The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau seeks comment by Aug. 4 in docket 10- 213 on tentative conclusions for the 2020 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act biennial report to Congress, which the FCC has to submit by Oct. 8, said a public notice in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. The report tentatively finds accessibility and usability of many services and equipment have improved since the 2018 report but “continued gaps in the accessibility of feature phones to people who are blind, and a failure by some providers to make their apps accessible to screen readers,” said the PN.
The FCC Wireline Bureau seeks comment by Aug. 20, replies Sept. 4 on its proposed E-rate eligible services list for funding year 2021, said a public notice Tuesday on docket 13-184.
The FCC Wireline Bureau granted a limited waiver of performance testing requirements for Connect America Fund phase II award recipients choosing a seventh year of support, in an order in Monday's Daily Digest. They can extend pretesting through this year's third and fourth quarters. The FCC recognized installing testing equipment in subscriber homes is more difficult due to COVID-19.
The FCC Wireline Bureau granted a request by local number portability administrator iconectiv to modify its code of conduct and related voting trust agreement as one of its owners becomes affiliated with VoIP service providers, said an order in Friday's Daily Digest.
The FCC’s broadband mapping order, approved Thursday, increases allowable distance between facilities for fiber and cable, per final text posted Friday. The FCC proposed in the draft a maximum distance of 6,600 route feet between the node to the end point for everything. It sticks with that buffer for DSL but increases it to 12,000 feet for cable connections and 196,000 feet for fiber to the premises technologies. The change was expected (see 2007140060) after industry objected. As indicated Thursday, a proposed wireless infrastructure reporting requirement was moved to a Further NPRM. “We seek to refresh the record and seek further comment on collecting infrastructure information as part of the Digital Opportunity Data Collection,” the final FNPRM said: “Such information could help Commission staff independently verify the accuracy of provider coverage propagation models and maps submitted by mobile wireless service providers.” A staff report on problems in since-scuttled Mobility Fund Phase II “concluded that collecting such infrastructure data could help accurately verify mobile broadband coverage,” the FCC said: “Infrastructure data could advance the Broadband DATA Act’s requirement that we verify the accuracy and reliability of submitted coverage data.”
NCTA asked the FCC for an expedited declaratory ruling clarifying pole owners must bear "proportionate and equitable" replacement costs, posted Friday in docket 17-84. NCTA asked for expedited pole access dispute resolution in unserved areas. Lack of an equitable utility pole replacement cost process holds broadband providers back when demands from COVID-19 compel them to move forward, NCTA blogged Friday. The American Public Power Association "stance remains that one-size-fits-all, model pole attachment regulations are unworkable for public power utilities," a spokesperson emailed. The group opposes "any effort to weaken or gut the exemption for public power utilities from federal pole attachment regulations." Cable operators face regulatory challenges that could increase costs and delay rural broadband deployment, Charter blogged Tuesday. Cable wants the FCC to eliminate eligible telecom carrier requirements (see 2006300010). "If we are successful in the auction, the result could be an expedited, multi-billion-dollar build-out" of its broadband network to millions of people, Charter said. The cabler could add an estimated $9.3 billion to the value of its footprint if it places winning Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I bids for some 2.2 million locations at the edge of its network, New Street's Jonathan Chaplin wrote investors Friday. "They would likely rather double down on the pace of footprint expansion than cede it to a competitor." Analysis of eligible census blocks "suggests the expansion opportunity may be even bigger" for other cable companies, the analyst added. The FCC plans to award up to $16 billion from Phase I (see 2001300001).
The agency will act on an order changing the allocation of the 5.9 GHz band “certainly by the end of the year,” Chairman Ajit Pai answered our query in speaking with the media. Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said he’s not sure why an order isn’t on the Aug. 6 agenda. “I don’t think we’re that far away,” he said in response to our question: “A month or two here or there doesn’t cause me that much concern.” The FCC is expected to reallocate the band in coming months, with 45 MHz set aside for unlicensed use (see 2004300032). “I’m very excited about the potential for the 5.9 GHz band,” though he hasn’t reached a decision yet, Commissioner Brendan Carr said. “We kind of let 5.9 sit out there for a long time,” he said: “I’m glad that it’s on the table and that we’re working on it.”
Antitrust authorities cleared the way for General Atlantic Partners to acquire Doctor on Demand. An FTC early termination notice dated Wednesday and released Thursday ended the Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period.
Aug. 1, cable operators and direct broadcast satellite providers must send a variety of notifications to broadcasters electronically instead of via postal mail, the FCC Media Bureau said in a docket 19-165 notice in Thursday's Daily Digest. Those notifications include deletion or repositioning of broadcast signals, changes to principal headends and intent to retransmit a “significantly viewed” out-of-market stations, it said. Commissioners approved the notification rules change in January (see 2001300001).