All initial comments appeared to support a Voice Communication Exchange Committee request that the FCC issue a notice of inquiry on migrating to HD voice as part of technology transitions the agency is considering, based on filings in docket 13-5 as of Tuesday afternoon. Among NOI backers were Zula co-founder Jeff Pulver (http://bit.ly/1l7mczq), the VoIP pioneer and founder of Vonage; Vonage filing separately (http://bit.ly/1mbbDLX); the Voice on the Net Coalition, which was also founded by Pulver (http://bit.ly/1sC1kdk); and Dialogic, a maker of codecs, including for HD voice (http://bit.ly/Tclfit). The Voice on the Net Coalition said HD voice implementation can give consumers enhanced voice quality, “rejuvenate user interest in voice calls, and improve competitiveness of global communications infrastructure,” all within the IP transition. Vonage called an NOI an “incremental step” and said the FCC should promote the IP transition: An “NOI exploring the standards development -- and related IP transition issues” -- would “smooth the transition to HD voice.” Monday was the deadline for comments on a Wireline Bureau public notice seeking feedback on the committee’s request (http://bit.ly/1nCdE4Z). It noted the request was for the agency to “investigate the benefits of a common HD voice implementation to replace standard definition voice services historically associated with the Public Switched Telephone Network.”

National hotel chains have made real progress enabling guests to dial 911 directly, FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1v24oLt). Pai said in January he would contact major hotel chains to ensure 911 works wherever it’s dialed (CD Jan 14 p14). He raised a December incident in which a child tried to dial 911 when her mother was being strangled by her estranged husband. The child “tried to call 911 four times but never reached emergency personnel” because the hotel required her to first dial 9 to get an outside line, Pai said then. The Wyndham Hotel Group reported earlier this year that only 80 percent of its owned and managed properties allowed direct dialing to 911, but now all its properties do so, Pai said. Hyatt initially reported that 75 percent of its managed properties allowed direct 911 access, but it now provides this functionality at 99 percent of its properties, he said. The American Hotel and Lodging Association (AH&LA) is “continuing to play an important role in solving this problem,” Pai said. “AH&LA has now issued an industry-wide recommendation that encourages all of its members to move to direct 911 dialing.” AH&LA is hosting a members-only webinar on the issue Thursday (http://bit.ly/1v28wLs).

A group of rate-of-return regulated rural local exchange carriers wants broadband access for rural and urban areas on similar conditions, rates and terms within USF budget parameters, it told the FCC. The Small Company Coalition, which has described itself as a national group of rural telecom and broadband providers (http://bit.ly/1nC5EkH), asked the agency to avoid unfunded mandates or retroactive rulemaking. It said “voice traffic will never go away completely,” as it declines at a 5-15 percent rate annually and “networks are not being used less, but instead are being used more than ever,” in an attachment (http://bit.ly/1jLisUo) to a coalition letter to the commission posted Monday in docket 10-90 (http://bit.ly/1o08FxY). “IP and bandwidth is replacing TDM and voice traffic at an alarming rate.” The coalition said its proposal would work with one from ITTA, a group of mid-sized telcos, and rate-of-return companies could choose which model works best. The coalition said it has “refined and improved” its plan after getting feedback from industry stakeholders and to reflect issues raised in the FCC Connect America Fund order (CD June 12 p7). The materials didn’t identify the members of the coalition.

Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld said the FCC must provide more clarity on its Communications Act Section 214 discontinuance of service rules as the IP transition moves forward. His comments came in a meeting with Daniel Alvarez, an aide to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. The agency could pursue several approaches, from an enforcement letter of inquiry to a general inquiry into industry practices to an information request or some combination “as long as the Commission actually does something,” Feld said. “Continued failure of the agency to act undermines the confidence of the public in the agency’s ability to manage the transition and protect consumers.” The FCC posted Feld’s filing Monday in docket 12-353 (http://bit.ly/T3yW3b). Feld said he did not specifically discuss AT&T’s IP transition pilots, but said there remains “considerable confusion over the relationship between the pilot projects and Section 214(a).”

The FCC Wireline Bureau made some changes on local number portability (LNP), as recommended by the North American Numbering Council, while declining to approve a NANC preference involving states and changes to area codes. The bureau didn’t make any changes related to LNP administrator, which is the subject of a separate public notice after the NANC recommended a unit of Ericsson be the next LNP administrator, a job now held by Neustar. (See separate report in this issue.) LNP “provisioning flows” to improve the phone number porting process will be improved via changes to canceling a number port request, stopping new service providers from prematurely activating ports and other clarifications, said a bureau order released in Monday’s FCC Daily Digest (http://bit.ly/V6bFQ4). “Notwithstanding” the NANC’s “preference for area code overlays over area code splits,” the order said it clarified that “states still have the option to choose the best means of implementing area code relief for their citizens.”

Data from a “preliminary” study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) shows interconnection is only one of “numerous reasons a broadband user could have a frustrating experience with their broadband,” said Doug Brake, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation telecom policy analyst, in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1ijT3X7). The MIT/UCSD study, released last week, showed congestion on the Internet doesn’t appear to be widespread and is mostly confined to issues like Netflix’s streaming latency (CD June 19 p9). Blaming network congestion on ISPs, as Netflix has, “is not at all supported by recent data collected by the FCC that shows ISPs deliver, on average, 101 percent of advertised speeds,” Brake said.

The FCC Wireline Bureau Connect America Cost Model order provides too much support to price-cap LEC territories, said the American Cable Association in an application for review (http://bit.ly/1jJQCI3) posted Monday in docket 10-90. The order is “erroneous” because it presumes too high a cost and too low of a “take-rate” -- revenue from users -- in calculating the funding, ACA said. The commission should have instead used figures suggested by ACA, the group said. It said that would let support be provided “more efficiently, enabling many more unserved locations to be supported in the Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase II."

The FCC urged the Supreme Court to deny a petition for writ of certiorari to a plaintiff who alleged that Clear Channel violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit “correctly determined that the FCC’s use and explication of its TCPA exemption authority is entitled to deference,” the commission said in a brief in opposition (http://bit.ly/1szMaVW). “Further review is not warranted.” The FCC said a phone call from a TV or radio station whose purpose “is merely to invite a consumer to listen to or view a broadcast is not a telephone solicitation within the TCPA restrictions.” The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed the complaint, and plaintiff Mark Leyse challenged the FCC rule in his petition, said the agency.

The Ericsson unit that an FCC advisory group recommended be the local number portability administrator (LNPA) wants some changes to a commission protective order on bid documents. Telcordia Technologies, doing business as iconectiv, said some such documents can be made available without a protective order, some need a level 1 confidentiality finding -- requiring such an order to be issued -- while still others should be deemed as a current order calls for as highly confidential, or level 2. In a filing posted Monday in docket 09-109, John Nakahata of Harris Wiltshire, a lawyer for iconectiv, reported having told FCC Office of General Counsel staffers that a level 1 protective order “would supplement the current protective order.” Categories of those able to view highly confidential documents should be expanded to include some in-house lawyers and subject matter experts at some companies, associations, public interest groups and local, state and federal agencies, wrote the lawyer for iconectiv (http://bit.ly/1lkpyUi). The North American Numbering Council recommended that firm, rather than current administrator Neustar, be the next LNPA (CD June 11 p16). A Wireline Bureau order Monday made other changes to local number portability processes as recommended by the council. (See separate report in this issue.)

The FCC Wireline Bureau seeks comment on Healthcare Connect Fund (HCF) annual reports, it said in a public notice in docket 02-60 Thursday about increasing broadband use for providing such medical care (http://bit.ly/1qyAZus). In an accompanying order, the bureau waived the annual reporting requirements for rural healthcare pilot program and HCF consortium leads for funding year 2013. The bureau asked how it should structure those reports for funding year 2014 and beyond. Comments will be due 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.