broadband infrastructure, and emphasize the importance of broadband to
the future of these programs.").
Comments of Educational Services Network, Corp.
WC Docket No. 11-42
April 21, 2011
Page 6
Commission should confront, EDNet believes that the Commission should never lose
sight of the fact that its efforts will ultimately bring untold benefits to millions of people
across the nation who would otherwise be stranded on the wrong side of a yawning
divide between digitally literate "Haves," who can reap the economic, educational, social,
and cultural benefits of broadband, and technologically-deprived "Have Nots" who
remain cut off from these essential resources.
A. The Commission Should Create a Lifeline and Linkup Broadband
Pilot Program with at least One Pilot Project Focused on Non-Native
Speakers of English
To achieve its vision of universal access to broadband among all consumers,? the
Commission must provide support sufficient to make broadband service affordable to
low-income individuals. Lifeline and Link Up have been extremely successful in
boosting subscribership among low-income consumers to voice telephone service.8 As
broadband Internet services weave themselves ever more inextricably into the fabric of
American life, EDNet applauds the Commission's proposal to adapt the Lifeline and Link
Up model to support low-income individuals' access to broadband.
Because the Commission's high cost and low-income universal service support
mechanisms have provided only limited support for broadband infrastructure and services
in the past, EDNet supports the Commission's proposal to begin with a series of pilot
programs to test the effect of various support models on subscribership. In this way, the
Commission can also gain experience with and refine performance goals and
7 Federal Communications Commission, Omnibus Broadband Initiative, Connecting America:
The National Broadband Plan, (2010), at 172.
8 Notice at para. 26.
Comments ofEducational Services Network, Corp.
WC Docket No. 11-42
April 21, 2011
Page 7
measurement criteria, as recommended by the GAO.9 EDNet itself has extensive
experience both with the administration of federal funds in the delivery of broadband to
low-income areas of Puerto Rico, and with measuring and tracking the success of these
efforts. For over seven years, EDNet has provided services in Puerto Rico to help
schools, libraries and governmental entities implement projects supported by the
Commission's E-Rate program.
EDNet in particular applauds the Commission's proposal to include in its Lifeline
and Link Up pilot at least some projects that focus on the needs of non-native speakers of
English. For such individuals, language and cultural barriers hinder economic
advancement, causing them disproportionately to fall within the lower income ranks. In
Puerto Rico, for example, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 44.9 percent ofthe
population falls below the federal poverty line, with rates in the interior of the island
reaching upward of 60 percent. IO In addition, in the U.S. Census Bureau's 2009
American Community Survey, only 18.7 percent of Puerto Ricans reported that they
speak English "very well."!! Non-native speakers of English are a critical population that
has been overlooked entirely in the three previous pilot proposals the Commission cited it
its Notice.!2 In addition to other well-recognized benefits of broadband, non-native
9 GAO Low-Income Report, at 28.
10 U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (data summarized at:
http://www.newyor~:X~d.orgiregional/community poverty.html).
11 U.S. Census Bureau, Puerto Rico Community Survey (2009) (results available at:
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/STTabl~? bm-=y&-context=st&-
gr name=ACS 2009 IYR GOO S160 I&-ds name=ACS 2009 IYR GOO &
CONTEXT=st&-tree id=309&-redoLog=true&- caller=geoselect&-geo id=04000US72&
format=&- lang=en).
12 Notice at para. 300 and n.514.
Comments of Educational Services Network, Corp.
WC Docket No. 11-42
April 21, 2011
Page 8
speakers of English can use these services to learn English through online and distance
learning options, obtain information in their native language, and use automated
translation services included in many web browsers.
B. The Commission Should Not Require Pilot Program Participants to
be Eligible Telecommunications Carriers
EDNet recognizes the difficult statutory issues summarized in the Notice that the
Commission must overcome in order to bring broadband within the scope of the services
supported by Lifeline. 13 In particular, EDNet supports the Commission's proposal to
permit entities not certified as Eligible Telecommunications Carriers ("ETCs") under
Section 214(e) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (the "Act") to participate
in the Lifeline and Link Up pilot program. 14 The Commission has not yet defined
broadband as a telecommunications service, nor is it within the current definition of
universal service the Commission has established under Section 254(c) of the Act. IS
Should the Commission deem forbearance necessary in order to permit Lifeline
and Link Up support for broadband, EDNet believes that the Commission should forbear
from the requirement that Lifeline and Link Up recipients be designated as ETCs with
respect to their provision of broadband services. 16 The Act requires the Commission to
grant forbearance from enforcing any provisions of the Act if it determines that:
(l) Enforcement of such regulation or provision is not necessary to ensure that the
charges, practices, classifications, or regulations by, for, or in connection with
13 Notice at paras. 275-278.
14 47 U.S.C. § 214(e)(l); Notice at para. 294.
15 47 U.S.c. § 254(c)(l).
16 Notice at 293.
Comments of Educational Services Network, Corp.
WC Docket No. 11-42
April 21, 2011
Page 9
that telecommunications carrier or telecommunications service are just and
reasonable and are not unjustly or unreasonably discriminatory;
(2) Enforcement of such regulation or provision is not necessary for the
protection of consumers; and
(3) Forbearance from applying such provision or regulation is consistent with the
public interest."17
In this case, all three criteria are readily satisfied. First, in the context of a structured,
carefully designed and monitored Lifeline and Link Up broadband pilot program, the
Commission has potentially greater control over the charges levied by the broadband
provider than it otherwise would. Within the pilot project, the Commission can influence
rates both by modulating the level of federal support it provides and by considering rate
information when initially approving the pilot project. In contrast, because many
broadband service providers do not operate as telecommunications carriers today, the
Commission has extremely limited regulatory authority over the rates for these services.
Second, the very purpose of the Lifeline and Link Up pilot program is to benefit
consumers. Enforcing the ETC designation requirement would narrow the scope of
potential participants, ultimately to the detriment of consumers.
Third, given the ever-growing importance of broadband in modem life, the public
interest would clearly be served by creating a pool of potential participants in the Lifeline
and Link Up pilot program that is as broad as possible, so that the Commission can gain
broad experience with providing low-income broadband support in a variety of contexts.
By doing so, the Commission will also increase competition by increasing the number of
17 47 U.S.C. § 160(a).
Comments of Educational Services Network, Corp.
WC Docket No. 11-42
April 21, 2011
Page 10
providers who may compete to provide supported broadband services, as required under
Section lOeb) of the ACt. 18
C. The Commission Should Require Detailed Proposals from Pilot
Program Applicants, and Ensure Collection of Adequate Performance
Data over a Period of Years
In general, EDNet supports many of the structural details of the Lifeline and Link
Up pilot program that the Commission proposes in the Notice. 19 The essential points are
as follows:
First, the Commission should require sufficient detail from each pilot program
applicant, both to demonstrate that it has put careful thought and planning into its
proposal and to allow the Commission to make informed judgments as to its merits. The
level of information proposed by the Commission in the Notice appears largely
appropriate?O In addition, once the Commission establishes the performance goals and
metrics that it intends to use to measure the effectiveness of the various pilot projects,21
EDNet encourages the Commission to require each applicant to demonstrate their
capability to collect the required data, including the methods that it will use to do so.
Second, the Commission should ensure that its eligibility criteria are broad
enough to encompass a variety of proposals that use a mix of technologies, in order to
allow the Commission to gather comparative data on a variety of discount structures.
18 47 U.S.C. § 160(b) ("In making the determination under subsection (a)(3) of this section, the
Commission shall consider whether forbearance from enforcing the provision or regulation will
promote competitive market conditions, including the extent to which such forbearance will
enhance competition among providers of telecommunications services.").
19 Notice at paras. 280-292.
20 Notice at para. 296.
21 Notice at para. 297.
Comments of Educational Services Network, Corp.
WC Docket No. 11-42
Apri121,2011
Page 11
EDNet agrees that these should include a mix of discounts on hardware and services, as
well as discounts that cover a range of levels and time periods.22 In addition, EDNet
agrees that these pilot projects should cover a range of geographic areas,23 specifically
including insular areas such as Puerto Rico, and, as discussed above, include projects
targeting non-native speakers of English.
Third, EDNet believes that the duration of the pilot program should likely be a
minimum of 24 months, with 36 months more likely to produce meaningful data?4 A 36
month pilot project would produce three years of data, enabling the Commission to
measure year-over-year changes twice (i.e., year 2 over year 1, and year 3 over year 2).
Furthermore, EDNet's experience with NTIA's Broadband Technology Opportunity
Program suggests that the 18-24 month duration proposed by USTelecom may be
inadequate,25 as the initial ramp-up and launch ofthe pilot is likely to take a period of
months at the outset, potentially leaving only one year or so to collect data on the
performance of the project. Such a limited sample may prove an inadequate basis to
support the Commission's long-term conclusions.
22 Notice at paras. 283-84.
23 Notice at para. 280.
24 Notice at para. 289.
2S Id.
Comments of Educational Services Network, Corp.
WC Docket No. 11-42
April 21, 2011
Page 12
IV. Conclusion
For the foregoing reasons, EDNet supports the Commission's proposal to
establish a Lifeline and Link Up pilot program to evaluate the benefits of low-income
universal service support in delivering broadband to low-income consumers, and
encourages the Commission to include insular areas and non-native speakers of English
among the targets of this pilot program. EDNet looks forward to applying to lead such a
pilot project in Puerto Rico.
Respectfully submitted,
Felix M. Santiago CMC
President
Educational Services Network, Corp.
Box 1570
Juncos Puerto Rico 00777
(787) 852-5045
Dated: April 21, 2011