Robotexts, Satellite Calls to Wireless Phones Top Busy FCC Agenda

The agency provided many details of the robotexting order and Further NPRM in a Wednesday news release (see 2302220059). The robotext draft says industry work hasn't been adequate: “Mobile wireless providers and others have taken steps to protect consumers from unwanted text messages; nevertheless, unwanted text messaging is trending in the wrong direction.” It pegs at $9.35 billion annually the annual cost of fraudulent spam texts. “Even a small reduction in spam texts would result in benefit to consumers of many millions of dollars annually,” the FCC said.

The order would require mobile wireless providers to block text messages from numbers on a “Do Not Originate list, which includes numbers that purport to be from invalid, unallocated, or unused North American Numbering Plan numbers, and numbers for which the subscriber to the number has requested that texts purporting to originate from that number be blocked.” Carriers would also be required establish “a single point of contact for texters to report erroneously blocked texts.” Steps are modeled on rules for voice calls, the FCC said.

The FNPRM examines other actions the agency could take, including requiring carriers to block texts from a sender after they receive FCC notice that the sender is transmitting illegal texts, and extending the national do not call registry’s protections to text messages. The FNPRM examines a ban on the “practice of obtaining a single consumer consent as grounds for delivering calls and text messages from multiple marketers on subjects beyond the scope of the original consent” and seeks comment on text authentication.

The order “provides a baseline level of consumer protection from spoofed text messages,” the draft says: Proposals in the notice “would address more potentially illegal messages and unwanted, annoying messages.”

Under the SCS authorization proposal, the commission would add a mobile satellite service allocation to some terrestrial flexible-use bands, allowing satellites to provide coverage supplementing terrestrial networks. That SCS approach “will incentivize creative partnerships between terrestrial network and space station operators and will provide additional tools to close wireless coverage gaps,” the FCC said. Rather than an ad-hoc waiver approach, an SCS authorization framework would mean "clear rules generally applicable to all,” it said. Citing technical considerations and complexity, the agency said its SCS proposal for now would be limited to spectrum and locations where only one terrestrial entity has licenses for the relevant frequencies and the band has no nonflexible-use incumbent operations. The NPRM asks about extending that framework proposal further to instances where multiple co-channel licensees are in a given area.

Asked Thursday during an earnings call (see 2302230037) about the booming interest in satellite/terrestrial mobile coverage partnerships, Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen said there ultimately will be numerous satellite operators in that area, with many failing “and room for one really, really good system.” He said Dish and EchoStar, with common ownership, have satellite and telecom expertise and spectrum that make them "well positioned" for terrestrial mobile.

Robocalls

The Stir/Shaken order takes “further steps to combat illegally spoofed robocalls by expanding caller ID authentication and robocall mitigation obligations and creating new mechanisms to hold bad actors accountable for violations of our rules,” the draft says: “We adopt the first mandatory authentication requirement for intermediate providers to capture calls that are not authenticated by originating providers” and “require all providers to take reasonable steps to mitigate illegal robocalls and file mitigation plans in the Robocall Mitigation Database -- regardless of their STIR/SHAKEN status or whether they have the facilities necessary to implement STIR/SHAKEN.”

The order also gives the Enforcement Bureau updated tools to impose penalties against bad actors, “including the ability to remove the section 214 and other Commission authorizations, licenses, and certifications of repeat offenders and establish a process to expel providers that commit certain violations of our rules from the Robocall Mitigation Database on an expedited basis.” The order also defines the Stir/Shaken obligations of satellite providers.

An NPRM takes a close look at the use of third-party solutions to authenticate caller ID. “The record before us is not sufficient for us to understand the full scope of the various arrangements that exist between providers and third parties that authenticate their calls,” the draft says: “Nor does it allow us to determine whether these third-party arrangements satisfy the requirements of the Commission’s authentication rules, how and what information is shared within those arrangements, whether that information sharing implicates privacy, security, or other legal concerns, and whether they have a net positive or negative effect on the reliability of the STIR/SHAKEN framework and its objective to curtail illegal spoofing.”

A draft NPRM would begin the implementation of the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2022 by seeking comment on how to establish "just and reasonable" rates for inmate calling services. The prison calling item would also seek comment on how the FCC should treat safety and security costs of providing services to incarcerated individuals, how the size or type of facility should be treated under any new rules, and ensuring "any audio and video communications services used by incarcerated people are accessible to and usable by people with disabilities," the draft said.

Comments on the draft NPRM would be due 30 days after Federal Register publication, 60 days for replies, in docket 23-62. A related draft order would reaffirm the Wireline Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics' data collection authority. Staff would be directed to complete a new data analysis within 24 months after enactment of the Martha Wright-Reed Act.

A draft further NPRM on expanding audio description requirements to all broadcast markets would take a phased approach, as did the last expansion of the rules. The draft proposes phasing in 10 designated market areas (DMAs) each year until all DMAs are covered and would start the expansion Jan. 1, 2025. All 210 DMAs would be required to offer the service by Jan. 1, 2035, the draft said. The draft also seeks comment on whether the costs of implementing the requirements are reasonable and proposes procedures for handling exemptions and waivers.

Another draft order would update FCC rules to incorporate “four new and updated standards that are integral to equipment testing,” all from ANSI or the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). “By updating our rules to keep pace with significant developments in the standards-setting community, we ensure that our equipment authorization program relies on the latest guidance so that the public has confidence that today’s advanced devices comply with our technical rules,” the authentication draft said.

The standards include "American National Standard Validation Methods for Radiated Emission Test Sites; 1 GHz to 18 GHz” (ANSI C63.25.1:2018). The update “would consolidate guidance from existing standards to clearly apply through higher frequency bands,” the FCC said. The others are: “American National Standards of Procedures for Compliance Testing of Unlicensed Wireless Devices” (ANSI C63.10:2020); “General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories” (ISO/IEC 17025:2017); and “Addendum to the American National Standard for Methods of Measurement of Radio-Noise Emissions from LowVoltage Electrical and Electronic Equipment in the Range of 9 kHz to 40 GHz, Amendment 1: Test Site Validation” (ANSI C63.4a-2017).