The Edison Electric Institute and California utilities asked the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau to grant a petition for partial reconsideration from EEI and others of the commission's Telephone Consumer Protection Act exemptions order, said an ex parte letter posted Thursday in docket 02-278. The order places "arbitrary limits on informational, prerecorded calls" that will "significantly hinder customers’ ability to receive important information that is closely related to their utility service," said EEI, San Diego Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, and Pacific Gas and Electric.
Covington Electric Cooperative will accept the FCC’s offer to withdraw two census blocks it won during the Rural Digital Opportunity Phase I auction, it said in a waiver request posted Wednesday in docket 19-126 (see 2108040054). It asked the commission to waive all penalties associated with doing so. Tallahatchie Valley Internet Services also accepted the offer for one of the census blocks it won and asked for a waiver Wednesday. Tallahatchie is the third provider to accept the FCC's offer. Citynet agreed to withdraw five census blocks it won and last week asked for a similar waiver.
Comments are due to the FCC Aug. 24, replies Aug. 31, on Zoom's proposed buy of Five9, said a public notice Tuesday in docket 21-316. Under the agreement, Zoom subsidiary Summer Merger Sub would combine with Five9 and continue as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zoom.
The FCC Wireline Bureau granted the Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing’s request to extend the comment period of its Further NPRM on interstate rate caps for inmate calling services, in an order Tuesday. Groups including the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, National Association of the Deaf and Public Knowledge backed the request (see 2108030073). Comments are due by Sept 27, replies Oct 27, in docket 12-375.
Emergency broadband benefit program providers have until Aug. 16 to certify reimbursement claims for services provided in May and June if they have uploaded their claims but were unable to complete the certification of those claims by July 15, said an FCC Wireline Bureau order Tuesday in docket 20-445. Atlantic Broadband sought an extension to certify claims for June. The bureau previously gave all participating ISPs an extra month to submit claims for services provided in May (see 2106080046).
The Voice on the Net Coalition asked the FCC to grant the “widely-supported” petitions for reconsideration that it and CTIA filed seeking additional comments on the deadline for carriers to block calls originating from foreign service providers that aren’t in the robocall mitigation database. The potential number of uncompleted calls “should be more of a concern” than “speculative illegal robocalls” from foreign carriers, VON said in an ex parte letter posted Monday in docket 17-97. VON said it also supports AT&T’s request for a six-month extension for foreign providers to register with the database (see 2108040075).
The proposed North American Numbering Plan Administration Fund size for FY 2022 will be $8.6 million with a contribution factor of 0.0000535, said an FCC Wireline Bureau public notice Monday in docket 92-237. The fund estimate and contribution factor will take effect Aug. 23 unless the commission acts.
Industry backed extending the letter of credit requirement waiver for Connect America Fund Phase II and rural broadband experiments support recipients beyond Dec. 31, in comments posted Monday in docket 10-90. Comments were due Friday (see 2107060073). CAF II recipients are facing "pervasive" supply chain delays, said the Connect America Fund Phase II Coalition. The group, whose members include Air Link Rural Broadband, Nextlink, Aristotle Unified Communications, GeoLinks, Cal.net, IdeaTek Telcom, Inventive Wireless of Nebraska and Midcontinent Communications, said the waiver should be made permanent “given the annual increase in the CAF letter of credit value that will exacerbate the pandemic and post-pandemic challenges CAF recipients have and are experiencing.” USTelecom agreed and said it's "good policy" to adopt Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction letter of credit requirements for CAF II.
No major changes were made to the FCC NPRM updating the compensation methodology for IP relay service supported by the Telecom Relay Service Fund, we found in our comparison with the draft. Commissioners approved the order during Thursday's meeting (see 2108050038). The final order was posted Friday in docket 03-123. Comments will be due 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, with 60 days for replies.
AT&T told FCC Wireline Bureau staff that some international service providers experienced issues when trying to register in the robocall mitigation database, said an ex parte letter posted Wednesday in docket 17-97. It said that some international providers were rejected when submitting a request for the federal registration system and that secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) and signature-based handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) implementation references in the instructions for robocall mitigation plan certification “are causing confusion” for some providers. Providers operating in embargoed countries are also blocked from accessing the database, AT&T said, noting it backed a six-month extension for foreign voice service providers to register.