The Senate passed the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act (S-151) Thursday on a 97-1 vote, largely as expected (see 1905220049). Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., had aimed as recently as Wednesday to move the measure via unanimous consent (see 1904110066), but an objection from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., necessitated a roll call vote, lobbyists told us. Paul, the sole no vote, didn't comment. Sens. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., and Mike Rounds, R-S.D., didn't vote. S-151 and House companion HR-2015 would increase FCC authority, allowing the agency to levy civil penalties of up to $10,000 per call when the caller intentionally flouts the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The bill would extend to three years the window for civil enforcement. The agency also would be required to begin a rulemaking to help protect subscribers from receiving unwanted calls or texts from callers using unauthenticated numbers (see 1901170039). Thune and Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, S-151's lead Democratic co-sponsor, lauded the bill's passage during a news conference. “It's an example” of an issue “that we can come together on” and reach a bipartisan consensus, Thune said. “We hope” the House “will be able to pass” it, too. House Commerce Committee leaders are negotiating on a bipartisan anti-robocalls bill but none of the seven measures the House Communications Subcommittee examined during a late April hearing was HR-2015/S-151 (see 1904300212). FCC Chairman Ajit Pai praised the Senate for clearing the bill, saying its grant of further powers to the FCC “like increased fines, longer statutes of limitations, and removing citation requirements which obligate us to warn some robocallers before penalizing them, will significantly improve our already strong robocall enforcement efforts.” Commissioner Brendan Carr believes the legislation would allow the FCC to “continue our crack down on these annoying calls.” Commissioners are set to vote during their June 6 meeting 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. An accompanying Further NPRM will ask how caller ID authentication standards can help with call blocking (see 1905150041). Consumer Reports, NCTA, USTelecom and Verizon also praised Senate passage of S-151.

U.S. broadband coverage maps are deeply flawed and cannot be used to "burn the bridge to broadband," Incompas CEO Chip Pickering blogged. The FCC uses broadband maps to help inform deployment and competition policy, he said, but its reliance on Census block data "has created an inaccurate fairy tale of broadband availability." Pickering argued Thursday "the FCC must immediately reject any proposals based on the current broadband maps' flawed data," starting with a USTelecom petition for forbearance from requirements that ILECs sell transport network services to competitive LECs as an unbundled network element (UNE). Incompas says competition in the business-to-business market would be especially threatened in rural markets without facilities-based competition (see 1905140012). A USTelecom spokesperson said that the 1996 unbundling rules are obsolete, noting the group and members "are leading the charge to help improve the FCC's Form 477 broadband data collection process, particularly for rural areas where current data can be upgraded." The telco group said in a recent filing that Form 477 census block data "is more than adequate for assessing the presence and feasibility of competition for last-mile facilities without reliance on UNEs" (see 1905220066). USTelecom said it has proposed limiting forbearance relief to census blocks that are less than a square mile on average, "where the so-called 'bridge to broadband' has already been built by facilities-based providers and/or our cable competitors."

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.