Texting 988, Spectrum for Small Carriers on Tap Nov. 18
Text providers would need to support texting to 988 when the nationwide suicide prevention hotline goes live on July 16, under proposed rules to be voted on at the FCC's Nov, 18 meeting. Also on the agenda announced Wednesday are an enhanced competition incentive program aimed at making more spectrum available for small carriers and tribal entities, a proposal to let broadcasters verify the patterns for FM directional antennas using computer modeling, and approval of U.S. market access for a French microsatellite constellation. See our bulletin here.
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"For so many of our nation’s young people and at-risk communities, including LGBTQ+ youth and people with disabilities, texting is their primary mode of communication," said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. "We should meet them where they are -- so they can connect to mental health resources no matter how they communicate.”
The FCC said it would defer to other agencies about specifics for texting 988 for the Veterans Crisis Line text service. CTIA, the Competitive Carriers Association didn't comment. "Increasing the convenience and immediacy of access to a national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline via text-to-988 will help share a proven and effective intervention and, ultimately, save lives," said Vibrant Emotional Health, the administrator for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Vibrant has said it's unclear how much Lifeline might need to increase its technology and staff training to support widespread texting (see 2104120005). The commissioners approved a text-to-988 Further NPRM 4-0 in April (see 2104220036).
AT&T emailed that it "applaud[s] Chairwoman Rosenworcel for her leadership in recognizing the critical need for a dedicated hotline to suicide prevention and mental health crisis intervention resources. We are committed to making this vital support available to our customers by voice and text." Other carriers didn't comment.
The enhanced competition incentive program under the draft Further NPRM "would fulfill a statutory obligation to establish a program to allow licensees to partition, disaggregate, or lease spectrum,” Rosenworcel blogged: “In the wireless marketplace, more competition means more innovation, better services, and lower prices for consumers. Too often, wireless competition is stifled because spectrum access is concentrated among a limited number of licensees.”
“CCA strongly supports modernized partition, disaggregation, and leasing rules to promote competition by enabling smaller carriers to access scarce spectrum resources,” emailed Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry. “Consumers, particularly those in rural areas, stand to benefit.”
Under current rules, broadcast stations verifying the patterns for FM directional antennas must either build a full-size mockup of the antenna or a scale model, the blog post said. Allowing computer modeling "will decrease regulatory costs and achieve regulatory parity between FM and other broadcasters," the agency said.
Computer models are commonly used for FM translators, and removing the real-world testing requirement is likely to save broadcasters considerable amounts of money, said broadcast engineer Tim Sawyer. Dielectric, Shively Labs, Educational Media Foundation and others urged the FCC to allow computer modeling in a June petition. "Several of the Petitioners already use computational modeling in their design processes and then must duplicate that effort at greater expense to construct physical models on which to make measurements," the undocketed petition said.
Kineis' market access petition, pending since 2019 (see 1911260021), is for 25 IoT nanosatellites to go into orbit in the second half of 2022. Its petition saw no objections.