Reverse unbundling network element rules based on "material errors in fact and law, omissions, and unsupported findings," Sonic Telecom asked the FCC in a petition for reconsideration in docket 19-308 posted Tuesday (see 2101070021). The rules were "based on data it knew is untrustworthy and unsubstantiated theories and predictions," Sonic argued, and its compromise proposal didn't include any fiber-to-the-home builder serving urban areas. The regulations were a product of "many months of good faith negotiations and significant give and take on both sides" and endorsed by the FCC in a bipartisan manner, a USTelecom spokesperson emailed: "At the eleventh hour a single company is seeking to upend this historic agreement and clog the FCC’s busy docket on what is a settled matter. That is their right, but we have a solid framework in place.”

The federal court reviewing California’s net neutrality law asked how DOJ's withdrawing its challenge (see 2102080073) affects the separate lawsuit by ACA Connects, USTelecom, CTIA and NCTA. ISP plaintiffs and California should file a brief joint status report by Feb. 16 “stating their position as to whether the United States of America's voluntary dismissal in 18-cv-02660 affects this matter in any way, and, if so, how,” said Monday's minute order (in Pacer) in case 2:18-cv-02684 at U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of California. ACA opposition to the California law is unchanged, a spokesperson said. USTelecom didn’t comment Tuesday, and CTIA and NCTA declined to comment.

California’s net neutrality law still faces industry challenge after DOJ notified (in Pacer) the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of California Monday that it moved to voluntarily dismiss the case (see 2102080059). Judge John Mendez soon afterward dismissed (in Pacer) and closed case 2:18-cv-02660, but not USTelecom, ACA Connects and other industry associations’ separate suit in case 2:18-cv-02684 before the same judge. Democrats applauded DOJ's withdrawing.

Establish a new information portal for reporting suspected illegal robocalls, USTelecom commented Tuesday in FCC docket 20-374 (see 2012080065). The portal should be "distinct from the existing informal complaint process for consumers, and should instead be available principally for private organizations and others that intend to report broader patterns of suspected" violations, USTelecom said. It should be voluntary and monitored to ensure consumer complaints don't inadvertently appear, and it should direct consumers to the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau instead, CTIA said. Twilio disagreed: Two portals would be "likely to create confusion and could lead to duplicative reporting." Commenters agreed private entities should work with the Traceback Consortium before submitting information through the portal. Safe Credit Union asked for clarification on the "escalation and reporting process to a business or service provider when reviewing information submitted by private entities."

The North American Numbering Council met Thursday to discuss costs, feasibility and consumer privacy issues of the 988 suicide prevention hotline that goes live in July 2022. Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel thanked NANC for its work on this front: “I’m glad the FCC has been working on it for years and glad for the work my predecessor has done on it as well.” The commission is required to submit a report to Congress by April that includes 988 geolocation (see 2101130051). NANC members largely agreed that additional discussion is needed about the technological challenges, policy issues and potential costs before making a recommendation. Wireline voice service providers have a “significant history” of providing location information for a 911 call, but “it’s not just as easy as leveraging that system and flipping a switch” for the hotline, said Kristine Hackman, USTelecom vice president-policy and advocacy. Privacy concerns about automatic location information “warrant further consideration” by the commission, said Matt Gerst, CTIA vice president-regulatory affairs. “There are privacy questions and a lot of folks saying people in a mental health crisis want to maintain their privacy,” Gerst said: “It’s not the same as a 911 call.” Time can be “critically of the essence” for a call placed to a crisis center, said James Wright, acting deputy director of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Veterans Crisis Line, and at times, there can be a “significant challenge” in trying to identify a caller's location. Operational questions must be answered on how a 988 call affects callers because it's a “highly complex issue,” said Comcast's Tim Kagele, co-chair of the North American Portability Management (see 2101110055). He cited call routing. It’s important to understand what's necessary to facilitate a call and how it’s used appropriately, said Philip Linse, Lumen director-public policy. Call centers might need the ability to transfer a call placed to 911 that involves a mental health crisis, Linse said. Glenn Clepper, Charter director-regulatory, said the FCC should have industry experts to identify operational requirements. The commission could consider using a general fund to cover operational costs instead of applying fees to telecom services or on access lines or channels rather than phone numbers and capping the total number of lines per customer in which a state should impose fees, Clepper said.

Don't compel voice service providers to adopt FCC Hospital Robocall Protection Group best practices (see 2012140035) because “substantial ongoing efforts on multiple fronts” are ongoing to stop illegal robocalls, Lumen said in docket 21-7: The group’s recommendations on preventing and mitigating robocalls could be applied more broadly. USTelecom backed Lumen’s recommendations and supported the HRPG's report. Promote the transition to IP-to-IP voice interconnection, NCTA said, "especially given that the full potential” of the secure telephone identity revisited and signature-based handling of asserted information using tokens “framework will only be realized when the IP transition is complete." Ribbon Communications, which recently combined with ECI Telecom Group, recommended providers route potential robocalls to a “voice captcha” or indicate a call is “potential spam” so the called party can decide whether to answer. Let hospitals adopt cloud-based mitigation services, “whereby the hospital takes ownership and control over the prevention and mitigation of robocalls and fraud attempts,” Ribbon said.

The FCC Wireline Bureau seeks comment by Feb. 17, replies 10 days later, in docket 18-156 on USTelecom's petition for reconsideration of part of an 8YY access charge order, says Tuesday's Federal Register. The group asks the commission to reconsider its revenue recovery mechanism for price cap carriers.

USTelecom backs a petition led by the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition urging the FCC to let schools temporarily use E-rate funds for remote learning (see 2101260055). “We need to use every tool available to close the Homework Gap," an association spokesperson emailed Tuesday evening.

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, is circulating online content-related legislation for potentially addressing civil rights violations in housing markets, Fordham University law professor Olivier Sylvain said Tuesday at the State of the Net conference. Hirono has been in discussions with Virginia Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine about Communications Decency Act Section 230 (see 1908060064). Her office didn’t comment about a potential bill.

NCTA and Amazon were the top telecom and tech lobbying spenders in Q4, indicated new records. ViacomCBS and Twitter had the biggest percentage gains in spending compared with the year-ago quarter. Several entities had major decreases, including Huawei, NAB and Disney. NCTA spent $5.26 million, up more than 10%. Amazon had $4.74 million, up more than 12%. Facebook laid out $4.69 million, an almost 6% increase. CTIA spent $4.6 million and Qualcomm $1.86 million, both up more than 4%. Comcast reported $3.92 million, Charter more than $3 million and AT&T $2.63 million, all up more than 7%. Verizon spent $2.41 million, down over 7%. T-Mobile spent $2.4 million, about even with 2019. NAB expended $2.14 million, a drop of more than 24%. Google reported $2.11 million, Apple $1.45 million and Disney $720,000, all down about 23%. IBM spent just over $1 million, a decrease of more than 6%. Dell spent $910,000, down 14%. ViacomCBS spent $890,000, up more than 25%. Cox reported $830,000, down more than 3%. USTelecom spent $810,000, 8% higher. CenturyLink laid out $520,000, more than 8% lower. Twitter doled out $370,000, up more than 23%. The Competitive Carriers Association at $180,000 was little changed. Huawei spent $20,000, dropping 98%.