Outlook for FirstNet Remains Unclear, FCC Official Says; Robocall Recommendations Approved
The outlook for FirstNet to change the communications landscape for first responders remains uncertain even as construction gets underway, David Furth, deputy chief of the FCC Public Safety Bureau, told the Consumer Advisory Committee Monday. CAC focused largely on public safety and robocalls, with recorded remarks from Chairman Ajit Pai. Furth said interoperable communications among first responders historically varies by region. “It is very difficult to impose a top-down solution when it comes to interoperability,” he said. “It usually has to be developed from the bottom up.”
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Furth said FirstNet should be a “game changer” since the national network will be fully interoperable. But the net effect remains to be seen, he said. “Public safety is not required to use” FirstNet, he said. “FirstNet is going to have to go out and win public safety customers.” But FirstNet offers first responders an “option” they never had before, he said: “It provides the potential for a much-improved response to emergencies.” FirstNet didn't comment.
Complaints about communications problems on Sept. 11, 2001, came from New York City after the attack on the World Trade Center, Furth said. The Washington, D.C., area didn’t experience similar problems after the Pentagon was hit because the National Capitol Region addressed interoperability issues after an Air Florida flight crashed into the 14th St. bridge over the Potomac River in 1982, he said. “For consumers, for citizens, you need to look how [interoperability] is working or not working in your community.”
CAC members approved recommendations from its Robocalls Working Group on call authentication as a step in addressing unwanted robocalls. The final recommendations haven't been made public. The working group recommends that, once the technology is finalized and ready for implementation, the FCC ensure that call authentication is adopted broadly and quickly, ensure providers can offer consumers these services, and give consumers better protection from spoofed calls originating internationally, FCC officials said.
The working group also recommends the FCC work with stakeholders to explore consumer protection tools and practices, and more specifically with IP-based relay providers, officials said. The recommendations urge continuing focus on enforcement, encourage voice providers to help consumers access these services, and that the FCC continue to study the tools and technologies being implemented by providers to protect consumers from illegal and other unwanted robocalls.
Pai, who is traveling, said in his recorded remarks he looks forward to receiving the robocall recommendations. The FCC is also eager to get CAC’s advice on how to measure the effectiveness of its efforts to combat the calls, he said.
The FCC takes CAC’s advice on the compliant process seriously and recently added a dedicated button to its consumer complaint center landing page to make it easier to file complaints about unwanted calls, Pai said. He also welcomed CAC’s focus on public safety and noted he will soon visit Puerto Rico, hit by Hurricane Maria last year. “The FCC remains committed to recovery efforts, and helping to restore, and in some cases rebuild, communications networks as quickly as possible,” he said. “This reflects consumer protection in its most urgent form.”
FCC staff took quick action after last year’s hurricanes, but more needs to be done, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said. The Public Safety Bureau “jumped into action by dispatching personnel and resources to ensure state and local governments had the help that the FCC could offer to protect their citizens and restore vital communication services,” she said. Maria devastated wireless communications in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, she said. She urged CAC to look at the resiliency of wireless networks in light of last year’s major storms. “It is now time for the agency to revisit this,” she said.
Clyburn said her core principles on public safety are that “people with disabilities and access challenges must benefit” and education is critical. “Collaboration among all stakeholders works better than litigation,” she said. “Sorry, lawyers in the room.” The FCC recently took two important steps -- creating a dedicated Blue Alert code in December (see 1712140045) and in January imposing a Nov. 30, 2019, deadline for wireless carriers to more accurately “geo-target” wireless emergency alerts (see 1801300027), Clyburn noted.