Hamilton Relay urged the FCC to include additional cost data in the record before setting a new rate methodology for IP captioned telephone service funded by the Telecom Relay Service Fund (see 2310200065). Audited 2022 historical costs and 2023 projected costs should be added to the record, the company said in a meeting with staff from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, Office of Economics and Analytics and Office of Managing Director. "Audited historical costs are critical to rational ratemaking because the audits will help ensure that each provider is using appropriate cost categories and a common approach to the submission of cost data to the TRS Fund Administrator," Hamilton said, per an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 03-123.

Google Fiber's GFiber Labs will start offering 20 Gbps residential service by year's end, Nokia said Wednesday. Nokia said the service will run over an existing fiber network, with Google using Nokia passive optical network technology to boost speeds. It said the two are currently delivering 20 Gbps service to the University of Missouri at Kansas City and a United Way in Utah.

TeleGuam Holdings asked the FCC to approve its requests for "an eight-month advancement of frozen high-cost support," one-year waiver of the Connect America Fund broadband loop support cap on recoverable operating expenses, and a four-month extension of "eligibility and permissible use" of Lifeline and the affordable connectivity program support for qualifying subscribers. The company said in a letter posted Monday in docket 10-90 that Super Typhoon Mawar caused "unprecedented and devastating damage" to its network in May (see 2307200046). The damage "produced considerable and unforeseen costs," TeleGuam said.

Sorenson Communications wants the FCC to issue a declaratory ruling and interim waiver "to remove regulatory hurdles in the integration of interoperable videoconferencing services (IVCS) and video relay services (VRS)," said a letter posted Friday in docket 03-123 (see 2310100069). The company asked the FCC to direct the Telecom Relay Service Administrator to implement URL billing, allow users to select the provider of their choice on an IVCS call, and let providers confirm IVCS users' VRS eligibility using their assigned 10-digit number. "Prompt action will provide immediate relief to Deaf and hard-of-hearing consumers trying to use IVCS platforms," Sorenson said.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel will host a listening session in Chicago on incarcerated people's communications services (IPCS) Oct. 27 at 2:30 p.m., said a news release Friday (see 2305090066). Rosenworcel will hear from formerly incarcerated people and their loved ones about their experiences with IPCS and "obtain additional public comment in support of the commission’s ongoing efforts to ensure just and reasonable rates and charges for IPCS consumers."

IP captioned telephone service providers InnoCaption and CaptionCall met separately with FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics staff about rates for IP CTS, said ex parte filings posted Friday in docket 03-123. CaptionCall also met with staff from the Office of Managing Director. InnoCaption asked the FCC to "establish a three-year rate cycle while maintaining a single IP CTS rate" until there's enough data on the impact of automatic speech recognition. CaptionCall asked that research and development costs be treated as compensable "above mandatory minimum standards" to achieve functional equivalence. It also asked that acquiring North American numbering plan phone numbers for IP CTS users be treated as compensable.

An FCC order establishing a new compensation formula for video relay services funded by the Telecom Relay Services Fund is effective Dec. 18, said a notice in Thursday's Federal Register (see 2309280076).

The FCC committed more than $53.4 million in additional Emergency Connectivity Fund support Wednesday. The new funding supports about 175 schools and school districts, four libraries and library systems, and two consortiums, said a news release.

The FCC disagreed with a letter from USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter urging the House and Senate Intelligence committees’ leaders to “pay special attention to the FCC’s mission creep into the cybersecurity space” because of the draft NPRM (see 2310160062). Although the commission “is already actively involved in federal interagency cybersecurity planning, coordination, and response activities, it has limited authority to incorporate updated cybersecurity standards into its network policies,” a spokesperson emailed us Monday. “A clear example of this is” the FCC’s Communications Act Section 214 authority, “which provides the agency with the ability to monitor and mitigate the existence of bad actors in telecommunication systems. That authority currently extends only to phone networks, not broadband. Similarly, the FCC has been closely working with other federal agencies on the best way to identify Broadband Gateway Protocol (BGP) vulnerabilities and mitigate risks, a process that would be strengthened through Title II reclassification by providing the agency with the clear and direct authority to act in close coordination with other agencies.”

NCTA asked the FCC to modify the E-rate eligible service list by moving Wi-Fi functionality from a category two service to a category one service, in reply comments posted Friday in docket 13-184. It has "become more evident that educational instruction is effectively achieved by provisioning Wi-Fi on school campuses," the group said: "Given the undeniable importance of Wi-Fi, it no longer fits the characteristics of a category two service." NCTA also asked the FCC to clarify that "routing and switching equipment that enables category one broadband service is itself category one equipment." The current approach "creates significant uncertainty as to whether and how costs should be allocated," it said.