FCC May OK Do Not Call FNPRM 4-0 Amid PSAP Concerns

An FCC draft Further NPRM on tightening rules for the public safety answering point Do Not Call registry may be unanimously OK'd during commissioners’ Sept. 30 meeting, said experts in recent interviews. The FCC established the PSAP registry in 2012 as mandated by 2012's Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act (see 1210180072). The new draft proposes to allow voice service providers access to the registry to block robocalls to registered numbers.

The FNPRM would seek comment on whether the FCC should limit its blocking requirement to nonemergency autodialed calls, and whether any situations exist when an autodialer is making emergency calls. It would be a “significant security concern” if it gave robocallers access to the registry because “the marketplace is much less stable and much more diverse” than the voice provider marketplace, said National Emergency Number Association Director-Government Affairs Dan Henry. The agency didn’t comment Thursday.

Robocalling has “flummoxed” the FCC for decades and it’s “a matter of life and limb” when it affects PSAPs, said former Commissioner Robert McDowell of Cooley: “The devil is in the engineering details of how you screen out a robocall from a legitimate phone call.” The item is something a 2-2 FCC can agree upon because robocalls are “perhaps the No. 1 consumer issue facing the FCC,” McDowell said.

The commission has been addressing robocalls “in a broader sense” and “it makes sense” to include PSAPs, said Richard Muscat, director-regulatory affairs for Texas' Bexar Metro 911 Network District. “Robocalls may not be a single problem for PSAPs, but they’re definitely a problem.”

Call centers are dealing with staffing issues nationwide and “any time you take their focus away on a call that’s not a priority, that takes away from them maybe answering a real 911 call,” said Don Jones, NENA California chapter president and dispatch manager for Sonoma County, California, Sheriff's Office. The county has 10 10-digit lines and “even one of those could take our focus away,” Jones said.

Robocalls are “more noticeable” for smaller PSAPs on their 10-digit numbers compared with larger 911 centers, Muscat said. Henry said larger PSAPs are more likely to have resources for mitigation.

There “isn’t a ton of participation” in the registry by PSAPs now because “there isn’t a ton of indication that they work,” Henry said, noting concerns about “the details of who houses this.” NENA plans to suggest “other benefits to consolidating a Do Not Call registry into a larger service for holding PSAP information” or whether it should be housed in government considering the registry “doesn’t appear on its face to be solving the problem,” Henry said. USTelecom, the registered consortium for the industry-led robocall traceback group, plans to file comments, emailed a spokesperson.