TeleCommunication Systems received a contract to provide Maryland's Department of Human Resources with statewide technical operations support services, said a company news release Friday. TCS is headquartered in the state. The contract base-award term is three years with two one-year options, which if exercised have a total contract value of $11.3 million, it said.

The FCC’s Connect2Health Task Force plans events Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 in Jacksonville and Miami to show how broadband-enabled health technologies can "transform health and care for seniors, children and people with disabilities," said a public notice from the FCC. The events are part of the task force’s “Beyond the Beltway Series” to reach out broadly about how broadband technologies and next-generation communications services can improve access to healthcare services throughout the country, especially in rural and underserved areas, it said. The FCC will partner with the Mayo Clinic and AARP for the events, which will feature Chairman Tom Wheeler, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and the Connect2HealthFCC Task Force, it said. The trip will also include a site visit to the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Telehealth Command Center to explore a telehealth operation, the notice said.

New York's geographic diversity -- from dense urban areas in the east and south, to suburbs moving west, to rural conditions in central and upstate -- represents a full range of coverage needs and conditions that should be considered when building out the nationwide public safety broadband network (NPSBN), said Dave Buchanan, FirstNet director-state consultation in a blog about the organization's initial consultation meeting in New York. Among the discussions at the meeting was how interoperable communications and data sharing can benefit first responders in the early moments of an incident, he said. It also featured a number of briefings about the importance of having access to voice, video and data services during emergencies and about incidents from a variety of jurisdictions, Buchanan said. The meeting gave FirstNet additional information on what New York considers its top priorities as the group moves to implement the NPSBN, he said.

The FTC filed a joint complaint with the Florida Attorney General charging New York-based Lifewatch with using "blatantly illegal and deceptive robocalls to trick older consumers into signing up for medical alert systems with monthly monitoring fees," a news release from the FTC said Monday. The U.S. District Court in Orlando late last month halted an Orlando-based operation that the FTC and Florida Office of the Attorney General said "bombard[ed] consumers" with "massive robocall campaigns designed to trick them into paying up-front for worthless credit card interest rate reduction programs" (see 1506290049). Since 2012 Lifewatch has been bombarding consumers -- primarily elderly consumers -- with millions of unsolicited robocalls, the complaint said. Last year one of Lifewatch’s telemarketing firms, Worldwide Info Services, agreed to be banned from making robocalls or engaging in other deceptive conduct, to settle charges brought by the FTC and the state of Florida, the release said. The FTC and Florida's AG allege that Lifewatch knew of, and is responsible for, the illegal activities in that case, and that Lifewatch simply continued its telemarketing campaign using a variety of other telemarketers after Worldwide was shut down, the release said. “This company violated the Do Not Call Registry to deceive seniors, not only in Florida but across the country,” state Attorney General Pam Bondi said. The agencies are seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the defendants’ use of illegal robocalls and deceptive telemarketing claims, plus funds for eventual restitution to victims. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court in Chicago, one of the locations where the firm does business.

Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications filed a joint application July 2 to execute a transfer and encumbrance with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, said a notice from the commission. Anyone who wants to intervene in or participate as a party in the proceeding needs to file a petition for leave to intervene, or under the commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure, file other appropriate pleadings to become a party, within 30 days after the date of the notice, the filing said. Commission staff must file any objection, notice of intervention or other appropriate pleading within seven days after the notice expires, it said.

With the addition of Boise, Idaho, the Next Century Cities initiative has reached 100 communities, said a blog post from the organization. Next Century Cities is a bipartisan initiative of mayors and city leaders dedicated to ensuring the availability of next-generation broadband across the country, the post said. "As momentum grows around gigabit-level Internet, more mayors and municipal leaders are joining together to show what’s happening in their communities and to join together to help one another realize the full power of truly high-speed, affordable, and accessible broadband," it said.

The FBI is investigating the Tuesday cutting of a group of three fiber cables in Alameda County, California, as part of a series of 11 fiber cable-cutting incidents across the San Francisco Bay Area over the past year, a spokesman confirmed Thursday. Level 3 Communications and Zayo Group have both said their cables were affected in the Alameda County incident and that they restored service by Wednesday. The perpetrator of the Alameda County incident is believed to have accessed the cables through a manhole, the FBI spokesman said. Outages caused by the Alameda County incident and the other 10 cable-cutting incidents have been concentrated in the Bay Area but have stretched to as far away as Sacramento, the FBI spokesman said. The FBI has noticed similarities among the 11 cable-cutting incidents, the spokesman said. The FBI sought the public’s help last month in identifying the perpetrators in the 10 earlier cable-cutting incidents, which occurred between July 6, 2014, and June 9. Five of the 10 incidents occurred in Fremont, while two others occurred in Walnut Creek. The FBI in June said the perpetrators “may appear to be normal telecommunications maintenance workers or possess tools consistent with that job role.”

New York City Economic Development Corporation launched a $5.3 million public-private partnership to build access to high-speed Internet in industrial business zones (IBZs) by expanding broadband infrastructure in underserved areas, said a news release from Xchange Telecom, among the partners. The program will create high-speed commercial broadband networks in the southwest Brooklyn, Long Island City, North Brooklyn and Greenpoint-Williamsburg IBZs, which are among the city’s “digital deserts,” said the company Wednesday. The networks in the four IBZs will be designed, constructed, maintained, and operated by Stealth Communications Services and Xchange Telecom, two New York City-based ISPs, it said. NYCEDC will provide over $1.6 million for the program from the New York State Connect NY Broadband Grant Program, it said.

NARUC will consider resolutions commending FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council IV recommendations, calling for action on net neutrality and on designations for Lifeline broadband services, at its summer meeting July 12-15 in New York City. The resolution urging congressional action on the open Internet would encourage Congress to pass legislation upholding the FCC order as outlined by NARUC resolutions, said Washington Utilities and Transportation Commissioner Philip Jones in an interview Wednesday. Previously, NARUC backed open Internet rules as they are, minus Communications Act Title II reclassification of broadband, Jones said. The CSRIC resolution aims to commend the work that working group IV did to enhance cybersecurity risk management in the communications sector, said Jones, a sponsor of the resolution and former NARUC president. He said it doesn’t encourage states to do anything yet, but it’s the beginning of a “deeper conversation.” The third resolution urges the FCC to refrain from disrupting the existing federal-state partnership in the provision of Lifeline services by pre-empting the authority of states to designate eligible telecom carriers for the provision of advanced telecom services. Jones said that the net neutrality resolution shouldn't be all that controversial because it's only asking Congress to act, but the resolution about Lifeline broadband services could have some "robust discussion." A "lot of people haven't read the full order that they [the FCC] approved last month and there will be concerns about cost," he said of Lifeline. "I think a lot of [state public utility] commissioners will be concerned [whether] the cost of this program will be at the expense of other programs."

More than 100 U.S. communities can access gigabit broadband as part of an Adtran campaign, said the company in a news release Tuesday. The program showcases how innovative technologies are being used in cities, towns and communities to support economic growth and urban development.