The FCC accepted a USTelecom request to withdraw one aspect of its 2018 forbearance petition, the agency said Tuesday. USTelecom filed a request Monday to narrowly withdraw the "dark fiber transport unbundling requirements" portion of a larger forbearance petition, in docket 18-141, which sought relief from three categories of requirements for competitive LECs (see 1807160058). The Wireline Bureau granted the group's request to withdraw "without prejudice as to further action, including re-filing claims relating to dark fiber." FCC commissioners are expected to vote on an order at the July 10 meeting on the other elements of the USTelecom forbearance petition on making unbundled network elements (such as DS1 and DS2 transport loops) available to CLECs at nonmarket rates (see 1906180053).

Commissioners will consider at the July 10 FCC meeting an NPRM on broadband deployment in multiple tenant environments (MTEs), an order to wrap together and rule on a business data services transport and USTelecom forbearance proceeding, and an NPRM on a connected care telehealth pilot program, Chairman Ajit Pai blogged Tuesday. The NPRM and declaratory ruling on MTEs follows a 2017 notice of inquiry in docket 17-142 (see 1706220036) on "the unique challenges to deploying broadband to apartment, condominium, and office buildings," Pai wrote. The agency wants to decide whether to back or pre-empt a San Francisco code that requires multitenant buildings to allow residents to access competing broadband providers (see 1811140017). The agency will release an order next month that wraps together two related issues, on a business data services transport proceeding (docket 16-143) and a USTelecom petition for unbundled network elements forbearance (docket 18-141), an FCC official said Wednesday. USTelecom and other telco incumbents say they should no longer be required to unbundle and resell access to some of their networks at below-market rates (see 1905140012). Competitive LECs say there's not enough facilities-based competition in all areas to warrant nationwide forbearance (see 1906130005). Pai wrote that the agency plans to "grant relief only where there is actual or potential competition that ensures reasonable prices." Also at the meeting, commissioners will vote on an NPRM on a three-year, $100 million USF telehealth pilot called connected care designed to support eligible healthcare providers to low-income patients outside hospitals and other traditional healthcare facilities. The Wireline Bureau initiated a notice of inquiry (docket 18-213) in August to wide support (see 1809110039). Commissioner Brendan Carr is leading the effort and will offer more details at the July meeting, Pai wrote.

NCTA wants the FCC to address unresolved questions about how new broadband mapping programs would collect data in the real world, said a posting in docket 19-126 Friday. USTelecom has a competing proposal through the Broadband Mapping Consortium, which the cable group said wasn't as good as its plan (see 1904150059). Executives from NCTA and Charter Communications, Cox Communications and Midco met Tuesday with 11 officials from the Wireline Bureau and the Office of Economics and Analytics about NCTA's proposal to retire census block reporting in favor of polygon shapefile data (see 1905030060). The FCC should better define areas deemed served by a provider, NCTA said, such as by whether adding a new customer would entail a standard installation or if the location in question would require a network extension at a customer's expense. The association proposes mapping data incorporate crowdsourcing to supplement Form 477 filings, with consumer-reported data, especially on broadband speeds, being verified. It questions whether the FCC should "devote time and money" to creating its own location fabric but suggested it could use data from other federal agencies and not just provider information, and decide how to verify "accuracy of the roughly 150 million locations" cataloged across the country and how such data will be updated as new houses are built and others lost through natural disasters. NCTA wants the FCC to adopt the shapefile proposal at commissioners' Aug. 2 meeting so the new data collection tools can be used in a September 2020 Form 477 filing cycle.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., led the filing Wednesday of the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (Data) Act, as expected (see 1906120076). S-1822 would require the FCC to issue rules to collect more “granular” broadband coverage data, including a decision on whether to collect “verified” information from others, including “state, local, and Tribal governmental entities that are primarily responsible for mapping or tracking broadband internet access service coverage” for their respective jurisdictions. The bill would require all data collected from ISPs to include “information regarding the download and upload speeds” made available in a location and that there be certification that a “senior executive has examined the information ... and that, to the best of the executive’s knowledge, information, and belief, all statements of fact contained in the submission are true and correct.” It would require a “user-friendly challenge process” allowing participation by consumers, governments and others. Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., also are S-1822 co-sponsors. Lawmakers criticized the FCC's broadband mapping practices during communications policy hearings (see 1905150061). S-1822 is “an important step to ensure we get the most accurate coverage maps from the FCC and to help close the digital divide between rural and urban areas,“ Wicker said. He previously led filing of the Broadband Interagency Coordination Act (S-1294), which would direct the FCC, NTIA and Agriculture Department to sign a memorandum of understanding to coordinate on broadband funding (see 1905020058). Stakeholders including CenturyLink, the Competitive Carriers Association, ITTA, NCTA, NTCA and USTelecom praised S-1822.

The 1996 Telecom Act set mandates for ILECs to open networks to competitors, but incumbents say enough competition exists for the FCC to grant USTelecom's petition for forbearance from a requirement to provide unbundled network elements (UNEs) to competitive LECs. At minimum, ILECs seek forbearance wherever there is evidence of facilities-based market competition, such as from a cable provider. CLECs said they still need UNE access (see 1905140012). All sides told us recently to expect the FCC to act soon.

Lawmakers expressed confidence Tuesday about prospects for Congress to pass anti-robocalls legislation this year. Three House Commerce Committee leaders said during a USTelecom event an agreement on a compromise bill may be very near. House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., have been negotiating on a bill that combines elements from the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act (HR-946) and six other measures the Communications Subcommittee examined in April (see 1904300212).

Big telecom carriers urged the FCC to pre-empt state and local 911 laws “that, on their face or in application, discriminate against VoIP customers as compared to customers buying non-VoIP wireline services.” The FCC may pre-empt those policies using 47 U.S. Code Section 615a-1(f)(1), said AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink, Frontier Communications, Windstream, Comcast, NCTA and USTelecom in meetings June 5 with the Wireline and Public Safety bureaus, per a filing posted Monday in docket 19-44. They said to pre-empt when state or local law “sets a higher per unit VoIP 911 charge than the per unit 911 charge for non-VoIP wireline services,” or if the state or locality “caps the total number of 911 charges due each month from customers buying non-VoIP wireline services, but sets a higher cap -- or sets no cap at all -- on the number of 911 charges due each month from customers buying VoIP services.” Pre-empt when the nonfederal government “calculates the number of 911 charges due from customers buying non-VoIP wireline services based on the number of simultaneous calls to the [public switched telephone network] PSTN (including 911) those customers can place, but calculates the number of 911 charges due from customers buying VoIP service based on their assigned or active telephone numbers, even if the customers cannot simultaneously place calls to the PSTN (including 911) using all those telephone numbers,” said the industry interests: Such findings would help resolve 911 fee lawsuits including in Alabama, Florida, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.

Upward momentum in industry's capital investment in broadband rose an estimated $3 billion last year to $75 billion, USTelecom reported Monday. The group said the administration's forward-looking regulatory framework, signaled in 2017, helped to reverse a capital spending decline from the recent peak in 2014. "Annual broadband investment rebounded in 2017 and the data now confirms that the upward momentum continued in 2018," USTelecom said, based on the providers analyzed in its initial report. It confirms a trend from February when USTelecom released an analysis of the top six broadband providers (see 1902070048). FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the preliminary report "reaffirms that our policies are working," and noted other evidence of broadband expansion (see 1905290017).

Despite calls for carriers to provide robocall-blocking tools for free, it would be a bad outcome if every carrier opted for the same, cheap option instead of employing a variety of them, said Patrick Halley, USTelecom senior vice president-advocacy and regulatory affairs, at an FCBA robocalls CLE Monday. "Carriers face legitimate costs." He said noted secure handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) and secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) implementation will be expensive for some carriers. Call-blocking tools' costs came up repeatedly at last week's FCC commissioners' meeting (see 1906060056). And Commissioner Geoffrey Starks on Monday wrote 14 providers seeking details on their plans to offer free, default call blocking services to consumers (see 1906100025).

FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks sent letters to 14 providers seeking details on their plans to offer free, default call blocking services to consumers aimed at curbing “disruptive and dangerous robocalls.” For Starks and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, cost has been a major issue. Starks voted for the declaratory order and Further NPRM last week (see 1906060056). Also Monday, USTelecom said there are calls for robocall tools to be provided free, but that could lead to every carrier opting for the same, cheapest solution instead of employing a variety of them (see 1906100038).