The FCC issued a cease and desist letter to Avid Telecom Wednesday, saying the company "apparently originated multiple illegal telemarketing robocall campaigns" for health insurance. The letter noted Avid's response to the Industry Traceback Group claimed its customer who initiated the calls had prior consent, but the customer "failed to make adequate disclosures to obtain consent." The investigation "builds off of the work of state Attorneys General who recently filed a lawsuit against Avid Telecom," which found that the company "sent or transmitted more than 7.5 billion calls" to numbers on the Do Not Call Registry.
A coalition of consumer advocacy organizations backed the Communication Service for the Deaf's petition for declaratory ruling that direct video calling services are eligible for Telecom Relay Service Fund support (see 2305050027). Telecom for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and the National Association of the Deaf said direct video calling is "uniquely positioned" to fulfill the functionally equivalent requirements for American Sign Language users, in comments posted Tuesday in docket 03-123. It's "an efficient, accurate, and private means of realtime video communication," they said.
The FCC Wireline Bureau extended the deadline for reply comments until June 27 on its incarcerated persons calling services data collection public notice and replies until July 12 on an NPRM on implementing the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2022, per an order Thursday in docket 12-375. The Wright Petitioners, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, Public Knowledge, United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry and Worth Rises filed a joint petition seeking an extension on the NPRM (see 2305240035).
Verizon asked the FCC to extend until Dec. 31 the deadline for providers to implement do-not-originate blocking and Stir/Shaken signatures to unsigned calls from foreign service providers, in a letter posted Thursday in docket 17-59. The carrier filed a petition in December seeking the extension, noting there are "special circumstances confirming the appropriateness of extending the compliance deadline (see 2302020073). Verizon said it found after a "recent week-long study" that "not a single call traversing the legacy gateway infrastructure carried a 'calling party' number on the Industry Traceback Group’s DNO list" and "virtually no illegal robocalls traverse this legacy infrastructure."
The FCC's rules aimed at curbing access stimulation are effective June 30, said a notice for Thursday's Federal Register. Commissioners adopted an order in April expanding its rules to traffic that terminates through IP-enabled services providers (see 2304200039).
The Southeastern Rural Broadband Alliance asked the FCC to update the Connect America Fund broadband loop support (CAF BLS) mechanism as it considers modifications to the Alternative Connect America Model program. The group said in a meeting with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Wireline Bureau staff that doing so will "harmonize federal funding to achieve the nation’s goal of ensuring universal access to broadband and closing the digital divide in a coordinated fashion," per an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 10-90. The alliance also asked the FCC to consider adopting a "voluntary incentive option" for CAF BLS recipients, saying it would "ensure that all serviceable locations have access to 100/20 Mbps broadband."
The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition urged the FCC to abandon its proposal to establish an online competitive bidding portal for the E-rate program. The group, in a meeting with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, cited a letter from Senate Commerce ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to the GAO asking the agency to investigate the FCC's administration of USF programs (see 2305110066). SHLB said there are "other ways to reduce the risk of fraud" in E-rate, per an ex parte filing Friday in docket 21-455, adding the FCC has "already been implementing the GAO's principal recommendation to use data analytics to identify fraud risks."
The FCC waived the budget control mechanism for rural cost-based Connect America Fund broadband loop support and high-cost loop support recipients until June 2024, said an order Tuesday in docket 10-90. "Absent a waiver, the projected budget control reduction factor would exceed 18%," the order said. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel confirmed with reporters last week that the item was under circulation as the current waiver is set to expire in June (see 2305180036). The commission "remains committed to re-evaluating the deployment obligations and funding levels for such providers that will apply in 2024," the order said. The order "will allow rural broadband providers to keep their focus on delivering high-quality, reasonably priced voice and broadband services rather than figuring out where to reduce investments, cut back operations, or raise customer rates in the face of a significant budget cut," said NTCA Executive Vice President Mike Romano in a statement.
A coalition of advocacy organizations asked the FCC to extend until July 12 the deadline for reply comments on implementing the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act. Replies are now due by June 6 (see 2304060063). The Wright Petitioners, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, Public Knowledge, United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry and Worth Rises said in a motion posted Wednesday in docket 23-62 that the extension will "allow the commission to expeditiously move forward to collect new data in the 2023 mandatory data collection."
The FCC Wireline Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics denied Etheric Communication's petition for reconsideration of the bureau's decision to deny and dismiss as moot the provider's request for waiver of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction eligible telecom carrier designation deadline. The order posted Tuesday in docket 19-126 said it would "not serve the public interest to delay action on Etheric’s long-form application indefinitely while Etheric considered and pursued an appeal" of the California Public Utilities Commission's decision to deny its ETC request.