Allow emergency broadband benefit providers to receive reimbursement for tablets that can make cellular calls, StandUp Wireless asked FCC Wireline Bureau staff in an ex parte letter posted Tuesday in docket 20-445. StandUp filed a petition in October seeking a waiver of EBB rules excluding these devices. Its EBB customers "are frustrated with their inability to use their connected device to fully utilize the company’s bundled service offering of unlimited voice, text and 8 GB of mobile broadband data" because it "had to remove the cellular voice and text functionality from the tablets," the company said.

Comments are due Dec. 10, replies by Jan. 10, in docket 17-59 on a Further NPRM addressing robocalls and gateway providers, said an FCC order Monday granting the Voice on the Net Coalition and others' request for an extension (see 2111040058). The Wireline and Consumer and Governmental Affairs bureaus agreed the upcoming holidays "effectively [shorten] the normal time for filing comments" and "[appreciated] what appears to be the support of many interested parties for more fully developing the record in this proceeding."

Inmate calling service providers and advocacy groups disagreed with some proposed reporting requirements in FCC mandatory data collection, in comments posted Friday (see 2105200044). Including surveillance and security costs is "vital" to determining rate caps, said Worth Rises in docket 12-375, saying the FCC should impose a penalty on ICS providers that "manipulate" those costs. The Prison Policy Institute sought clarity on how security services are defined. The Wright Petitioners, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society and Public Knowledge agreed and urged "robust collection" of data. Securus said security costs are "inextricably intertwined with the provisions of ICS," which Global Tel*Link echoed. Mandatory data collection is "not the proper administrative vehicle for evaluating what categories of security costs are directly related to ICS," GTL said. On a reporting period, advocacy groups and Securus want 2019-2021; NCIC suggested 2021 is "the most relevant year." GTL objected to several aspects of the proposed data collection. It said providers don't maintain sufficient records because they're nondominant competitive carriers and aren't required to do so: The FCC would "foist upon" them accounting and reporting requirements "impossible to satisfy."

The Voice on the Net Coalition sought two more weeks for comments, another two for replies, on a Further NPRM addressing robocalls and gateway providers (see 2111040058). The request was backed by the Cloud Communications Alliance, CTIA, GSMA, Incompas, NCTA, NTCA and USTelecom.

Extend the comment deadline four weeks total until Dec. 10, replies until Jan. 10, on a Further NPRM addressing robocalls and gateway providers, the Voice on the Net Coalition asked in an FCC petition posted Thursday in docket 17-59 (see 2110250045). VON cited the public safety answering point Do Not Call registry Further NPRM, which has comment deadlines around the same time, and upcoming holidays. Its request was backed by several other groups.

The California Public Utilities Commission invited the public Thursday to a virtual hearing Nov. 16 at 6 p.m. PST on AT&T ending landline service in areas of the state where it resells Frontier Communications service. California residents have spoken against the change during public comments at recent CPUC meetings and in writing in docket A.21-05-007. Consumer advocates raised concerns this summer (see 2108260049).

The FCC Wireline Bureau granted some of the extra time NCTA sought for stakeholders to file replies on a public notice seeking to refresh the record on broadband access in multi-tenant environments, said an order in Wednesday's Daily Digest (see 2110210053). Replies are now due Nov. 19 in docket 17-142. NCTA sought about twice as much time.

Connect America Fund Phase II Coalition's petition to waive certain eligible locations adjustment process (ELAP) requirements is "procedurally defective" and would "create a perverse incentive for Phase II auction support recipients not to serve locations in the highest cost areas of the state," said a docket 10-90 FCC Wireline Bureau order denying the petition listed in Tuesday's Daily Digest (see 2006150048). The petition, while "stylized as a waiver request," is a request for reconsideration of commission rules, and the coalition "makes no attempt to demonstrate that its arguments could not have been timely raised," the order said: "Absent special circumstances, individual hardships in meeting obligations cannot outweigh the compromising effects that selective application of the ELAP support adjustments would have on the integrity, efficiency, and fairness of the program." The group's petition asked that the location adjustment process for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction be retroactively applied to Phase II recipients. “The coalition is disappointed in the FCC’s decision," emailed attorney Steve Coran: "It seems strange that the FCC would want to maintain different sets of rules for two very similar programs. We were hoping the FCC would take note of the issues inherent in determining the number of actual locations and provide similar relief to the class of CAF recipients that sought waiver."

Exempt calls blocked through a Do Not Originate list from the notification requirements, Somos asked FCC Governmental Affairs Bureau staff in an ex parte posted Tuesday in docket 17-59. Somos said its primary concern about USTelecom's petition for reconsideration of call blocking notifications was "how the notification requirements would operate when blocking calls" from a DNO list (see 2105200074). The notifications "could alert the party spoofing that the number they have spoofed will be blocked, leading them to try spoofing a different number," it said.

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, National Digital Inclusion Alliance and MediaJustice asked the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Monday to grant their motion to intervene in support of the FCC in Consumers' Research's challenge of the USF Q4 contribution factor (see 2110050056). The groups said in docket 21-3886 their interests "will be adversely affected if the petitioners prevail." The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition also asked to intervene in support of the FCC. If successful, the petition "would do great harm to the interests and goals of SHLB and its members," the group said.