FCC Details Aug. 5 Items on Wireless Zones, TRS, Political Ads

Details revealed Thursday of what FCC members are to vote on Aug. 5 showed some impermissible telecom relay service-related fees would be OK, outlined how new innovation zones would work and showed how political advertising thresholds would change. Commissioners will consider modifying the compensation methodology for IP relay service providers to use “only projected costs and demand” to calculate base level compensation, said a fact sheet. The current compensation period, which follows a cost-based base level of per-minute compensation, ends June 30. The draft NPRM would rescind prohibition on outreach cost recovery because there's one IP relay provider, and would modify rules allowing recovery for indirect overhead.

The draft would continue setting compensation levels for a multiyear period and seek comment on what percentage of allowable expenses constitutes a reasonable margin. It seeks comment on T-Mobile's proposed multistate average rate structure-based alternative. The only current IP relay service provider, T-Mobile didn’t comment. The provider petitioned the commission for new methodology in 2018. All the new documents are here.

A notice on innovation zones proposes new ones in Boston and Raleigh and to expand one in New York City (see 2107140056). The Boston zone, based at Northeastern University, “will support the transition of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Colosseum network emulator to a shared platform usable by the research community,” the draft says. The Raleigh zone, at North Carolina State University, will house the aerial experimentation and research platform for advanced wireless and would focus on drones. The New York zone would cover a larger area and continue to focus on “ultra-high-bandwidth and low-latency wireless communications with tightly coupled edge computing,” the draft says.

A draft NPRM would require additional certifications for VoIP providers seeking access to North American numbering plan numbers. Providers would need to certify existing anti-robocalling requirements to “safeguard the public interest and operate efficiently when reviewing VoIP direct access to numbers applications,” the draft item says. It would delegate authority to the Wireline Bureau to reject an application if the provider has “engaged in behavior contrary to public interest or been found to originate or transmit illegal robocalls."

The document would require providers to disclose foreign ownership information and update the commission and applicable states within 30 days of any ownership changes after obtaining access to numbers. Allowing providers with foreign ownership “raises a number of potential risks,” the draft said, and the commission seeks comment on what factors should be considered when an applicant with foreign ownership seeks numbering access. USTelecom, the current industry trace-back group consortium, didn’t comment now.

An order would tweak secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) and signature-based handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) rules, also aimed at stopping more unwanted robocalls. It proposes an FCC “oversight role” in reviewing revocation decisions by a private governance authority. That would “provide proper due process for voice service providers aggrieved by Governance Authority token revocation decisions.”

The FCC would deviate from a proposal in a January Further NPRM, requiring those seeking review to first file in the commission’s electronic comment filing system, with the Wireline Bureau doing the initial review. Making these changes “will facilitate efficient review based on a full record,” the draft says. Companies would first have to seek a review by the governing authority and file an appeal within 60 days of a final decision.

The draft Part 95 personal radio services order addresses three petitions for reconsideration to a May 2017 order revising the rules. The draft proposes to grant Cobra Electronics' petition to allow FM radio “as an optional modulation scheme for all existing 40 CB Radio Service channels.” Use of AM would remain mandatory. “Allowing manufacturers” to make that change “will not substantially change the fundamental nature of the CB Radio Service and will improve the user experience,” the draft says.

It would grant Motorola Solutions’ petition to allow automatic or periodic location and data in the general mobile and family radio services. Safety of uses “will be increased by having more frequent location information available without repeated manual requests,” the draft says: “In an emergency situation involving individuals who are disoriented or otherwise unable to send manual transmissions, the automatic transmission of location information could enhance search and rescue operations.” The draft proposes to grant a Medtronic petition seeking to “undo inadvertent changes to the MedRadio Service rules” in the 2017 order. The companies didn't comment.

The political programming and record-keeping rules for broadcasters, MVPDs and satellite digital audio radio services would get the addition of social media use and creation of a campaign website when determining if a write-in candidate has made "substantial showing" of a candidacy, per the draft NPRM. The draft proposes including revising the record-keeping rules to encompass any request for the purchase of advertising time communicating a political matter of national importance. The draft says the changes would reflect current campaign practices and also bring the agency in line with 2002's Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act.