Priority Service Item Expected to Be Approved With Few Changes

A report and order updating telecom service priority (TSP), wireless priority service (WPS) and government emergency telecommunications service (GETS) rules is expected to be approved by FCC commissioners Thursday with minimal changes from the draft circulated by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel (see 2204280059), FCC and industry officials said. No group or company reported meetings at the FCC to discuss the item since it was circulated. The order casts the changes as needed “to account for changes in technology.” It notes the current rules date to the establishment of the TSP system in 1988 and WPS in 2000. There are no current commission rules for GETS, which operates via contractual arrangements with the Department of Homeland Security. “These rules were originally developed when communications networks were primarily based on circuit-switched technologies,” the draft says: “As such, the rules do not address the advanced capabilities of next-generation communications technologies that support data and voice services, or the ability of users at different priority levels to share network capacity and resources.” The FCC sought comment in 2020 (see 2007160045) and, in response, Verizon and T-Mobile urged light-touch regulation (see 2011190036). The agency should “continue affording wireless providers sufficient flexibility to voluntarily offer WPS services that are negotiated with the government for public safety users through private contract,” CTIA said.