Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety supported a request by IEE Sensing for a waiver of FCC rules for a radar that detects infants and children left in an automobile and operates in the 60-64 GHz band. The waiver “will enable the introduction of technology into passenger vehicles to address the issue of hyperthermia deaths and in particular those of children who have unknowingly been left in or entered vehicles without adult supervision,” said the group in a Tuesday posting. Comments were due Monday in docket 20-435.
Schools should have more flexibility in how they use E-rate funds because most students are relying on remote learning during the pandemic, blogged Ed Gillespie, AT&T senior executive vice president-external and legislative affairs. The FCC should "evaluate whether the current E-rate structure is the right one for today's world" and work with the Education Department to transform the program, Gillespie wrote Tuesday. The funding mechanism for USF programs is "fundamentally broken and unsustainable," he said, and should be reevaluated.
Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks met virtually Tuesday with University of Virginia's Rheuban Center for Telehealth to discuss how the center is serving patients during the pandemic, the agency said. U.Va. was one of 14 projects in the first round of the FCC Connected Care pilot.
Amazon has continuously tried to stifle competition from other broadband non-geostationary orbit satellite operators, demanding exclusive access to orbit protection from earlier processing round systems and holding 30 ex parte meetings to object to SpaceX's system but none regarding authorization of its own. That's according to SpaceX staffers in a call with an aide to acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, said an International Bureau ex parte posting Monday. Amazon didn't comment Tuesday.
The FCC Wireline Bureau seeks comment by Feb. 16, replies by Feb. 23, in docket 21-31 on petitions from the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition and others asking E-rate funds be used to support remote learning, said a public notice Monday (see 2101260055). Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said, "We need to get to work to update E-rate funding so all our students can be connected to virtual classrooms." She called this a "first step in a process to hear about the emergency relief communities are seeking and to chart a path forward for the FCC to help solve this crisis."
Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Brendan Carr toured Whitman-Walker Health in Washington Friday to promote telehealth, the FCC said. The clinic has conducted nearly 21,000 telehealth visits since beginning them in March, CEO Naseema Shafi said.
The FCC is seeking comment March 3, replies April 2, in docket 13-24 on minimum performance standards for IP captioned telephone services and whether performance assessments should be carried out by the commission, individual providers or another entity, says Monday's Federal Register.
The FCC set a virtual roundtable Feb. 12 at 10 a.m. EST on how to structure the $3.2 billion emergency broadband benefit program, a public notice said Thursday (see 2101260053). Replies on a public notice seeking comment on the fund are due Feb. 16 in docket 20-445. Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said the program "promises to help ease the burden" on families during the pandemic.
Let noneligible telecom carriers access Universal Service Administrative Co. data systems so they can immediately participate in the emergency broadband benefit program, NCTA, ACA Connects, the Wireless ISP Association and Incompas asked FCC Wireline Bureau staff, per a letter posted Thursday in docket 20-445 (see 2101260053). Consumers will be "deprived of the variety and quality of services that Congress intended the program to provide" if non-ETCs are unable to sign up customers and be reimbursed as existing Lifeline providers, the associations said.
Stakeholders praised acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworce's release of drafts three weeks before FCC members vote on them at their monthly now-virtual meeting (see 2101270060), a practice started by former Chairman Ajit Pai in 2017. Nathan Leamer, Pai's former policy adviser, is excited Rosenworcel will "continue this comment to agency openness." The decision was "encouraging" and a "key reform from the Pai-era" that "should be standard practice for the FCC," Charles Koch Institute's Jesse Blumenthal tweeted, which Pai retweeted. Robert Weller, NAB vice president-spectrum policy, suggested the practice be codified. It's encouraging to see this practice continue, said NTCA Senior Vice President-industry Affairs Michael Romano in an emailed statement. "Particularly when it comes to highly technical or complex matters, the opportunity to review the text in advance is helpful, even just to catch where things might need to be stated somewhat differently or more precisely to ensure that the intent of an order is fulfilled." The acting chairwoman is "deeply committed to transparency and plans to continue this practice," emailed an FCC spokesperson.