Thee few commenters so far have differing takes on changes sought in April (see 1904260022) to rules for the reassigned number database (RND), approved by commissioners 4-0 in December. The FCC hopes to help combat unwanted and illegal robocalls to people with new numbers. Lawyers active in the proceeding said the comments don't offer the FCC much help in making a decision on the petitions for reconsideration.

Under forbearance from network unbundling and ILEC-specific resale requirements USTelecom seeks for its members (see 1905130050), pricing for access to an ILEC's network facility could change to "reflect market realities and not an artificial regulatory construct," the association said in a Wednesday filing in FCC docket 18-141. Along with some of the group's members, USTelecom Senior Vice President-Advocacy and Regulatory Affairs Patrick Halley met Monday with Chairman Ajit Pai's Senior Counsel Nicholas Degani and Wireline Adviser Nirali Patel. USTelecom said consumers won't lose access to voice or broadband services if the FCC grants the forbearance. It noted member telcos have committed to making available replacement services for locations now served by an unbundled network element and to keeping current UNE agreements in place until Feb. 4, 2021. It added that the only places where a UNE wouldn't be available would be in areas with a facilities-based competitor that could deploy voice and broadband without the need for a UNE. "There is no need for a 'bridge to broadband' when the bridge has already been built," USTelecom said. CLECs oppose the forbearance petition. Reply comments are due May 28 (see 1905150007).

A bill introduced Thursday by four members of the Senate Commerce Committee is designed to help close the digital divide in rural America. The Broadband Data Improvement Act introduced by Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii; Jerry Moran, R-Kan.; and Jon Tester, D-Mont., would direct federal funds to build out broadband infrastructure and require broadband providers to report more accurate data on the locations they serve to help improve the national broadband map (see 1905010089). The bill would add a public feedback collection mechanism to help ensure the accuracy of the map and use third-party commercial data to analyze provider-reported data. Industry including NCTA and Charter Communications reacted positively. USTelecom wants more accurate maps and is helping with that effort (see 1905160077).

USTelecom Senior Vice President-Advocacy and Regulatory Affairs Patrick Halley said the FCC's Form 477-centric approach to broadband mapping is more granular than ever but still limited (see 1905010089).

There's optimism Congress could shift its focus to infrastructure soon, said USTelecom President Jonathan Spalter in a recent interview for C-SPAN's The Communicators to be televised this weekend and posted here. “We hear a lot of talk about the opportunity to pivot Congress’s attention back to the idea of a national infrastructure framework,” he said. “We’ve heard figures of up to $40 billion” to bring fiber networks across the country, Spalter said. “A national bipartisan commitment to infrastructure could propel broadband access to all Americans who need or want it.” USTelecom is developing a more sophisticated U.S. broadband map with more data at the granular level. It’s started with maps in Virginia and Missouri with plans to create a scalable database with harmonized and digitized data (see 1903210041). “We have to know where the underserved areas are,” Spalter said, as well as where broadband isn't available at all. He noted that several million Americans may have no access to broadband, especially in areas where the terrain is too difficult to deploy fiber in or where the economics of scale prohibit it. “We’re working with the FCC to close that gap,” Spalter said. He said the broadband mapping data is necessary for regulators to fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities in subsidizing rural broadband expansion. He noted 5G technologies won't likely start in rural areas nor in underserved urban markets, “but it absolutely has to include our rural communities.” Spalter favors the principles of net neutrality but not the Save the Internet Act (S-682), which he suggested would return telco policy to outdated 1934-era public-utility-style rules. When asked about Democratic presidential candidates’ interest in breaking up larger social media giants, Spalter said he’d rather see Congress “break up the difficult red tape” for telcos and establish more shared responsibility by all actors who touch the consumers through the internet, so it doesn't fall more on ISPs.

The topic of supply chain security got hotter with Wednesday’s presidential executive order that could mean rules banning some companies from the U.S. supply chain, speakers said a U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Supply Chain Summit Thursday (see 1905150066). China is starting to fire back.

The FCC Wireline Competition Bureau extended the deadline by 12 days to May 28 for replies to an April public notice regarding supplemental data tables on price caps to business data services amid consideration of a USTelecom forbearance petition. Incompas asked this week for the additional time (see 1905140017). The bureau also extended in a public notice in Wednesday's Daily Digest, regarding dockets including 18-141, access to April data tables until June 30 “to allow interested parties additional time to access the data and supplement the record” in their replies or in ex parte communications. USTelecom seeks forbearance from requirements to provide broadband transport as an unbundled network element to competitive LECs.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Wednesday he will ask commissioners to vote June 6 on a declaratory ruling allowing carriers to block unwanted calls to their customers “by default” and giving consumers the ability to block callers not on their contact list. Pai said an accompanying Further NPRM will ask how caller ID authentication standards can help with call blocking.

It wouldn’t be right for the FCC to cite business data services statistics from an April 15 notice (see 1905140017) in support of a USTelecom petition to remove a mandate that incumbent LECs provide transport network services to CLECs as an unbundled network element, the California Public Utilities Commission commented in docket 18-141 (see 1905130050). “Doing so would be inconsistent with the Commission’s forbearance rules, and would violate basic principles of procedural fairness,” the CPUC said Thursday. The FCC’s “complete-as-filed rule” says that the “party seeking forbearance bears the burden of production,” and allowing the data so late in the proceeding doesn’t give other parties enough time to complete comments “without unreasonably burdening their resources,” the CPUC said.

Three telecom groups sought a graduated, escalating FCC response to noncompliance with Connect America Fund speed and latency requirements. Currently, "even a one percent miss" results "in suspension of funding," ITTA, USTelecom and the Wireless ISP Association reported telling an aide to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. That makes it "more difficult for CAF recipients to meet buildout milestones and performance obligations going forward," said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 10-90. Such a compliance gap below 5 percent would have no consequences, under their plan; 5-10 percent would mean quarterly reporting mandates; and 10-15 percent would also mean withholding CAF support unless it narrowed to 5 percent or less within a year.