The Department of Justice and the FCC asked a court to push back remaining briefing in its review of an AT&T challenge to the commission's VoIP symmetry order. In a motion Friday that they said was unopposed by other parties, the DOJ and the FCC asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to give them until Oct. 5 to file their government brief responding to AT&T's opening brief, which has already been filed (see 1507310057). FCC/DOJ also asked that the brief of intervenors supporting the commission be due Oct. 26, the reply brief of petitioner AT&T be due Nov. 9, and that briefing close Dec. 7.

Video relay service users will be able to communicate directly with each other starting in May because of accessible communications for everyone (ACE) software, said an ITU blog post Thursday by Peter Hayes, CEO of VTCSecure, a tech company focused on serving those with disabilities. Hayes said the open-source software addresses the lack of robust interoperability that the FCC identified as a major problem for deaf and hard-of-hearing users of VRS and other telecom relay services. "Reaching VRS and [TRS] services using their existing mobile phones (Android and iOS) and computers (Windows and Mac OSX), users will be able to engage in simultaneous real-time video, text and voice communications," he said, noting ACE uses ITU and Internet Engineering Task Force standards. "The FCC has committed to updating code to operate with newly released operating systems, meaning that developers around the world will be able to design reliable communications applications based on ACE that will work with widely available consumer devices, now and in the future. This solution could mean global relay services for all, and is already linked with Sweden, France and other European countries." Because ACE is open source, it can be modified for those with other disabilities, Hayes said: "The possibilities are endless. One modification already in the works is Video Remote Assistance (VRA) which is designed to assist blind individuals. It sends real-time video to the next available visual interpreter in a call center who then tells the blind user what the phone’s camera is seeing. This allows a blind user to get help reading documents or navigating inside a new building."

Odyssey Acquisition's buy of ExteNet Holdings units got FCC approval in a Wireline Bureau notice released Thursday in docket 15-189. The ExteNet companies are "carrier's carriers" that operate in 19 states and Washington, D.C., running point-to-point telecom connections to distributed antenna systems and small cells for use by wireless service providers, while Odyssey owns and operates distributed network systems and other wireless assets, a bureau public notice in August said, inviting comment on the transaction (see 1508180042). No comments were posted in the docket.

Verizon workers represented by the Communications Workers of America plan to leaflet and confront Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference in New York City Thursday, said a news release from CWA. It said Verizon Wireless illegally fired a union leader Tuesday. A few weeks ago, workers rallied against the company for the "retaliatory firing" of a union leader (see 1509090048). Verizon is committed to meeting with union leaders and engaging in meaningful discussions, a company spokesman said, but union leaders "seem to feel it’s more effective to reach a new contract by holding pointless street rallies, rather than meeting with the company and engaging in productive, issue-oriented negotiations." A new contract isn't going to be reached on the streets of New York, but by coming to the table with a "realistic understanding of how the company is working to make its wireline unit more competitive and successful," he said.

The FCC is ready to authorize $21.3 million for rural broadband experiments by seven companies in eight states, the Wireline Bureau said Tuesday in a public notice in docket 10-90. The companies include: Skybeam ($12.4 million in Iowa, Nebraska and Texas), Douglas Services ($2.4 million in Oregon), Northern Valley Communications ($2.02 million in South Dakota), Paul Bunyan Rural Telephone Cooperative ($1.96 million in Minnesota), Federated Telephone Cooperative ($1.46 million in Minnesota), Daktel Communications ($875,000 in North Dakota) and Midwest Energy Cooperative ($211,532 in Michigan). The bureau provided some companies with waivers to certain rules, including that they be designated as "eligible telecom carriers" if they made "good faith" ETC efforts. The provisionally selected bidders must submit at least one acceptable irrevocable standby letter of credit and bankruptcy code opinion by Sept. 29, the notice said.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau reminded covered 911 service providers Tuesday that they must file an initial reliability certification by Oct. 15 under the agency’s new 911 reliability rules. Service providers may submit their certifications through the commission’s online portal, the bureau said in a public notice. “As a consequence of significant events affecting the availability of 911 services, the Commission’s rules require Covered 911 Service Providers to take reasonable measures to provide reliable service with respect to 911 circuit diversity, central office backup power, and diverse network monitoring, as evidenced by an annual certification of compliance with specified best practices or reasonable alternative measures.”

Clearwire sought authorization to discontinue interconnected VoIP service and associated features to 20 business customers in nine states on Nov. 6, in an application filed with the FCC Monday by the company and parent Sprint. Clear Pro Voice is being discontinued because Sprint is upgrading its 4G LTE network and is shutting down the towers that support the VoIP service so they can be repurposed for LTE service, the companies said. The business customers have voice service alternatives from various other providers, they said. Clearwire also sought authorization to discontinue "digital voice VoIP" service and associated features in 36 states and the District of Columbia on Nov. 6 for the same 4G LTE repurposing, in a separate application filed by the companies Thursday.

Qualcomm's Qualcomm Life bought medical device integration and data management solutions provider Capsule Technologie, the acquirer said in a news release Monday. It will extend Qualcomm Life's connected health offerings and enable data collection and monitoring of its connected device ecosystem, the company said.

The FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council will meet Monday, starting at 1 p.m., at commission headquarters, the agency said. “The Council will hear progress reports from the Steering Committee and each of its working groups on their formation and initial meetings.”

A court decision certifying class-action rights of Uber drivers has implications for other companies that rely on independent contractors, including upstarts and communications companies, Kelley Drye attorney Steve Augustino said in a Friday blog post. “Many communications companies make similar uses of independent contractors to perform key functions, and therefore should heed the lessons of the decision. At a minimum, the Uber decision demonstrates why companies must remain cognizant of how they classify workers in order to avoid similar costly and time-consuming class action cases.” U.S. District Court Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco ruled Sept. 1 that current and former Uber drivers constituted a class that could pursue a claim that Uber violated California’s Unfair Competition law (Douglas O’Connor, et al., v. Uber Technologies, No. C-13-3826 EMC). Four plaintiffs sued Uber on behalf of themselves and a putative class of about 160,000 past and present Uber drivers. They contended they and other drivers were employees, not independent contractors, under state law and thus eligible for various labor protections. Uber argued it had properly classified every single driver as an independent contractor, but Chen disagreed after finding the company's statements created tension with that argument. He noted other federal rulings, including Norris-Wilson v. Delta T Group in the Southern District of California in 2009, which said an employer citing independent contractor classification as universally appropriate “runs at cross purposes with the reason for objecting to class certification.” A Kelley Drye advisory said the case has lessons for companies, including tech startups, using independent contractors to lower costs. “One possible way for a company to avoid a potential class action of the kind filed against Uber is by utilizing contractual clauses that limit the resolution of disputes with independent contractors to arbitration proceedings that exclude class actions,” it said.