From: digest-replies@telecomdigest.net   
      
   by Paula Ramer and Eliza Buergenthal   
      
   On May 11, 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that   
   Alaska's largest telecommunications provider, GCI Communications   
   Corp. (GCI), had agreed to pay US$40 million to settle a False Claims   
   Act action brought against the company by one of its employees:   
   U.S. ex rel. Robert Taylor v. GCI Liberty, Inc., No. 19-CV-02029 JCC   
   (W.D. Wash. 2021). The relator alleged that the company engaged in   
   price inflation and bid rigging in violation of the Federal   
   Communications Commission's (FCC) regulations surrounding the   
   Universal Service Fund's Rural Health Care Program (RHCP).   
      
   Through the RHCP, which promotes access to healthcare in rural areas,   
   the FCC pays companies the difference between providing   
   telecommunications services in rural areas versus more densely   
   populated areas in the same state. The program gives $570 million   
   annually to eligible companies. Companies participating in the RHCP   
   must go through a competitive bidding process regulated by the FCC.   
      
   https://www.mondaq.com/article/news/1322400?q=1803232&n=806&tp=8&tlk=3&lk=53   
      
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