Expertise

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Universal Services

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 funds and comply with program rules since 1997.

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  • We have assisted dozens of companies in becoming eligible to participate in the federal high-cost, Mobility Fund, Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, and 5G Fund mechanisms, prosecuting applications at the FCC and in almost all states.
  • We represent carriers who participate in the FCC’s Lifeline and Affordable Connectivity programs, providing discounts to low-income consumers throughout the country.
  • We represent hospital associations who participate in the FCC’s Rural Health Care Program, providing broadband connectivity to rural hospitals and rural health care providers across the country.
  • We assist companies in a wide variety of compliance tasks to ensure that public funds flowing to commercial carriers are used lawfully for the public’s benefit.
  • We advise companies on a wide variety of FCC compliance obligations, including the proper reporting of revenue from telecommunications and IP-based services on the FCC’s Form 499-A and 400-Q, Lifeline reports on Form 555, universal service compliance reporting on Form 481, broadband data reporting on Form 477 and the Broadband Data Collection, and many others.


Federal Loan & Grant Programs

We are experts at helping clients access federal loan and grant programs. These include but are not limited to:

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  • NTIA BEAD Program
  • NTIA Middle Mile Program
  • Rural Utilities Service ReConnect Program
  • RUS Community Connect Program
  • and many more


Wireless

As the mobile wireless industry matures, carriers face challenges of increasing complexity. We’re immersed in the details while offering the balancing perspectives of breadth and historical context. Here’s how we work in this space:

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  • We advocate in a wide variety of FCC proceedings affecting wireless carriers, including the allocation of new spectrum, privacy policies, truth-in-billing, access to law enforcement, the Secure and Trusted Communications Network Act, coordinating with public safety and other related issues, including LIZ’S WORK HERE.
  • We assist carriers in meeting regulatory requirements and in avoiding actions that lead to enforcement. Where necessary, we work through the enforcement process to minimize adverse findings.
  • For clients involved in mergers and acquisitions, we provide strategic guidance regarding the FCC’s foreign ownership and market concentration rules.
  • We ask the FCC or state regulatory commissions to reconsider adverse decisions, and, when necessary, we prosecute appeals in federal court.
  • We resolve contested matters professionally, and privately.


Engineering

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 mobile wireless networks designed by LLLS engineers. Here is a sampling of our engineering services:

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  • Use advanced geocoding tools to prepare maps, census block data, and other information for FCC Form 477, Mobility Fund compliance reports, and regulatory filings.
  • Consult on the Broadband Data Collection, helping clients file data sets that comply with detailed technical requirements.
  • Design advanced digital and all-IP mobile wireless networks to help clients efficiently invest capital.
  • Design point-to-point microwave networks that transport voice and data traffic among mobile wireless networks.
  • Provide the FCC and state commissions with real world coverage maps to verify where networks provide reliable service.


Advocacy

All of us at LLLS are tireless advocates for our clients and for the good of the industry we represent. To us, this is an attitude and a deliverable both; we fight well and hard, and we know the best policy is that which can be most effective in the marketplace. To that end, we serve providers and lawmakers alike:

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Influence

  • We serve as subject matter experts in Congress, providing lawmakers with an understanding of past and proposed FCC actions.
  • 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.
  • When a company has regulatory difficulty, we work to bring them into compliance, to minimize adverse findings and reputational injury.

Client Representation

  • We advise clients involved in transactions to purchase or sell business assets and equipment.
  • 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.
  • We assist carriers participating in the universal service mechanism in complying with reporting obligations and responding to USAC audits.
  • We design plans for hospital associations, enabling them to access federal universal service funds to deliver broadband connectivity to health care facilities in rural areas.