The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau wants comment by Sept. 2, replies Sept. 17 in docket 03-123 on T-Mobile's amendment to its application for certification to provide IP captioned telephone service supported by the Telecom Relay Service Fund, said an item in Wednesday's Daily Digest.
Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Inc. asked the FCC to extend comments and replies 30 days on an FNPRM on inmate calling services rates, in a motion posted Tuesday in docket 12-375 (see 2107270055). The commission's inquiries are "wide-ranging and complex," TDI said. "Affording additional time for organizations to develop their comments will ensure that a full record is developed." TDI said the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, Human Rights Defense Center, National Association of the Deaf, Public Knowledge, United Church of Christ, Voqal and a few others back its request.
Industry and advocates backed restoring reimbursement for Lifeline voice support. Comments posted Tuesday in docket 11-42 on NASUCA’s petition for FCC reconsideration of the 2016 Lifeline order on phasedown of voice-only support. Comments were due Monday (see 2106280011). Voice service is “an essential service and should be fully supported through the Lifeline program,” NASUCA said. "Affordable voice service remains essential for low-income households," said the National Lifeline Association, which CTIA echoed. The California Public Utilities Commission agreed: voice service is "essential" in areas where broadband affordability and access are obstacles. Lifeline users "will be forced to buy broadband bundles, which may be unaffordable to them or unwanted" if voice-only support is no longer available, said NTCA. The Wireline Bureau's recent Lifeline market report (see 2107060056) "confirms our early observation that voice services would continue to be popular with and needed by Lifeline recipients," said Free Press.
Providers asked for greater flexibility in notification times and type of information relayed to public safety answering points in response to the FCC’s NPRM to harmonize 911 outage reporting, in comments posted Monday in docket 15-80. Comments were due Friday (see 2106290046). PSAP notifications should be triggered by “reportable outages,” said T-Mobile. It said requiring originating service providers to notify PSAPs about commercial outages would “increase the volume of notifications received by PSAPs significantly” and “not provide information that could be used by PSAPs to mitigate the impact.” T-Mobile said providers should be given more than 30 minutes to send “actionable information." AT&T, Verizon and Lumen agreed. Keep the “as soon as possible” standard to prevent over-notification, AT&T said. The proposed timing “would risk confusion and miscommunication between service providers and PSAPS,” Verizon said. Lumen said the timing should be “more flexible to avoid publicizing unvetted facts that may confuse the public.” The National Emergency Number Association said to prioritize electronic notifications because voice communication “comes with significant limitations surrounding sharing, recording, analysis, and continuity.” ATIS said providers won’t know the root cause or extent of an outage within 30 minutes and “additional burden to the industry and potential confusion would outweigh the benefits.” CTIA said it would be “extremely difficult for that provider to verify the other material information the proposal requests within that timeframe.” The Competitive Carriers Association agreed and said carriers “risk supplying PSAPs with incomplete or inaccurate information.” APCO disagreed and said notifications “should occur as quickly as possible.” Requiring notification no later than 15 minutes from discovery “would provide a stronger incentive for service providers to automate their notifications,” it said. Lumen opposed including geographic information systems data instead of descriptions of areas affected. USTelecom said smaller providers would “have no way of immediately providing this type of information” because they don't collect it in real-time.
Video relay service providers disagree on freezing VRS rates, in comments posted Friday in FCC docket 03-123. Comments on the NPRM proposing a tiered-rate structure were due Thursday. VRS “is now at an inflection point,” said GlobalVRS. Tiered-rate compensation “has proven appropriate for the program,” it said, but the underlying methodology should be changed to consider provider scale and efficiency. Focus on functional equivalency and reject calls to freeze the current rates, said ZVRS (see 2107280044). A rate freeze would “erase much of the recent progress in VRS toward market balance and consumer choice, introduce uncertainty for smaller providers, and benefit only the dominant provider,” it said. GlobalVRS agreed. Rely on 2019 costs as a rate-setting benchmark instead of freezing current rates, said NCTA. Sorenson asked the commission to freeze the current rates for two years to “consider post-COVID VRS rates in light of the actual costs and demand for VRS that will exist in a post-COVID world.” Convo Communications agreed and said the FCC could consider extending the freeze to 2024 “given the current trajectory of the pandemic.”
Comments are due Aug. 13, replies Aug. 30 on Hughes Network Systems' request for more time to comply with its tribal engagement obligations as a recipient of Connect America Fund Phase II support through New York's New NY Broadband Program, said an FCC docket 10-90 public notice in Thursday's Daily Digest.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau proposed to fine Peace Communications $50,000 for its “apparent, willful, and repeated failure” to timely file telecom reporting worksheets with Universal Service Administrative Co., said a notice of apparent liability Thursday. The company failed to timely file 14 worksheets 201-20, staff said. CEO Jim Peace didn’t comment.
USTelecom, AT&T, Frontier, Lumen and Verizon asked the FCC to use session initiation protocol return code 603 to notify callers about blocked calls, said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 17-59. The code is “the only way providers can implement a return code in the short term,” they said. If the commission does mandate SIP code 603, “leave some flexibility for appropriate response codes that are still in development through the industry standard bodies.” They asked Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff to confirm call blocking notifications should be based on analytics programs (see 2106150062).
The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau wants comment by Aug. 26, replies Sept. 10, in docket 03-123 on Tive’s application for certification to provide video relay service supported by the Telecom Relay Service Fund, said a public notice Tuesday.
The FCC order lowering interim interstate rate caps for inmate calling services is effective Oct. 26, says Wednesday’s Federal Register (see 2105240055). Information collection requirements are “delayed indefinitely.” Delegation of authority to the Wireline Bureau, Office of Economics and Analytics, and Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, and the commission’s denial of Global Tel*Link’s petition for reconsideration on the jurisdictional nature of a call, are effective Wednesday. Comments on the Further NPRM are due Aug. 27, replies Sept. 27, in docket 12–375.