News of the Week

E-Rate for FY 2023:

USAC issued Wave 10 for FY 2023 on Thursday, June 29th, for $59.4 million.  Total funding is now $1.54 billion.  At this point, USAC has already funded 83.5% of the originally submitted applications representing 51.8% of the dollars requested.

ECF for 2021-2023:

Total commitments for all three ECF windows are $6.75 billion. USAC has funded approximately 89% of the ECF applications representing 69% of the requested funding.

Window 3 applications are being funded down to the 50% urban band but could go lower if more funding becomes available. We encourage all applicants, which have been funded beyond their actual needs, to file Post-Commitment Requests (“PCRs”) to reduce their funding commitments and free up dollars for other needy ECF applicants.

Upcoming Dates:

Thumbs-Up for a Legally Binding Agreement – Maybe Not:

As discussed in last week’s newsletter, the FCC is scheduled to adopt a new Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at its July 20th open meeting.  Based on the draft that has been circulated, one issue presented for comment in the Further Notice (see ¶ 57) is a clearer definition of a “legally binding agreement.”

One direction that we suspect that the FCC will not follow is a recent court decision* by a Canadian judge who ruled that a texted reply of a “thumbs up” emoji constituted a legal affirmation of a contract.  The case involved two parties with a longstanding business relationship who had previously consummated agreements with succinct texts of “looks good,” “ok” or “yup.”  The judge noted that both parties clearly understood that these terse replies were meant to convey an acceptance of the proposed contracts.  In this particular case, the only response had been the emoji in question that the judge deemed equivalent.

When it comes to E-rate in the United States, the FCC will likely continue to demand somewhat greater formality.