Landline service quality standards should extend to broadband, VoIP and wireless, California’s Public Advocates Office said Wednesday. The PAO filed a petition asking the state Public Utilities Commission to open a rulemaking to treat all four communication types as essential services. The independent office within the CPUC also said the agency should change its current policy of letting carriers invest in their own networks the amount of proposed fines in lieu of paying those penalties. PAO cited “broad authority” for extending service quality standards under the California Constitution, PUC rules and state police power. Net neutrality decisions by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and the U.S. District Court for Eastern California said the FCC 2018 order didn't preempt state action on broadband services, the office added. VoIP and wireless service providers are “telephone corporations” over which the commission has authority, the office said. “Congress left to the states the ability to regulate the terms and conditions of wireless service in order to protect customers.” A state law that banned the commission from regulating VoIP and IP-enabled services sunset Jan. 1, 2020 (see 1909120072), it said. Commissioner Cliff Rechtschaffen last week supported launching a rulemaking to review the penalty policy (see 2109230067). The PAO said the existing structure doesn't ensure compliance by the state's biggest telcos AT&T and Frontier Communications and isn’t “measurably improving service quality.” AT&T, the California Cable and Telecommunications Association, USTelecom and CTIA didn’t comment. Frontier and the Voice on the Net Coalition declined to comment.

The FCC should "develop and implement methods for collecting and reporting accurate and complete data on broadband access, especially on tribal lands where service is known to be lacking," GAO recommended Tuesday. It said stakeholders identified limitations in location data for the broadband serviceable location fabric as a "key challenge" for the agency. Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Reps. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., sought the review. FCC officials told GAO it plans to award a one-year contract with the option for four additional years to update the location fabric with new data "at least twice a year." GAO interviewed officials from the FCC, Census Bureau, NTIA, Transportation Department and the Postal Service. It also spoke to AT&T, Lumen, NCTA, NTCA and USTelecom. The FCC "is pleased that GAO evaluated the approach being taken by the FCC to develop the broadband serviceable location fabric and accurately identified the challenges we face," emailed a spokesperson.

A draft order and Further NPRM on the future of the 4.9 GHz band is expected to be OK’d 4-0 by FCC commissioners Thursday, despite some questions about who may be eligible to share. A draft NPRM on how networks could be made more resilient during disasters also is expected to be approved unanimously and hasn’t been controversial so far, with industry waiting to file comments rather than seeking changes to the notice.

FCC-proposed questions on whether foreign entities seeking to buy a U.S. FCC licensee have ever been subject to legal penalties are overbroad, said USTelecom in a call Thursday with an aide to Commissioner Brendan Carr, per a filing in docket 16-155. Queries should be limited to a “timeframe of relevance,” USTelecom said. “Some USTelecom members are amalgamations of companies that date back 100 years, working with many different state and local regulatory entities.” That makes it difficult to report on penalties with certainty, and it isn’t clear why older information would be useful, the filing said. USTelecom wants a 10-year time frame. The draft order sided with the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecom Services Sectors stance that the information was relevant when considering whether prospective buyers are security threats to the U.S. (see 2109200059)

An FCC draft Further NPRM tightening rules for gateway providers to curb illegal robocalls originating abroad is expected to be unanimously approved during the agency’s open meeting Thursday. That's despite some industry concerns about the proposal to pause enforcement of the foreign provider prohibition until a final decision on addressing illegal robocalls originating abroad. The item is expected to be approved without any major revisions to the draft, an FCC official said Friday.

An FCC draft Further NPRM on tightening rules for the public safety answering point Do Not Call registry may be unanimously OK'd during commissioners’ Sept. 30 meeting, said experts in recent interviews. The FCC established the PSAP registry in 2012 as mandated by 2012's Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act (see 1210180072). The new draft proposes to allow voice service providers access to the registry to block robocalls to registered numbers.

An FCC draft order that would create questions for licensees seeking permission to be owned by foreign nationals is expected to change little from its draft version and to be approved unanimously at the agency’s Sept. 30 meeting, said industry experts in recent interviews. “The industry is getting a narrow set of questions,” said Vinson & Elkins' Richard Sofield. “Are they as narrow as they’d like? No, but there is certainty.” DOD, DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security make up Team Telecom, which Sofield used to chair.

USTelecom promotes Trevor Jones to vice president-government affairs ... Analog Devices taps Janene Asgeirsson from Acacia Communications as senior vice president-chief legal officer and corporate secretary ... International Trade Commission promotes Monica Bhattacharyya from its Office of Unfair Import Investigations to administrative law judge for Tariff Act Section 337 patent infringement cases.

Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judges Danielle Forrest and Mary Schroeder asked about FCC preemptive authority after reclassifying broadband as a Communications Act Title I service, at oral argument Tuesday on ISP associations challenging a lower court denying preliminary injunction against California’s 2018 net neutrality law (case 21-15430). Judge Clifford Wallace asked why the 9th Circuit should bother with a preliminary appeal.

President Joe Biden is expected to swiftly follow up his Monday nomination of Alvaro Bedoya as an FTC commissioner by announcing his pick of Mozilla Foundation Senior Adviser Alan Davidson for NTIA administrator (see 2108020061), Democratic Capitol Hill aides and telecom industry lobbyists told us. Bedoya is expected to replace Commissioner Rohit Chopra as the third FTC Democrat. Chopra awaits Senate confirmation to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. FTC Chair Lina Khan, consumer advocates and USTelecom welcomed the pick. See also our news bulletin here.