The FCC administers the federal Universal Service Fund (USF), which provides support to carriers, low-income consumers, schools, libraries and health care providers. Our attorneys have been helping clients access USF funds and comply with program rules since 1997.

• We have helped dozens of wireline and wireless companies participate in federal high-cost programs, including the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, Connect America Fund, Mobility Fund, Rural Broadband Experiments, and legacy USF support.
• We have advocated at the FCC and in over 40 states to assist clients in becoming eligible to participate in federal USF programs.
• We have helped clients access several billion dollars of USF support and meet all associated regulatory obligations.
• We are experts at USF compliance, including FCC Form 499-A and 499-Q, FCC Form 555, FCC Form 481, FCC Form 477, and the Broadband Data Collection.
• We represent carriers who participate in federal and state Lifeline programs, as well as the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program, which provide discounts for voice and broadband services to low-income consumers throughout the country.
• We help carriers access E-Rate funding to provide subsidized broadband connections to schools and libraries.
• We represent clients who participate in the FCC’s Rural Health Care Program, providing broadband connectivity to rural hospitals and rural health care providers.

• We are experts at helping both wireline and wireless clients access various federal loan and grant programs including the NTIA BEAD Program, NTIA Middle Mile Program, the Rural Utilities Service ReConnect Program, and the RUS Community Connect Program.
• We troubleshoot issues for clients to help them comply with reporting requirements, to refinance or restructure awards, and to maintain eligibility.

For over forty years, we’ve helped to lead the fixed and mobile broadband revolution. Here’s how we work in this space:

• We advocate in a wide variety of FCC rulemaking proceedings affecting local exchange carriers, wireless carriers, electric cooperatives, VoIP providers, and competitive local exchange carriers.
• We assist providers in meeting regulatory requirements, including universal service, CPNI, E911 obligations, privacy policies, carrier terms and conditions of service, billing practices and disclosures, CALEA.
• We represent FCC licensees on issues involving the allocation of new spectrum, spectrum policy, spectrum aggregation, private radio licensing, and spectrum transactions.
• For clients involved in mergers and acquisitions, we provide strategic guidance regarding the process for acquiring or assigning FCC and state authorizations, including foreign ownership and market concentration rules.
• Where necessary, we work through the enforcement process to minimize adverse findings and resolve contested matters.

An integral part of LLLS, our engineers serve as technology consultants. They also design wireless networks. In fact, dozens of cities around the country have cellular telephone networks originally designed by LLLS engineers. Here is a sampling of our engineering services:

• Help companies invest capital to maximize coverage in the most efficient manner possible.
• Design advanced digital and all-IP mobile wireless networks.
• Design point-to-point microwave networks that transport voice and data traffic among mobile wireless networks.
• Participate in the regulatory process.
• Provide expert testimony in litigation.
• Provide the FCC and state commissions with propagation coverage maps to verify where networks provide reliable service.
• Assist clients in demonstrating that construction requirements are met so that licenses can be renewed.
• Use advanced propagation, GIS, and geocoding tools along with census data to prepare maps, and other information required for FCC Form 477, Broadband Data Collection, Mobility Fund compliance reports, and other regulatory filings.
• Assist clients with equipment selection and vendor negotiations.
• Assist clients with FAA, NRAO, & local compliance issues.
• Use technology expertise to help clients deploy next generation wireless networks.

We are staunch advocates for our clients and for the good of the industries we represent. To us, this is an attitude and a deliverable.

Influence

• Our attorneys regularly appear before the FCC, NTIA, USDA, Congress, and state public utility commissions, serving as subject matter experts.
• We assist in the drafting of testimony for clients who are invited to participate in Congressional hearings.
• We deliver presentations to the FCC and state public utility commissions concerning the effects of new and proposed laws and regulations.
• We participate as experts in continuing legal education seminars, assisting the telecommunications bar and regulators in understanding the wireless industry’s perspectives.

Regulatory Navigation

• We encourage our clients — and provide the assistance they need — to become thought leaders in their industry. We believe that providing a credible resource for how proposed regulation will operate in the marketplace helps legislators and regulators develop effective policy.
• We know the regulatory landscape, and we stay ahead. As things shift, we identify new opportunities for our clients.
• We provide continuing analysis of FCC actions to ensure continuing compliance with regulations, including for example, privacy, access by law enforcement, hearing aid compatibility, renewal applications, and enhanced 911 deployments.
• When a company has regulatory difficulty, we work to bring them into compliance, to minimize adverse findings and reputational injury.

Client Representation

• We provide transaction-related advice to clients purchasing and selling FCC authorizations and related assets.
• We review telecom contracts and roaming agreements.
• We provide opinion letters on FCC-related matters.
• When clients occasionally face FCC enforcement actions, we pursue solutions and litigate when a settlement is not possible.