FCC to Consider Digital Discrimination, Wireless 911 Call Routing During Dec. Meeting

The FCC will consider "specific proposals for preventing and eliminating digital discrimination" during the commissioners' Dec. 21 meeting, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Tuesday. Commissioners will also consider changes to satellite application processing rules, a proposal on wireless 911 call routing, and a proposal to modify the Telecom Relay Service Fund compensation formula.

"We’re promoting equal access to broadband," Rosenworcel wrote: "Your zip code shouldn’t determine your access to high-speed connectivity." Commissioners adopted a notice of inquiry in March seeking comment on the issue as required by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Industry and consumer groups disagreed on the severity of digital discrimination and potential solutions (see 2205170071).

Also on the agenda is a proposed requirement that wireless carriers and text providers work with their networks to reduce misrouting of 911 calls and texts, plus a proposed streamlining of satellite rules, Rosenworcel said. She said the occasional misrouting of wireless 911 calls to the wrong call center "can cost emergency responders valuable time." She said the record-refresh the agency did earlier this year on location-based routing to 911 (see 2207120065) showed some carriers have been using more-precise location information from handsets to route the calls and texts.

The FCC is "making improvements to phone service for deaf and hard of hearing users," Rosenworcel said. On the agenda is a proposal to "apply different TRS Fund compensation formulas" for human-aided and fully automatic captioning services. "This proposal would promote program efficiency, while ensuring that providers have appropriate incentives to use the captioning method preferred by users or most effective for a call," Rosenworcel said.

Commissioners will also consider an Enforcement Bureau item.