No major changes were made to the FCC order establishing an online portal for private entities to report suspected illegal robocalls or spoofing attempts, we found in our comparison with the draft (see 2105270085). The portal, which commissioners approved Thursday, is expected to go live after an OMB document review (see 2106170063).
The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau wants comment by July 19, replies by Aug. 3, on Convo Communications' petition for rulemaking and interim waiver regarding certain video relay service rules, said a public notice Thursday in docket 03-123. Convo asked the FCC to raise the cap on VRS minutes handled by communications assistants working from home from 50% to 80% of a provider's monthly minutes. The company wants to partially lift the prohibition on VRS providers contracting for communication assistants' services to allow them to be contracted for up to 30% of a provider's monthly VRS minutes. Both rules are waived until Aug. 31.
The FCC Wireline Bureau directed the North American Numbering Council call authentication trust anchor working group to submit reports and suggest best practices on combating illegal robocalls, said a charge letter Tuesday. The first report, due Oct. 15, should include deployment of secure telephone identity revisited and signature-based handling of asserted information using tokens by small voice service providers "during the pendency of their extension from the Stir/Shaken implementation deadline," the letter said. The bureau asked NANC to identify barriers preventing small providers from implementing the Stir/Shaken framework and available technological solutions. The second report, due Feb. 15, should include best practices on how terminating voice service providers can protect subscribers using caller ID authentication information. By June 15, 2022, a document should include steps to encourage adoption of techniques by policymakers and providers in other countries to combat robocalls.
Telecom providers back USTelecom's robocall blocking petition for reconsideration (see 2105200074), in replies posted Tuesday in FCC docket 17-59. "Adopt a flexible approach to notification that would allow for, but not be limited to, returning specific [session initiation protocol] SIP codes when calls are blocked," CTIA said. "Rather than codifying unfinished standards work, the commission should defer to the ongoing, collaborative standards process." NCTA agreed and said the Jan. 1 implementation deadline "risks forcing providers to choose between offering consumers robust robocall mitigation tools or suspending such tools over concerns about compliance with return code mandates." Comments showed the "uncertain state of the standards" in the notification requirement, USTelecom said. An industry task force approval of industry standards is "at best, the beginning of the process," the telecom association said. Somos, the current toll-free numbering administrator and North American numbering plan administrator, echoed Lumen that there's "no value to notifying calling parties when their calls are blocked by analytic engines" (see 2106070051). Somos said calls blocked on the do not originate list shouldn't be included in notification to calling parties when such a call is blocked. Verizon said opposition to USTelecom's petition is based on "several flaws." The order on robocall blocking doesn't define what a legitimate caller or bad actor is, Verizon said, and "even some legal callers routinely take action to bypass blocking ... when they detect that their calls may have triggered blocking algorithms."
The FCC concluded that education and outreach are the "best ways to facilitate voluntary adoption" of best practices issued by the commission's hospital robocall protection group, said a public notice in Monday's Daily Digest. The working group identified a "risk mitigation framework" for hospitals, voice service providers and governments to block and prevent suspected robocalls.
The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau granted Communication Services for the Deaf's application to access the telecom relay services numbering directory as a qualified direct video entity, said a public notice Friday.
Edison Electric Institute told FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's staff that "confusion persists" on pole attachment refund rules, said a filing posted Friday in docket 17-84. It asked the commission to consider its petition for declaratory ruling on the statute of limitations for pole attachment complaint proceedings and that refunds "are not 'appropriate' for any period preceding good faith notice of a dispute" (see 2104210046). EEI said there's no opposition to its request and it has spoken with other commissioners' staff.
The Q3 USF contribution factor is 31.8%, confirmed the FCC Office of Managing Director Thursday.
The revised inmate calling services database is now available, said an FCC Wireline Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics public notice in Thursday's Daily Digest. The database includes new ICS rates the commissioners adopted in May (see 2105200044).
Conexon is willing to default on winning Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction bids in some areas and withdraw its pending eligible telecom carrier designation if the FCC waives default requirements and penalties, said a petition posted Wednesday in docket 19-126. Conexon said the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe expressed concerns that the census blocks Conexon won may preclude the tribes from receiving NTIA funding to build a fixed wireless broadband network using 2.5 GHz.