The FCC is right to propose cuts to IP captioned telephone service rates but should consider an auction (see 2009090048), said Roslyn Layton, visiting researcher at Aalborg University who's writing a paper on the topic. “The FCC should build on its important success with rural broadband subsidies, to bring reverse auctions to the markets for deaf and hearing impaired services,” she emailed Friday: “The reverse auction model matches well with the [Americans with Disabilities Act's] societal goals and the FCC’s statutory duty.”

USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter and Incompas CEO Chip Pickering spoke with FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks about their agreement on whether LECs need to provide access to DS0, DS1, DS3 and operation support systems, and how much, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 19-308. The two previously spoke with other four commissioners (see 2008280063).

Verizon spoke with aides to FCC Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Brendan Carr on its consensus proposal on toll-free traffic (see 2006080002). "Move forward with reform of the switched access regime for 8YY traffic” as “8YY switched access reform is necessary because the existing rules continue to foster uneconomic arbitrage schemes,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-156.

Accelerate broadband deployment in rural America by clarifying and expediting the process for providers to engage with pole owners about upgrades and buildouts, various civil rights, diversity and public interest groups told the FCC in a docket 17-84 posting Tuesday, backing NCTA's pole attachment declaratory ruling petition (see 2007170023). They said NCTA's request for clarity that pole owners proportionately share pole replacement costs with broadband providers and that pole attachment disputes in rural areas get priority treatment on the Enforcement Bureau's accelerated docket are "reasonable." Signers included the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, National Association of Multicultural Digital Entrepreneurs, National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women and Public Knowledge.

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau said digital messages sent by Joseph T. Ryerson & Son aren’t faxes subject to liability under the Telephone Consumer Protection and Junk Fax Protection acts. Ryerson contended its messages are “more closely analogous to an email than a traditional fax,” said a Friday declaratory ruling. CGB cited last year’s decision on a similar petition by Amerifactors. “Ryerson’s technology is similar to the technology the Bureau addressed in Amerifactors,” the ruling said: “The petitioner did not send an unsolicited advertisement to a telephone facsimile machine under the TCPA.”

Comments are due Oct. 5, replies Oct. 20 on the National Exchange Carrier Association’s 2021 modification of the average schedule universal service high cost loop support formula, said an FCC Wireline Bureau public notice in Thursday’s Daily Digest on docket 05-337.

The FCC released guidance for applications to the agency’s $100 million Connected Care Pilot Program, said a news release and public notice Thursday. The PN includes information on how healthcare providers can prepare for the application process and will be followed by a subsequent PN with detailed application procedures and timing for an application window, a release said. “This year, our country has pivoted to a newer model of delivering health care, one that finds connectivity at its core,” said Chairman Ajit Pai. He thanked Commissioner Brendan Carr for leading here. “We worked to stand up this Pilot Program to support the delivery of care directly to patients,” Carr said in a separate release, calling it “Carr’s Connected Care Pilot Program.” The program is open to eligible nonprofit and public healthcare providers, the PN said. To prepare to apply, providers will need an eligibility determination and healthcare provider number from Universal Service Administrative Co., the PN said. The program will use USF funds “to help defray costs of connected care services for eligible health care providers, providing universal service support for 85% of the cost of eligible services and network equipment,” not including devices.

USTelecom countered an Incompas grandfathering proposal on dark fiber (see 2002060006). Incompas proposed that even if the FCC decides CLECs aren’t impaired without access to dark fiber, “it should nevertheless require incumbent local exchange to indefinitely continue to offer unbundled access to any dark fiber arrangements ordered before January 6, 2020,” USTelecom said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 19-308: “This outcome would be contrary to the Communications Act, Commission and judicial precedent, and Congressional intent.” USTelecom spoke with Office of General Counsel and Wireline Bureau staff. “USTelecom’s claim of a concession is completely and utterly false,” emailed Incompas CEO Chip Pickering: The Telecom Act “serves as the government’s contract with the people to guarantee they have access to broadband competition. Dark fiber is the bridge to broadband for both urban and rural communities. Cutting it off will leave millions of Americans in the dark.”

USTelecom, the Session Initiation Protocol Forum and carriers warned FCC staff of potential pitfalls in implementing secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) and secure handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) as a tool to block unwanted robocalls. “Widespread deployment by originating and terminating VoIP providers will reduce the effectiveness of illegal spoofing and assist efforts to quickly identify calls with illegally spoofed caller ID information,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 17-97: “Deployment obligations beyond voice service providers’ authentication at origination and verification at termination, however, can undermine the framework.” They said every Form 499 filer should “be required to certify that it has implemented an appropriate robocall mitigation program and the Commission should maintain a database identifying the providers that issued those certifications.” Representatives of the two groups, AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier and Verizon spoke with staff from the Wireline and Public Safety bureaus.

The company where Sasha Javid is chief operating officer is BitPath (see 2008260055).