FCC Meeting Includes Items on 911 in Buildings, ESIMs, Cable Duties, Toll-Free Auctions
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai plans a Sept. 26 vote on a proposal to improve 911 calling from office buildings, schools, hotels and other locations using multiline, centralized communications systems. In a Tuesday blog, Pai said commissioners' September meeting also will consider orders aimed at speeding 5G wireless deployment (see 1809040056), consolidating rules governing earth stations in motion (ESIM) and eliminating an annual filing requirement by cable operators; a Further NPRM on changing rules governing franchise fees charged by local franchise authorities; an item on a possible auction of toll-free numbers; and two enforcement actions. The preliminary meeting agenda and draft items are due Wednesday.
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A draft would propose to address centralized communications system 911 problems, including requirements that callers dial "9" to make external calls, which can cause confusion, said Pai, who wants to ensure callers can directly dial "911." He said the agency would seek ways to give first responders more precise location and routing information to help find callers in large buildings or complexes. The item would implement provisions of the 2017 Kari's Law Act, he said, and is informed by an inquiry the FCC launched in September 2017 (see 1709260040).
The cable franchising draft FNPRM tentatively concludes in-kind cable contributions can be treated as franchise fees and would be subject to the same 5 percent of gross revenue cap, an official told us. Pai said the item raises issues "designed to promote competition by ensuring parity between incumbent cable operators and new entrants" and aims to help ensure local franchising requirements don't discourage investment. He said the FNPRM would address issues raised on remand by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; that court last year remanded extending the mixed-use rule to incumbent carriers (see 1707120031).
Regulating ESIMs differently based on the type of vehicle to which they are attached "doesn't make a lot of sense," Pai said. Commissioners in May 2017 approved an ESIM rules harmonization NPRM (see 1705180042).
Calling Form 325, filled out annually by cable operators, an "unnecessary requirement," Pai said the draft order's aim is to eliminate it. He said video industry changes have reduced the form's usefulness. FCC members last year unanimously approved an NPRM regarding elimination of the reporting requirement (see 1711160054). The draft order says the information that comes from 325 can be collected elsewhere, and filling it out is a burden on cable operators, an official said.
Another draft item would apply auctions to the allocation of toll-free numbers. "We’ll decide whether to establish the framework for an auction of certain numbers in the recently opened 833 toll-free code," said Pai: It "would help us determine how best to use competitive bidding to assign toll-free numbers." It's a follow-up to an NPRM last September (see 1709260040). The two Enforcement Bureau items can't be revealed until the meeting because of law-enforcement reasons, Pai said.