FCC OKs IP Relay and Robocall Items

FCC commissioners approved 4-0 an NPRM on modifying compensation methodology for IP relay service supported by the Telecom Relay Service Fund. It’s the first time in 14 years the commission is considering such new TRS methodology. The current IP relay compensation period ends June 30.

“It’s time for an update” on IP relay compensation methodology, said acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel: It would “would benefit from a fresh look.” The NPRM will seek comments in docket 03-123 on the costs IP relay providers incur when providing service, whether to continue multiyear compensation levels, and any changes needed to ensure functional equivalency (see 2107280044). Access to functionally equivalent telecom services is a statutory obligation that “all of us take very seriously,” said Commissioner Brendan Carr at Thursday's meeting.

Service minutes “dropped sharply” since the FCC acted to “eliminate fraud and abuse,” said Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau Disability Rights Office Attorney-Adviser Bill Wallace. The NPRM would modify compensation for recovery of a “reasonable operating margin” and “reasonable cost of outreach,” Wallace said.

The NPRM seeks comment on T-Mobile's proposal to use a hybrid model based partly on the weighted average compensation level for intrastate TTY relay services. T-Mobile, the sole remaining IP relay service provider, petitioned in 2018 for a new methodology. The company didn’t comment now.

No substantive changes were made to the NPRM from the draft, CGB Chief Patrick Webre told reporters. Experts said the proposed changes would likely increase the per minute rates (see 2107220039).

Robocalls

Two items on cutting down on annoying or illegal robocalls also got votes.

Commissioners also OK’d 4-0 an order on secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) and signature-based handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) rules and a Further NPRM on certification requirements for VoIP providers seeking numbering access. Commissioners, as expected, agreed to impose a 180-day deadline for the FCC to review decisions by the private governance authority revoking the digital tokens providers need to participate in Stir/Shaken, sought by Carr (see 2107300052). Wireline Bureau Chief Kris Monteith told reporters the deadline was the only major change to either item. The shot clock for decisions will “make sure that we get it right and get it right in a timely way,” Carr said.

The rules make clear that while the FCC review is in progress, a provider can’t use a token but won’t be considered noncompliant with agency rules, said Daniel Kahn, Wireline Bureau associate chief. If the FCC upholds the revocation, the provider will no longer be deemed in compliance, he said. Providers aren’t supposed to take calls from other providers not in the robocall mitigation database, he said. Carriers that don’t comply “will hear from us,” said Rosenworcel. None of the other commissioners commented on the item during the meeting.

The FNPRM proposes to require VoIP providers applying for direct access to numbers to comply with anti-robocalling obligations. It proposes “guardrails to safeguard finite numbering resources, protect against national security risks, reduce the opportunity for regulatory arbitrage, and further promote public safety,” said a news release. It proposes to update rules requiring executive branch review before foreign-based companies gain access to numbering resources and would require applicants for direct access to numbers to disclose foreign ownership information. Monteith said the NPRM now includes responses to ex partes filed while it was under review.

“If you want to stop robocalls, you need to look far and wide,” Rosenworcel said: “You need to identify every policy and every practice that makes it possible for these nuisance calls to get through. That’s what we do here.” Rosenworcel noted that six years ago the FCC allowed VoIP providers direct access to numbers, which has meant more competition. Those providers “should not be in the business of facilitating robocalls, which is all too easy to do with VoIP technology,” she said.

Commissioners adopted an NPRM updating political programming rules and granted three petitions for reconsideration of its 2017 order on part 95 personal radio service rules ahead of the meeting.

Meeting Notebook

The FCC will continue to allow employees to telework “at least” through September, Rosenworcel told reporters and wrote in an email to staff earlier Thursday and obtained by Communications Daily. (See also our news bulletin.) The FCC submitted a reentry plan to the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force last month, but the rise of the delta variant of COVID-19 caused the agency to “reassess,” Rosenworcel said. “The health and safety of the staff at the agency continues to be my top priority,” Rosenworcel emailed. “This is important to reiterate now, as we are confronting increased cases of COVID-19 across the United States, particularly in areas where vaccination rates remain low.” The email told staff that under federal guidelines, masks will be required for anyone entering any FCC facility “because the counties of all FCC facilities and/or contiguous counties include areas of high or substantial transmission.” That includes Washington, D.C., which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rates as having a substantial transmission rate. The commission previously said workers would be able to telework through August. That's extended “in light of the ongoing nature of the pandemic and concerns about planning ahead particularly as it relates to childcare and school openings.” Rosenworcel urged staff to take advantage of administrative leave to get vaccinated. The agency anticipates further communications with staff on the matter in coming weeks.

Carr told reporters he's “very pleased” the Biden administration said it’s exploring ways to restore internet connectivity in Cuba, but “the reality is that there has been very little action” in the past three weeks. “I don’t know what the missing piece is to get from the rhetoric into action,” Carr said, “but we’re still trying.” Carr said he wants new internet services to be introduced “from outside of the existing internet infrastructure controlled by the communist regime,” plus support for circumvention tools. “A lot of technological solutions” are possible to provide connectivity from infrastructure that isn’t controlled by the regime, Carr said.

FCC staff made a “substantial effort” to review Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction bids, Rosenworcel told reporters. “We also recognized that there were some providers that had preliminarily won bids during the last administration who we felt had not demonstrated that they had dotted every i and crossed every t,” Rosenworcel said: “We're looking forward to getting responses back” to letters sent to providers offering the opportunity to withdraw certain bids without penalties and “will assess them when they come” (see 2108040054).

Finishing a new broadband map is the “most important thing” that needs to be done before RDOF Phase II, Carr said. More granular maps will “add more accuracy to where the funding flows” for Phase II and the 5G Fund, he said, saying he would like the maps to be done this fall. New maps are also “vital” for other infrastructure efforts, Carr said: “We got to get a go on these maps.”

Carr told reporters he has concerns potential bidders still don’t have enough data from the federal government on the 3.45 GHz licenses set for auction starting Oct. 5 (see 2107010052). The coming weeks are important “to making sure that bidders have all the information they need,” he said. “We’ve got to get that resolved,” he said: “If there is uncertainty, people are going to factor that into the bidding in terms of what they’re willing to spend.” The FCC doesn’t have time to waste, he said. “It has been a busy time at the agency and there’s still a lot of running room left, particularly on the spectrum front,” he said. The FCC should do more than complete action on bands teed up for 5G under the last administration, he said: “We’ve got to keep the pedal down.”