FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has accomplished a lot, and that's often ignored by the news media, American Enterprise Institute Visiting Scholar Roslyn Layton blogged Wednesday. “Tech policy media is overwhelming focused on politicized issues, with little to no accurate coverage on the substance of FCC’s activities,” she said. Layton noted FCC work to curb robocalls, deploy broadband in rural areas and fight the threat of Chinese network equipment makers. “The FCC is ushering in the 5G era by enabling record-breaking capital investments in long-lived assets, such as fiber optic cables, small cells, and spectrum licenses,” she said: “As the latest FCC Broadband Deployment Report notes, over 450,000 miles of fiber have been deployed in 2019 alone, enough to encircle the Earth over 18 times.”
The FCC Wireline Bureau will take comments through March 30, replies until April 29, on several issues remanded to the agency after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld most of the commission's net neutrality order in Mozilla v. FCC (see 1910010018) and later denied petitions for a rehearing (see 2002180054), said a public notice in dockets 17-108, 17-287 and 11-42 Wednesday. The bureau is refreshing the record on how the FCC's Restoring Internet Freedom order could affect public safety when broadband is classified as a Title I information service; how it affects pole attachment regulation; and what authority the agency has to direct Lifeline USF support to eligible telecommunications carriers (see 1910290002). "The FCC got it wrong when it repealed net neutrality," Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement Wednesday. That's why the courts sent back key parts of the order, she said, urging the American public to use this comments period as another opportunity to weigh in on net neutrality: "It's time to make noise." Public Knowledge is also encouraging the public to "speak out about the importance of a free and open internet." Senior Policy Counsel Jenna Leventoff also questioned the agency's decision to combine the three separate issues into a single "bureau-level public notice" and provide only 40 days for public comment. Free Press Research Director Derek Turner said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's "zealous efforts to remove broadband providers from any obligations to protect internet users defies what Congress clearly intended for these critical communications services. Without Title II safeguards, we face several potentially harmful consequences to public safety and universal service." FP vowed to continue to fight to restore net neutrality protections after Pai's tenure with the FCC ends. “Since the Restoring Internet Freedom Order was adopted, broadband speeds have increased substantially, fiber deployment has hit an all-time high, and the Internet has remained free and open," an FCC spokesperson emailed. "The attempts by some to engage in the same old tired fearmongering on this issue are likely to ring hollow to more and more Americans.”
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr started a trip to North Carolina Tuesday, which will include speaking at the National Association of Tower Erectors’ annual conference on a 5G workforce partnership between Wake Technical Community College and Tower Engineering Professionals. On Tuesday, Carr's schedule included tour touring a 911 call center in Charlotte, a fiber deployment in Salisbury and the Corning fiber manufacturing plant. On Wednesday, Carr is to visit a fixed wireless deployment by Open Broadband in a rural area north of Raleigh and then tour a tower climbing training facility. He will take part in a keynote chat at the NATE conference. The trip also focused on telehealth.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued Tuesday the formal mandate on its Oct. 1 judgment in Mozilla v. FCC, case 18-1051 (in Pacer), that upheld most of the FCC's net neutrality order (see 1910010018). Earlier this month the court denied a petition for rehearing (see 2002070002). Andrew Schwartzman, counsel for petitioner Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, said since the case is fully closed the FCC can address the three issues the court remanded to it, on pole attachments, public safety and Lifeline, but there's no deadline for the FCC to fix them. "What is more immediately affected is the litigation challenging the California and Vermont net neutrality statutes," he emailed. "Those cases were held in abeyance pending the outcome of the Mozilla case. They will now come back into life. Notably, the DC Circuit decision puts the states in a much stronger position, since it will be much harder for the carriers to argue that the statutes are preempted by the FCC's decision."
The state that Sen. John Kennedy (R) represents is Louisiana (see 2002130053).
Telecom carriers and equipment vendors are addressing confusion over who must comply with Kari's Law rules that were to take effect Monday (see 1802160032). The law requires multi-line telephone systems to give direct access to 911 without the need to dial a prefix. The MLTS must notify a representative, such as the front desk or security, once 911 is dialed. "This is a reminder to building managers and others responsible for multi-line telephone systems that they must adhere to the new requirements," FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Friday. "There's some confusion for enterprise customers," said Tricia McConnell, Bandwidth 911 product marketing manager. "They're responsible for compliance, but they don't know what compliance means." MLTS managers such as hotels and corporate campuses must ensure someone on site or monitoring operations there knows when a 911 call has been placed, to greet first responders and direct them to where the call originated. In a large complex, building security might also provide preliminary assistance to the caller before first responders arrive, McConnell said. Outbound emergency calls can't be screened by building security before they're sent to 911 operators, however, McConnell said. In the past, some hotels might have screened such calls to protect employees or for fear of misdials, she said, but as of the compliance date, "that's no longer acceptable." As the compliance date approached, carriers "focused on helping their customers provision these MLTS with the direct-dialing and notification capabilities required," emailed Incompas Policy Adviser Chris Shipley. "They are also working with their enterprise and business customers to clearly identify who is responsible for the system's day-to-day management and operation, particularly with larger companies that are interested in exercising greater control." Requirements also apply to government agencies and nonprofits using MLTS, and to cloud-based and VoIP and traditional circuit-based systems, Hogan Lovells blogged Feb. 10: MLTS operating before the compliance deadline don't need to meet the new rules unless they're modified after the compliance date. Most business customers aren't looking to meet only minimum standards, McConnell said. Recent talks about Kari's Law are driving meaningful conversations on how organizations respond in an emergency, she said. Some larger companies may consider coming into compliance sooner than required under the law because "no company wants to be outed on social media for restricting access to 911," McConnell said. There are other E-911 laws in roughly half the states, McConnell said: Bandwidth is pushing for a federal law.
Use consistent definitions of robocalls, being sure to differentiate between unwanted calls and illegal calls, the Consumer Advisory Committee recommended Thursday to FCC staff preparing a report on availability, adoption and effectiveness of call blocking tools. The unanimously approved Robocall Report Working Group recommendations said the report should discuss the status of enforcement against illegal robocallers, acknowledge that tools are new and consumers mightn't be aware of the tools available, collect data from analytic engines, third-party app and call-blocking providers and others, and be transparent about sources of data. Commissioners adopted a declaratory ruling in June allowing carriers to block unwanted robocalls by default. The ruling required the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, working with other bureaus, to collect information from carriers on the deployment and implementation of call blocking (see 1906060056). The first report is due in June, the second June 2021. Tuesday’s CAC vote was followed by a closed session on truth in billing.
Extending truth-in-billing (TIB) rules to cover interconnected VoIP and requiring voice providers separate government-mandated charges from other charges on bills is needless and potentially confusing to consumers, telecom interests said in docket 98-170 comments posted through Thursday. Not everyone agreed. Replies on the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs public notice are due March 13. USTelecom argued against a "'one size fits all' requirement on how voice service providers display ... line-item fees" since the market is ensuring providers bill "in a transparent and customer-friendly way." It said TIB rules being extended to iVoIP would be justified only if there were evidence of consumer concerns with bills. Verizon said rules let providers provide clear and useful information even in different ways. Incompas said the market hasn't changed over the past 16 years to now warrant such iVoIP TIB rules, as did Voice on the Net Coalition (see here). Cable interests argued for a broader approach. NCTA said few providers offer only voice, and the agency should focus on setting up "high-level principles for all voice services" that line up with the principles applicable to other services it oversees. If the agency does voice-specific iVoIP billing rules, applying existing rules would be "a poor fit," it said. It suggested changes, such as only requiring identification of line-item fees to make clear what the total price of a package of services is, instead of requiring a specific form of separation of fees. First doing a comprehensive review of the voice services market would help ensure any steps result in fewer consumer complaints while avoiding imposition of new costs on providers, America’s Communications Association said. It said members generally don't bill separately for local and long-distance service iVoIP, so breaking out such charges on customer bills as wireline common carriers do would serve no purpose. Backing the line-item billing suggested rule, NTCA said it would allow consumers to equally compare different providers. It backed TIB rules applied to iVoIP providers as "a natural extension of [FCC] rules." Kansas Corporation Commission said the TIB expansion would ensure all consumers have the same basic bill information. It said wireless and iVoIP service features are similar so it's reasonable to apply TIB rules to both.
The North American Numbering Council approved recommendations from its Numbering Administration Oversight Working Group on mechanisms to set the development cost and user pricing of its reassigned numbers database (RND), at a meeting Thursday. NAOWG found fundamental differences between the database and a federal do not call registry that make the latter an insufficient model for set-up costs and fee structures for the new database, said WG co-chair Robert McCausland, Intrado vice president-regulatory and government affairs. He said NAOWG won't estimate development costs associated with the RND until it completes a vendor bidding process. The WG recommended distinct contribution factors to cover RND startup costs and annual operating costs, to be determined once costs are known. If excess funds are collected from RND users, they should be refunded on an annual basis, McCausland said. One fee model could be based on a tiered, flat-rate payment structure, giving users the option of selecting the next tier up if they reach their usage limit, he added. NAOWG wanted to leave some flexibility in the approach to the winning vendor with oversight from NANC, he said. The FCC is taking comments through Feb. 24 on a technical document on the database (see 2001240056). NANC also announced meetings for the rest of 2020: May 5, July 15, July 28, Sept. 24 and Dec. 3.
Reps. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., and Morgan Griffith, R-Va., urged the FCC Wednesday to act on allowing sharing of the 6 GHz band for unlicensed Wi-Fi use. Top tech-sector companies -- including Amazon, Facebook and Google -- also jointly urged the FCC to designate 1,200 MHz of spectrum on the band for unlicensed use. The companies cautioned against allocating the band's upper part for exclusive-use licenses, as CTIA and others have proposed (see 1902190005). Ericsson lobbied lawmakers last year to file and pass legislation that would require the FCC to adopt such a plan (see 1910090051). The FCC should make the 6 GHz available for unlicensed use “in a way that protects incumbent users operating in the band from harmful interference,” McNerney and Griffith wrote Chairman Ajit Pai. “The 6 GHz band’s greatest potential would be realized by unlocking all 1200 MHz of the band for unlicensed use -- this would foster innovation and greatly benefit American consumers and our nation’s economy.” Licensing “a portion of this band would undermine, not support, our next-generation wireless future,” Amazon and others wrote Pai, posted Wednesday. “Opening the 6 GHz band for unlicensed use is also the fastest way to get additional spectrum suitable for next-generation wireless into the hands of American consumers. In contrast, relocating 6 GHz incumbents to a federal band that has not yet been studied for sharing and then proceeding to auction ... will take years and significantly disrupt incumbents.” The group of pro-sharing entities also includes the American Library Association, Benton Foundation, Boingo, Broadcom, Charter Communications, Cisco, Comcast, HP, Juniper Networks, Microsoft, NCTA, New America’s Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge and the Wi-Fi Alliance. Boeing separately supported unlicensed use of the 6 GHz band above a 10,000-foot altitude, saying interference with other aircraft systems “would be negligible.” No “reason exists to prohibit the operation of unlicensed 6 GHz devices on aircraft or to require such devices to employ” automated frequency coordination technologies, the manufacturer filed in docket 18-295.