Industry groups welcomed a draft FCC notice of inquiry on the status of caller ID authentication technology for non-IP networks and providers’ progress in transitioning non-IP networks to IP technology (see 2210060062). Commissioners will consider the item Thursday. NTCA wanted additional language that would seek comment on whether the adoption of new rules could further the transition to IP and the feasibility of adopting non-IP authentication standards.
Country of origin cases
Industry asked the FCC to place more emphasis on proper attestation levels when calls are authenticated, in reply comments posted Monday in docket 17-97 (see 2210040061). The FCC sought comments on caller ID authentication obligations under the Traced Act and the efficacy of Stir/Shaken for its first triennial assessment. Some companies said Stir/Shaken should be implemented on all portions of a provider's network, and sought additional oversight of carriers transmitting unsigned calls.
Cleanup of existing orbital debris could be complicated by lack of clear international norms on how to handle small objects, space law experts told us. Many said clean-up efforts will almost surely focus on big objects in space since technology to deal with small debris is still under development.
About 93% of U.S. households will have a broadband subscription by the end of 2025, either fixed or mobile, as the market enters a “time of renewed competition and innovation,” Parks Associates said Tuesday. Adoption of the original broadband bundle, with pay-TV and voice services, is declining, but “new value-added services are providing new opportunities for increasing customer satisfaction and growing revenue,” said analyst Kristen Hanich. Optimized Wi-Fi and gateway-based cybersecurity are becoming increasingly popular in the residential market, and bulk internet and managed Wi-Fi deployments in the multi-dwelling unit space are making broadband a “competitive, but potentially lucrative, market,” Hanich said. Parks plans the virtual Connections connected home conference Thursday at noon EST.
The FCC's 2020 order on unbundled network elements (UNEs) rules "has had a chilling effect" on fiber to the home deployment, said Sonic Telecom in reply to comments opposing its 2021 petition for reconsideration of portions of the order Monday in docket 19-308 (see 2209160070). Sonic sought reconsideration of the order's findings that there's "no impairment and grant of forbearance for unbundled DS0 Loops and unbundled dark fiber." USTelecom continued to express opposition, but consumer advocacy groups and CLECs urged the commission to grant the petition to promote competition.
The FCC’s second request for information is “highly irregular” and fodder for “an endless fishing expedition,” said Standard General, Tegna and investor Apollo Global Management in their joint response to the Media Bureau’s questions, posted partially redacted Friday in docket 22-162. With just days left on the deal’s 180-day shot clock, the transaction isn’t expected to progress soon at the commission and could be in danger of being blocked, broadcast industry officials told us. Standard, Tegna and Apollo “are astonished that this Transaction, with all of the benefits that it offers to the public interest, is at the receiving end of unrelenting and baseless attacks and delay tactics from the petitioners,” said the information submissions.
Several Supreme Court justices showed skepticism Wednesday that Andy Warhol made fair use in repurposing a photographer’s portrait of musician Prince and selling it as his own transformative work in the 1980s (see 2208210001).
Alaska would shift to connections-based contribution for state USF under a joint proposal by many of the state’s local exchange carriers. The Alaska attorney general’s regulatory affairs and public advocacy (RAPA) section urged the Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) Monday to adopt the Friday-filed plan, which would push back an imminent sunset of the Alaska USF (AUSF) by three years to June 30, 2026. “By that time, the focus of significant federal infrastructure funding in Alaska will be better known, and the Commission will have more information that it may use to determine the best AUSF policy for the long term,” said the proposal.
Comments are due Nov. 10, replies Nov. 25, in the FCC’s NPRM (docket 21-402) to require wireless providers to block texts “at the network level” that purport to be from invalid, unallocated or unused numbers, plus numbers on a Do-Not-Originate list, said a notice in Tuesday’s Federal Register. The FCC is seeking comment (see 2209270070) “on the extent to which spoofing is a problem” for text messaging and what things the commission can do “to encourage providers to identify and block texts that appear to come from spoofed numbers,” it said. The agency also wants to know about the practicality of “applying caller ID authentication standards” to text messaging, it said. Wireless carriers and other texting service providers "should monitor and participate in the proceeding because the outcome will directly affect them by requiring many to upgrade their technology and change some of their operational practices," blogged the Cooley law firm. "Businesses that send out automatic text messages to consumers may be affected if the technology or methods used to deliver these messages is restricted or banned."
Recent music licensing lawsuits against three broadcasters by Global Music Rights indicate the music licensing entity “has lost patience with stations that have not entered into agreements to play their music,” wrote Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford posted Oct. 7. According to legal filings in U.S. District Court, GMR sued Red Wolf in Connecticut, Southern Stone Communications and Black Crowe Media Group in the Middle District of Florida, and One Putt Broadcasting in the Eastern District of California. The courts could potentially lower the damages requested, but “even the threat of such damages has been enough to put many of the original file-sharing music sites out of business,” Oxenford said. Radio stations avoiding playing GMR-licensed music “is a difficult if not impossible task given the songwriters that GMR has signed who have full or partial copyrights in a wide variety of popular music," the blog post said. Commercial radio stations that haven’t reached a licensing agreement with GMR “or otherwise taken action to avoid the need for that license should discuss this issue with their attorneys now to see what actions they can take to avoid potential liability later,” Oxenford said.