The FCC Wireline Bureau is seeking comment on a Securus petition to waive rules that inmate calling services calls be charged to customers on a per minute basis: Comments are due Jan. 7, replies Jan. 21, in docket 12-375. Securus says it started piloting subscriptions for intrastate calls in 2020, which it now offers at eight correctional facilities. “Subscribers pay a flat monthly fee for up to 100 calls per month or 25 calls per week,” said a public notice Friday: The ICS provider asserts the program “is in jeopardy because it ‘cannot definitively determine if a call is intrastate when a subscription plan call is made’ since many of the calls are ‘made to wireless phones whose exact physical location is difficult to determine.’”
Bluebird moved to withdraw without prejudice its petition to preempt the rights-of-way fees it was being charged by Columbia, Missouri, said a motion posted Tuesday in FCC docket 21-323. Bluebird said the city agreed not to collect the fees in question and instead charge a revenue-based fee (see 2110130058).
More than $700 million in FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction support is ready to be authorized for 50 providers serving more than 400,000 locations in 26 states, said a Wireline Bureau public notice in docket 19-126. Winning bidders must submit letters of credit and bankruptcy opinion letters by Nov. 30. Wednesday's announcement "highlights the agency’s commitment to supporting even more opportunities to connect hundreds of thousands of Americans to high-speed, reliable broadband service while doing our due diligence to ensure the applicants can deliver to these unserved communities as promised,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Conexon, First Light Fiber, Mediacom and MidCo were among winning bidders ready to be authorized.
The FCC Wireline Bureau committed more than $42 million to 75 healthcare providers in its COVID-19 telehealth round two program funding, said a public notice Tuesday in docket 20-89. The bureau also announced its resubmission period for applicants that didn't receive funding commitments after the first $150 million was allotted (see 2103300063). Supplements to their applications are due by 5 p.m. EST Nov. 19. The bureau clarified in an order Tuesday that applicants may receive points for "being located in a hotspot or a sustained hotspot based on the COVID-19 Community Profile Report, Area of Concern Continuum by County dataset" as of either May 6 or Nov. 19.
Allow emergency broadband benefit providers to receive reimbursement for tablets that can make cellular calls, StandUp Wireless asked FCC Wireline Bureau staff in an ex parte letter posted Tuesday in docket 20-445. StandUp filed a petition in October seeking a waiver of EBB rules excluding these devices. Its EBB customers "are frustrated with their inability to use their connected device to fully utilize the company’s bundled service offering of unlimited voice, text and 8 GB of mobile broadband data" because it "had to remove the cellular voice and text functionality from the tablets," the company said.
Comments are due Dec. 10, replies by Jan. 10, in docket 17-59 on a Further NPRM addressing robocalls and gateway providers, said an FCC order Monday granting the Voice on the Net Coalition and others' request for an extension (see 2111040058). The Wireline and Consumer and Governmental Affairs bureaus agreed the upcoming holidays "effectively [shorten] the normal time for filing comments" and "[appreciated] what appears to be the support of many interested parties for more fully developing the record in this proceeding."
The Voice on the Net Coalition sought two more weeks for comments, another two for replies, on a Further NPRM addressing robocalls and gateway providers (see 2111040058). The request was backed by the Cloud Communications Alliance, CTIA, GSMA, Incompas, NCTA, NTCA and USTelecom.
Inmate calling service providers and advocacy groups disagreed with some proposed reporting requirements in FCC mandatory data collection, in comments posted Friday (see 2105200044). Including surveillance and security costs is "vital" to determining rate caps, said Worth Rises in docket 12-375, saying the FCC should impose a penalty on ICS providers that "manipulate" those costs. The Prison Policy Institute sought clarity on how security services are defined. The Wright Petitioners, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society and Public Knowledge agreed and urged "robust collection" of data. Securus said security costs are "inextricably intertwined with the provisions of ICS," which Global Tel*Link echoed. Mandatory data collection is "not the proper administrative vehicle for evaluating what categories of security costs are directly related to ICS," GTL said. On a reporting period, advocacy groups and Securus want 2019-2021; NCIC suggested 2021 is "the most relevant year." GTL objected to several aspects of the proposed data collection. It said providers don't maintain sufficient records because they're nondominant competitive carriers and aren't required to do so: The FCC would "foist upon" them accounting and reporting requirements "impossible to satisfy."
Extend the comment deadline four weeks total until Dec. 10, replies until Jan. 10, on a Further NPRM addressing robocalls and gateway providers, the Voice on the Net Coalition asked in an FCC petition posted Thursday in docket 17-59 (see 2110250045). VON cited the public safety answering point Do Not Call registry Further NPRM, which has comment deadlines around the same time, and upcoming holidays. Its request was backed by several other groups.
The California Public Utilities Commission invited the public Thursday to a virtual hearing Nov. 16 at 6 p.m. PST on AT&T ending landline service in areas of the state where it resells Frontier Communications service. California residents have spoken against the change during public comments at recent CPUC meetings and in writing in docket A.21-05-007. Consumer advocates raised concerns this summer (see 2108260049).