Pai Seeks Funding

Supply Chain Security, Z-Axis Rules Headline Busy July FCC Agenda

June 25, 2020 by Howard Buskirk, Monica Hogan, and Matt Daneman|Top News

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai laid out a busy agenda for commissioners’ July 16 meeting. It tentatively includes (see 2006240044) an order addressing supply chain security and equipment from Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE, and an update of vertical location accuracy rules for wireless calls to 911. Commissioners will also consider broadband mapping, call blocking technology and emergency calling rules. Also on the agenda is the draft order establishing 988 for a nationwide three-digit suicide hotline and giving carriers a July 2022 deadline for implementation (see 2006230022). FCC members would vote on changing the cable leased access rate formula.

With the FCC increasingly focused on supply chain security, Pai said he's asking commissioners to find that last November’s supply chain rules (see 1911220033) satisfy provisions in the March Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act. It requires the FCC to “prohibit the use of federal subsidy funds to purchase, rent, lease, or otherwise obtain or maintain any covered communications equipment or services from certain companies.” The FCC will also seek comment on implementing other parts of the act, Pai said.

The item won’t address an issue repeatedly raised by commissioners and smaller carriers -- finding the money to pay for ripping out and replacing Chinese equipment. “I hope that Congress will also provide the necessary funding -- which we estimated in November could cost up to $2 billion,” Pai said. Huawei and ZTE didn’t comment.

The vertical location accuracy item affirms 2021 and 2023 deadlines for nationwide providers to deploy z-axis technology in the largest markets and calls for “nationwide deployment by 2025,” Pai said. Carriers pressed for an alternative benchmark and rules allowing a mobile operating system-based approach, while public safety groups want the agency to keep strong rules in place (see 2006220053).

The mapping item would adopt “coverage reporting and disclosure requirements for fixed and mobile broadband providers, filing and certification requirements, and measures for determining the accuracy of broadband availability data,” Pai said. The FCC sought money from Congress to pay for mapping.

An April NPRM offered two alternatives for a proposed 5G Fund, including a program based on improved coverage maps. Commissioners approved the notice (see 2004230046) over partial dissents by Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks, who were concerned about the timetable and need for better data.

“Pai is exactly right -- we cannot fully close the digital divide until we know the areas that do and do not have broadband available,” emailed Steve Berry, president of the Competitive Carriers Association. “We must begin by correcting the maps first, as required by the Broadband DATA Act, before moving forward with the 5G Fund.”

"The need for burdensome leased access rules has dramatically diminished" with programmers having access to online video platforms for distribution, Pai said. He said one area left untouched by last year's leased access rules update (see 1906060029) was the rate formula. The draft order would simplify tier-specific rate calculations.

To encourage voice providers to adopt call-blocking technology more broadly in their anti-robocall efforts, commissioners will vote on an order to provide a safe harbor from liability when carriers inadvertently block wanted calls. The safe harbor would protect carriers "so long as such action is based upon reasonable analytics indicating that such calls were unwanted," Pai wrote. The order would formalize blocking "bad actor telephone companies that act as a gateway for illegal and unwanted calls." It would seek comment on whether to require "originating and intermediate providers to better police their networks against illegal calls" and require terminating providers inform for free consumers about blocked calls.

The FCC will revisit decades-old Department of Homeland Security programs designed to help first responders and other public safety personnel communicate. The programs are meant to give emergency workers prioritized connectivity to landline and wireless networks and priority service restoration as needed. Pai said the commission will consider proposals to remove outdated regulations based on legacy technologies.