FCC Jan. 30 Would Vote on CAF I Phaseout, Caller ID Spoofing, IP CTS, Broadcast Items

The FCC plans to vote on an order to drive down Connect America Fund Phase I support in price-cap telco areas where CAF Phase II auction winners will receive support and in the areas that weren't eligible for the auction, said the tentative agenda for the Jan. 30 commissioners' meeting. Commissioners will consider a caller-ID spoofing NPRM, an IP captioned telephone service (IP CTS) order and Further NPRM, an NPRM proposing changes to the rules on applications for noncommercial education stations and low-power FM stations, and a media modernization order to eliminate requirements for broadcaster midterm equal employment opportunity reports.

The commission moved up the release of the tentative agenda to Thursday, given the lapse in funding and agency shutdown, tweeted Chairman Ajit Pai. It’s “TBD” whether the shutdown will cause the January meeting to be rescheduled or canceled, an FCC spokesman said.

The FCC would adopt "a transition framework to end CAF Phase I frozen support in areas where [$1.49 billion] in support is being awarded [over 10 years] through the CAF Phase II auction" and "phase out federal high-cost support in price cap areas that were not eligible for continued support through the auction," said a draft order summary. The frozen support would be allocated "using the Connect America Cost Model (CAM), among those price cap carriers that declined CAF Phase II model-based support based on the relative cost of serving each area served by those carriers."

A schedule would be set for ending support to price-cap carriers and "phasing down fixed competitive eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) in areas that were successfully bid during the auction, while providing interim support for areas that did not receive any bids," said the summary. Price-cap carriers and competitive ETCs would have the option to decline support.

Diversity Concerns

A draft NPRM seeks comment on changes to rules for LPFM and NCE station applications, while a draft order on Form 397 EEO reporting could spark diversity concerns.

LPFM nonprofit REC Networks proposed some of the plans, according to its website. The draft seeks comment on relaxing rules requiring NCE stations to provide proof of localism and diversity, on changes to some processes for mutually exclusive applications, and on proposals to make it easier for such stations to change their board membership.

The NPRM would seek comment on loosening some anti-collusion rules for mutually exclusive (MX) LPFM applications and on extending the LPFM construction period from 18 months to three years. There have been cases in previous auctions where applicants “were alleged to have ‘pre-planned’ the aggregation” of the points by which the FCC decides MX conflicts, REC Networks said. The construction extension would eliminate the need for LPFM applicants to seek extensions, which are almost always granted anyway, said an attorney familiar with LPFMs. The Media Bureau opened docket 19-3 Thursday for comments on the proposed changes.

The FCC’s January media modernization item is a draft order that would eliminate midterm EEO reports, which the draft calls “largely redundant.” Since midterm EEO reports contain the same information as annual EEO reports, they are duplicative of information already available in broadcaster online public files, broadcasters commented on the February NPRM previewing the draft order. The NPRM was voted unanimously and the proposal to get rid of the midterm report requirement was unopposed in docket 18-23.

That NPRM also contained language seeking comment on more EEO revisions, and 33 diversity groups said then the agency should overhaul EEO enforcement and enact reforms to increase diversity. Thursday’s draft order doesn’t take those matters up. Those “far-reaching, substantive changes” weren’t the focus of the NPRM and so they aren’t included in the order, the draft says.

“There’s a record at the FCC showing that diversity is dismal,” said Common Cause Director-Democracy and Media Yosef Getachew. “What is the FCC doing about it?” The agency has acted to change EEO enforcement by relocating responsibility for the task to the Enforcement Bureau, the draft order said. Though she voted for the EEO NPRM, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said then she had concerns that it didn’t propose revisions to EEO rules (see 1802220045).

Caller ID

Commissioners are also scheduled to vote on an NPRM on expanding Truth in Caller ID rules and implementing part of Ray Baum's Act. A draft NPRM notes that in 2018, the FCC received more than 52,000 consumer complaints about caller ID spoofing. “Nefarious schemes” that manipulate caller ID information are a “scourge on American consumers,” it said.

The NPRM would propose to extend rules to cover communications originating from outside the U.S. to recipients here. It would expand the scope of covered communications services to include text messages and additional voice services. The draft seeks comment on “new or revised definitions” of “text message,” “text messaging service,” “voice service,” “caller identification information” and “caller identification service.” The draft would seek comment on “any other changes to the FCC’s Truth in Caller ID rules” needed to effectuate the intent of Congress in Ray Baum’s Act.

The agency approved initial rules in 2011 implementing the Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009, the draft says. By updating the rules, it says the FCC takes “another significant step in our multi-pronged approach to ending malicious caller ID spoofing.”

The IP CTS item seeks to act to "enhance program management, prevent waste, fraud, and abuse, and improve emergency call handling" in the $892 million annual program, said a summary of a draft report and order, FNPRM and order. The report and order would integrate IP CTS into the telecom relay service user registration database, "subject to the same data submission and verification rules that currently apply to video relay service, with minor modifications for IP CTS."

The FNPRM would propose to codify rules "for IP CTS providers to include unique user account identifiers in monthly call detail records submitted for TRS Fund compensation," and "to simplify the processing of 911 calls for some IP CTS users, so that they can communicate more effectively with emergency dispatchers," said the summary. Pending completion of that rulemaking, the second order would "waive certain emergency call-handling requirements so that some IP CTS users can communicate more effectively with emergency dispatchers."

The FCC Technological Advisory Council meeting, set for Jan. 14 and rescheduled from last month, is canceled because of the shutdown and will be rescheduled, the agency said separately Thursday.