The California Public Utilities Commission could vote this fall on an incarcerated people’s communications service (IPCS) decision, the CPUC signaled Wednesday. The commission extended its deadline until Oct. 17 to act in docket R.20-10-002. “Commission staff have been reviewing the data submitted related to the cost of providing IPCS services and related ancillary services,” it said. “The next procedural steps are the issuance of a staff report addressing permanent intrastate calling rates caps for IPCS services, as well as rate caps for ancillary fees and charges.” The agency will propose a decision after receiving comment and replies on the staff report, it said. The CPUC has a voting meeting Oct. 17. It would have to propose a decision one month prior. The deadline was originally May 29, 2023.
Country of origin cases
Don't expect big changes in the next-generation 911 draft order that's set for a vote during the FCC commissioners' open meeting Thursday, a 10th-floor official tells us. While the order should help facilitate the NG911 transition, a quicker route would come if Congress found the roughly $15 billion that states and localities likely need for deployment, said Jonathan Gilad, National Emergency Number Association (NENA) government affairs director. Minus federal funding, "it will always be a haves and have-nots situation," with some localities and states more financially able than others to afford the transition, he said. The FCC said the order is aimed at accelerating the NG911 rollout (see 2406270068).
CTA and other industry groups urged that the FCC look closely at concerns raised in initial comments about rules for implementing multilingual wireless emergency alerts (see 2406140051). Meanwhile, some state attorneys general oppose industry efforts at slowing the move to require multilingual alerts. Replies were posted through Monday in dockets 15-91 and 15-94 in response to a notice from the FCC Public Safety Bureau (see 2405130047). The notice proposed a 30-month deadline for implementing templates in English and 13 other languages, plus American Sign Language.
Providers of incarcerated people's communications services criticized a draft FCC order proposing a reduction in the cap on rates providers may charge for audio or video communications. Most urged the commission to reconsider barring providers from recovering safety and security costs incurred for providing IPCS. Advocates welcomed the move and urged that the FCC continue examining other ways to increase access to communications services for incarcerated people. Commissioners will consider the item during their open meeting Thursday (see 2406270068). Comments were posted through Monday.
NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt praised proposed legislation protecting news organizations from deceptive AI-generated content, an NAB release said. Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., on Thursday announced the Content Origin Protection and Integrity from Edited and Deepfaked Media (Copied) Act with Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., (see 2407110044). LeGeyt said he's “grateful” for the bill that will “protect the authenticity of the vital local and national news radio and television stations provide our communities." Deepfakes “pose a significant threat to the integrity of broadcasters’ trusted journalism, especially during an election year when accurate information is paramount.” LeGeyt also said NAB applauds “the prohibition on the use of our news content to train generative AI systems or to create competing content without express consent and compensation to the news creator.”
The Senate Commerce Committee plans to mark up privacy legislation when it returns from recess the week of July 23, Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told reporters Thursday.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau issued an initial determination order against Veriwave Telco Monday for failing to comply with the commission's call blocking rules for providers suspected of carrying illegal traffic. The bureau ordered the company to respond to its order within 14 days, otherwise other providers must block Veriwave's voice traffic. An investigation found suspected illegal traffic originated at Veriwave earlier this year. "Providers must do their part to prevent these junk calls from getting to consumers," Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a news release. If they don't, "they will face significant consequences," she added.
California state senators pushed back on two digital equity bills Tuesday. Multiple Communications Committee members during a livestreamed hearing raised concerns about the Assembly-passed AB-2239, which would ban digital discrimination as the FCC defines it. Also, the committee scaled back the Assembly-approved AB-1588, which had proposed to update the California LifeLine subsidy program to support broadband for low-income households. The committee directed the LifeLine bill’s sponsor to find a compromise with industry opponents and other stakeholders over the summer recess that runs from July 3 to Aug. 5.
Frontier Communications will try harder to meet Connecticut service-quality standards, the carrier said Tuesday at the state’s Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURA). Frontier filed exceptions to a PURA draft decision finding that the carrier violated two of five service quality metrics (see 2406180045). The carrier "plans to implement new processes and expanded and targeted resources to improve the two metrics at issue,” and will expand reports it gives PURA. However, pointing to a 74% reduction in its Connecticut landline count since 2015, Frontier argued that service quality metrics haven’t kept up with market changes. The Department of Public Utility Control, as PURA was then known, proposed updating the service standards for that reason back in 2009, Frontier said. "Assessing fines and penalties against Frontier for on average barely missing two metrics that require close to perfection for the last 10 years when these regulations were to be revised and replaced would be unfair and anticompetitive,” the carrier said. The Connecticut Office of Consumer Counsel, which originally called for the PURA investigation, applauded the regulator’s draft decision. It “reads as the first action in a sequence of actions leading the largest telephone company in Connecticut ... back into full compliance with regulations established in support of state goals,” wrote OCC: An expected follow-up PURA proceeding to set penalties "will be the action which ensures that the vital communication service Frontier provides to Connecticut is reliable and meets the basic needs of its customers."