The FCC will vote Nov. 17 on rules aimed at improving the delivery of outage information to public safety answering points by requiring operating service providers (OSPs) and covered 911 providers to “utilize special diligence to obtain and maintain up-to-date contact information for each 911 special facility they serve,” said a draft report and order released Thursday. The FCC also announced that it won't be pursuing an inquiry into the agency's reliance on Nielsen ratings in a draft broadcast order on updating the publication used to determine broadcast DMAs (see 2210260081).
Industry groups asked the FCC to ensure the affordable connectivity program's annual data collection is "streamlined and efficient for the benefit of consumers and providers," per an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 21-450 (see 2207260070). NTCA, USTelecom, CTIA, NCTA and ACA Connects met with Wireline Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics staffers. The groups said a subscriber-level collection "would run afoul" of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and be "difficult, if not impossible" to define the requirement. It would also "have a chilling effect among subscribers who do not wish to turn over their personal data," the groups said, suggesting the FCC collect aggregated data at the state level on price and subscription rates of ACP service offerings.
The California Public Utilities Commission risks litigation if it exerts too much authority over VoIP, warned industry in comments received by the agency Monday. Commissioners voted 5-0 Aug. 26 to open a rulemaking (docket R.22-08-008) on changes to licensing requirements and other obligations for internet-based voice (see 2208250029 and 2208190030). Consumer advocates and small businesses supported state VoIP requirements.
The FCC's 2020 order on unbundled network elements (UNEs) rules "has had a chilling effect" on fiber to the home deployment, said Sonic Telecom in reply to comments opposing its 2021 petition for reconsideration of portions of the order Monday in docket 19-308 (see 2209160070). Sonic sought reconsideration of the order's findings that there's "no impairment and grant of forbearance for unbundled DS0 Loops and unbundled dark fiber." USTelecom continued to express opposition, but consumer advocacy groups and CLECs urged the commission to grant the petition to promote competition.
USTelecom names Nirali Patel, from Comcast, senior vice president-policy and advocacy, effective Oct. 24 … Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) appoints Bree Maki, from office of Sen. Tina Smith (D), as director-Office of Broadband Development … Newly hired as senior operating partners at Francisco Partners, global investment firm specializing in tech businesses: Paul Cormier, chairman of Red Hat, who continues in that role; Matt Dircks, former BeyondTrust CEO; Joe Kim, former Citrix chief product and technical officer; and Ford Tamer, ex-Inphi president-CEO ... Baffle cloud data protection company names Joe Dillon, ex-Code42, executive vice president-sales … Xerox promotes Fred Beljaars to executive vice president-chief delivery and supply chain officer, filling role vacated with departure of Mary McHugh.
The Wireless Infrastructure Association is continuing its push, started under former President Jonathan Adelstein (see 2204180045), to ensure that wireless has a big role to play as the federal government awards more than $48 billion in connectivity money through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, new President Patrick Halley said in an interview. WIA was among the groups that raised concerns NTIA is putting too much emphasis on fiber, in contravention of the direction from Congress when it created the broadband, equity, access and deployment program (see 2205130054).
Industry asked the FCC to encourage all voice service providers to implement Stir/Shaken on the IP interconnection portions of their networks, in comments posted Tuesday in docket 17-97 (see 2208050055). Some companies urged the commission not to further extend the Stir/Shaken implementation beyond the June deadline for small providers.
USTelecom names James Marrow, ex-office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., communications manager ... With Nexstar Media’s close of its acquisition of a 75% ownership interest in the CW Network (see 2210030004), it names Dennis Miller, stepping down from board, as CW president, succeeding Mark Pedowitz, assisting transition … INE appoints Dara Warn, ex-Penn Foster, CEO, succeeding Richard McLain … Digerati Technologies, provider of cloud services, moves Derek Gietzen, president-Digerati subsidiary NextLevel, to company president … Hallmark Media hires Alice Rao, ex-Sony, as senior vice president-publicity.
California will make phone calls free for many incarcerated persons. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Keep Families Connected Act (SB-1008) Thursday, the Democrat’s office said. Newsom vetoed a telecom industry-supported bill (AB-2749) to put a shot clock on California Public Utilities Commission reviews of California Advanced Services Fund broadband grant applications and require wireless eligibility in CASF’s federal funding account. Newsom supported but sought refinements to AB-988 to implement the national 988 suicide prevention hotline with an 8 cent monthly surcharge on wireline, wireless and VoIP lines.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., and Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., led filing Thursday of the Broadband Grant Tax Treatment Act, in a bid to ensure broadband funding from the Infrastructure Investment Jobs Act and American Rescue Plan Act doesn’t count as taxable income. The measure would amend the Internal Revenue Code to say broadband grants enacted via either statute don’t count as “gross income.” Every “dollar that was set aside to fund broadband expansion and deployment should be used for that purpose,” Warner said: “Taxing these broadband investments awards would be counter-productive, and could ultimately diminish efforts to give more Americans access to high-speed internet.” Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., is among four other senators who signed on as original co-sponsors. “Taxing broadband grants … will dramatically reduce the impact of these programs and likely leave the hardest-to-reach communities without essential connectivity for even longer,” said NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield. “It is critical that all broadband grant funds go toward their intended purpose of network deployment.” Requiring “grant recipients to return as much as 20 percent of those grants in the form of taxes jeopardizes our shared goal of universal connectivity,” said USTelecom Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Brandon Heiner. “It is vital that Congress move to eliminate this tax, as America’s broadband providers carefully plan and prepare to allocate resources to connect as many Americans as possible." Warner’s office also cited support from WTA.