Specifications for voice service providers submitting data containing information about disconnected numbers to the FCC's reassigned numbers database are now available, said a public notice in Friday's Daily Digest. The Consumer and Government Affairs Bureau "expects to announce soon" when providers must start reporting disconnection data.
The FCC awarded $26.6 million of the $100 million Connected Care pilot to 14 projects Friday, serving 150 treatment sites in 11 states. The most, about $5.8 million, goes to Ochin, a consortium of 44 providers in Ohio, Oregon and Washington state. Temple University Hospital got $4 million for telehealth in the Philadelphia area. The University of Mississippi Medical Center will receive about $2.4 million to provide broadband access to patients to enable remote monitoring and telehealth. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement the funding "lays the groundwork for this connected care future as these projects will help us better understand how telehealth can reduce costs and increase the quality of care."
Comments are due Jan. 25, replies Jan. 29, to a Verizon request for an extension of a waiver of the 180-day reserve number rule, said an FCC public notice Thursday in docket 99-200. Verizon asked that numbers placed into reserved status April 22, 2020-June 30, 2021, be eligible for a 360-day reserved period.
Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction winners must submit their letter of credit commitment letters and detailed technology and system design descriptions by 6 p.m. EST Feb. 16, said an FCC Wireline Bureau public notice Wednesday (see 2101130033).
Comments opposing a petition for reconsideration of portions of the FCC's call authentication trust anchor second report and order by CTIA and Voice on the Net are due by Jan. 29, replies Feb. 8, in docket 17-97, says Thursday's Federal Register. CTIA and VON asked to eliminate the prohibition on voice service providers accepting calls from foreign voice providers that use North American numbering plan resources and aren't listed in the robocall mitigation database.
The FCC has a "clear duty to act" on minimum service standards, and further delay "threatens low-income consumers' health and welfare by making Lifeline less accessible and less affordable during the COVID-19 pandemic," the National Lifeline Association told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Wednesday (in Pacer) in case No. 20-1460 (see 2012310031). The formula was "improperly adopted from the start" and has "arbitrarily increased" MSS by 50% without analyzing whether it's affordable, NaLA argued.
Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction winners must submit their letter of credit commitment letters and detailed technology and system design descriptions by 6 p.m. EST Feb. 16, said an FCC Wireline Bureau public notice Wednesday. Educational materials on the technology and system design descriptions that must be filed are here.
Designate Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a paid holiday for all employees, Communications Workers of America members wrote Lumen CEO Jeff Storey Monday. In November, the company announced it will give non-union members the holiday in an effort to become more "diverse and inclusive." Paid holidays are "negotiated benefits," a Lumen spokesperson told us, and the telco "looks forward to discussing with each union the possible addition of MLK Day as a paid holiday when each agreement comes up for renegotiation." Union employees in Wisconsin have off that day.
The North American Numbering Council should establish a working group to "pinpoint the operational hurdles" that may arise with providing location information stemming from a 988 suicide hotline call, NTCA told the FCC Wireline Bureau Monday in docket 18-336 (see 2010190058). NTCA said routing calls to a local crisis center would let callers access local resources and allow mobilization of emergency services. "Ensuring that accurate location information is conveyed with a 988 call, and that such calls are routed properly to the appropriate local crisis center, will involve multiple stakeholders and technological hurdles," NTCA wrote, citing potential issues in remote areas in Alaska and on tribal lands. The group also raised privacy concerns. NANC meets Feb. 4 (see 2012310029).
The Wireline Bureau clarified that replies to opposition on Global Tel*Link's petition for reconsideration of the FCC's 2020 inmate calling services order are due Jan. 21, in a public notice Friday in docket 12-375 (see 2012030056).