The FCC Wireline Bureau extended comments until April 27, replies until May 27, on an NPRM seeking comment on a centralized bidding portal for E-rate, said an order Wednesday in docket 21-455. A coalition of groups sought the additional time, citing the original comment cycle's overlap with the current E-rate application filing window (see 2203070043).
Country of origin cases
Few changes are likely to be made to the FCC’s draft Further NPRM on pole replacement disputes and notice of inquiry on digital discrimination in broadband access, aides told us. The items are expected to be unanimously approved during Wednesday’s commissioners' meeting.
Telecom-focused lawmakers told us they want more information before committing to pursue more money for additional funding for the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program to repay U.S. carriers for removing from their networks equipment made by Huawei, ZTE and other companies deemed a national security risk. Eight major communications groups wrote the leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations committees earlier this month to press for additional “rip and replace” funding (see 2203030074).
T-Mobile joined a parade of mental health advocates Thursday backing Kansas' proposed fee structure to fund implementation of the 988 suicide prevention hotline. HB2281 would set the structure for and direct implementation of the state's role in the 988 hotline, including designation of hotline centers, convening of mobile crisis teams, training of staff and hiring of a statewide suicide prevention coordinator, the House Committee on Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications was told Thursday. It would impose a monthly surcharge of 20 cents per line on voice services, or a fee of 0.4% on each prepaid wireless transaction, with those fees going to the state 988 fund. The surcharge would generate about $7 million a year. Some states have passed 988 bills without surcharges, and Michigan and Illinois have bills pending that don't use surcharges and instead look at state revenue surpluses, said Patrick Fucik, T-Mobile state government affairs director. "Those funds might dry up eventually," and long-term a fee might be needed, he said. Amy Campbell, Kansas Mental Health Coalition coordinator, agreed relying on the state's general fund can mean a roller-coaster of services being provided and then cut back due to budgetary constraints. Monica Kurz, director of the Kansas Suicide Prevention Resource Center, a crisis call center, said state funding last year helped boost the capacity of the state's crisis call centers, letting more calls that originate in Kansas be answered in-state and directed to local resources. She said before that funding, about 40% of Kansans' calls to the national suicide prevention lifeline were routed out of state because of a lack of call center staffing. She said the per-phone surcharge is "critical" to keeping up current levels of service. She said a significant amount of call traffic to 911 is mental health-related and could end up being handled by 988 over time. Nick Wood, associate director of advocacy organization InterHab, urged retooling language in the bill on providing mobile crisis response services for people with behavioral health or intellectual and developmental disability needs. No bill opponents testified at the hearing.
The FCC appears likely to adopt an ascending-clock auction in the 2.5 GHz band, or some version of a multi-round auction, rather than the sealed-bid approach favored by wireless ISPs, AT&T, Dish Network and others concerned about T-Mobile’s potential to dominate a more traditional auction, industry experts said. The auction is expected to start in July.
To counter malicious domain name registrations involving Russia's invasion of Ukraine, ICANN has begun adding terms in English, Ukrainian, Russian, Polish and other languages to its domain name security threat information collection and reporting system, it said. The watchlist, originally rolled out to fight COVID-19 DNS security threats, searches for phishing or malware names that match a set of related keywords. When evidence of malice appears, the results are reported to the corresponding registrars. Measures European telecom companies are taking to help Ukraine are updated here. Telcos welcomed governments' call to reinforce cybersecurity measures (see 2203090038) and promised to "remain trusted partners to public institutions in countering cyber threats to digital infrastructure." The European Telecommunications Network Operators Association stressed, however, that critical IT infrastructures in sectors such as energy, finance and transport will be increasingly in the sights of cyberattackers, and that there, too, "adequate regulatory precautions must be taken." It urged officials to consider the need to allocate more responsibility for risk management in digital infrastructures to providers of ICT products and services that become integral parts of communication networks.
Music labels claiming Cox Communications is liable for copyright infringement by its broadband subscribers faced seeming skepticism by a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel of judges in oral argument Wednesday (docket 21-1168), as Cox appeals a U.S. District Court finding it liable and upholding a jury's $1 billion verdict (see 2101130025). Judge Allison Jones Rushing said the plaintiff-appellees are asking the court "to embrace an extremely broad theory of liability," and it's not clear why the lower court also agreed with it.
The Arizona Corporation Commission is seeking state USF comments by March 18 on possibly sweeping changes, including expanding support to broadband, the agency said in a Friday notice of inquiry. Arizona commissioners required staff to open the rulemaking in January in docket T-00000A-20-0336 (see 2201120035). The NOI asks questions including what the original purpose of AUSF was, if it still furthers that goal and what else could it be used for. The commission asked if AUSF policy objectives are "technology agnostic and living/evolving" or "static and tied to" landlines, and if those objectives should be updated. Specifically, it asked if the commission should consider repurposing the fund "to include 'advanced telecommunications capacity' or funding to help remove 'barriers to infrastructure investment'?" The agency asked if it should consider expanding AUSF contribution to VoIP, internet or broadband providers, and if an entity should have to contribute to AUSF to receive support. It asked if the commission should expand support to non-telcos including nonprofits, state agencies and local and tribal governments, and if it should expand allowed support uses. The commission asked if it can -- or should -- eliminate state USF or the charge on customer bills. And it asked how coming federal funding should affect its decisions.
Low-power TV broadcaster Lowcountry 34 Media agreed to pay $250,000 penalty and relinquish nearly 100 low-power TV and translator stations over allegations it abused FCC licensing processes to relocate large numbers of stations from rural underserved areas to denser, more urban markets, said a consent decree Monday. Lowcountry erected temporary stations, operated them only a few days and filed multiple requests for minor modifications -- moves of 30 miles or less -- to inch those stations into bigger markets, said the consent decree. Between June and August, LPTV station W29EN-D Beaufort-Lady’s Island, South Carolina, moved more than 99 miles from original community of license Soperton, Georgia, via a series of eight minor modification applications, the consent decree said. Moving stations in this way violates the intent of the minor change rule and denies the public the opportunity to comment on major relocations, the agency said. Low-power broadcasters have said the lack of flexibility in FCC rules for LPTV stations to relocate leads to broadcasters attempting to move through “hops” [see 2112280050). Under the consent decree, Lowcountry will relinquish close to 100 stations to the FCC, and sell just over 30 more, retaining close to 80 stations. It must also create a compliance plan that includes employee training on compliance with communications laws and reporting to the FCC for three years. Lowcountry declined to comment.
The FCC updated its TV protection list for the T band to remove stations that no longer require protection from private land mobile radio. The TV stations removed cover nine major markets, said a Thursday notice by the Wireless and Public Safety bureaus. “Based on our review of the Commission’s records, since the TV protection list was originally published a number of TV stations included on the list have either changed channels or discontinued operation altogether,” the notice said: “It is important for the TV protection list to remain accurate so PLMR applicants seeking to license facilities in the T-Band know which TV stations they need to protect.” PLMR licenses in the band have an exclusive filing window until April 1, to modify their operations. The T band has long been shared with public safety and gets the most use in major cities, including Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Washington.