Robocalling and unwanted texts are a global problem requiring international coordination, FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc said in a Monday blog post. In the U.S., more than 200,000 consumers complain to the commission each year about unwanted calls, including robocalls and telemarketing, and about 2.4 billion robocalls are made monthly according to the Robocall Index, he wrote, saying such calls "are used to perpetrate criminal fraud, phishing attacks, and identity theft" all over the world. "Those responsible for sending unwanted calls and texts often operate from outside of the United States, too often allowing them to evade our enforcement," said LeBlanc. He said the FCC works with international law enforcement partners and other regulatory agencies to combat illegal calls and texts and hold perpetrators accountable. Earlier this year, the agency signed a memorandum of understanding with members of the Unsolicited Communications Enforcement Network, a global network of "robo-cops" that share intelligence and best practices (see 1606140041). LeBlanc noted the commission last week signed a robocalling MOU with Canadian regulators (see 1611170054), and will continue to work with other federal and state agencies domestically.
Pointing to what it considers extensive confusion in the weather community, Ligado is trying to make clear its case that its broadband terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) plans aren't a threat to the plethora of sensors the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration uses to track weather conditions. "We don't know why there is such confusion, but there is," said Ligado outside counsel Gerard Waldron of Covington and Burling Monday, as the company filed at the FCC a 10-page presentation on NOAA's data collection system in RM-11681. Ligado repeatedly sought an NPRM, and Waldron said that would be the best way to clear any confusion.
The transition team for President-elect Donald Trump confirmed Monday that American Enterprise Institute scholars Jeff Eisenach and Mark Jamison, conservative voices advocating telecom deregulation, will be members of its FCC landing team. Both were previously believed to play a role, though the state of their involvement was uncertain last week amid turnover in the transition team and new lobbying restrictions at play (see 1611170041).
Maine requested FCC help on issues related to texting to 911 via IP. The state, calling itself an early adopter of texting to 911 via teletypewriter, deployed what it described as an "end-to-end" next-generation 911 system, and began working with carriers and their text control centers (TCC) on moving from 911 via TTY to 911 to text by message session relay protocol. A center responded to the state's request with multiprotocol label switching pricing including "a one-time project charge, monthly recurring charges for a three-year contract period, and recurring monthly costs for dedicated MPLS circuits (price to be determined), all to be paid for by the State of Maine," Emergency Services Communication Bureau Director Maria Jacques wrote the federal commission on Maine Public Utilities Commission letterhead. When Maine sought an alternative to the MPLS plan, asking to use a virtual private network, the TCC proposed monthly "recurring monitoring charges to help compensate for what the company views as a less than reliable service because it traverses the Internet," Jacques said in a filing posted Thursday to docket 10-255. "A different TCC, responding on the behalf of other wireless carriers, expressed a preference for connecting via VPN as opposed to MPLS circuits and thus far has not requested any compensation for the use of VPN. Clearly, there is disagreement." The state official asked in the letter to FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief David Simpson for clarification on "where the point of demarcation is between wireless providers and Maine's NG911 network in order to appropriately assess costs." A CTIA spokeswoman declined to comment Friday.
The conventional wisdom used to be that spectrum items are mostly nonpartisan, but industry watchers expect some major difference in the approach of the incoming Donald Trump administration compared with that of Barack Obama. Republican FCC Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O’Rielly have supported many of the spectrum initiatives, though with some significant objections to some of the policy calls. While much of the focus since the election has been on the likely overturn of net neutrality, ISP privacy and a few other politically charged orders, the Republican FCC also is expected to undo parts of the wireless policy pushed by Democratic chairmen Tom Wheeler and Julius Genachowski.
A federal court sided with AT&T in overturning an FCC VoIP symmetry ruling that had allowed local competitors to collect higher switching charges for routing over-the-top long-distance calls to local phone customers. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously reversed the commission's February 2015 ruling that CLECs in partnership with over-the-top VoIP providers were providing the "functional equivalent" of end-office switching and thus could collect associated access charges, instead of the lower charges associated with tandem switching.
Mushrooming plans for non-geostationary (NGSO) mega constellations should drive the FCC to update or tweak some of its satellite regulations but don't necessitate a wholesale revamp of the rules, speakers said at an FCBA CLE. The rules set up years ago governing, for example, in-line events didn't anticipate the existence of massive NGSO constellations and thus might need to be revisited, FCC International Bureau Satellite Division Chief Jose Albuquerque said Tuesday night. "The regulatory framework is already there -- it's just small adjustments."
LA QUINTA, California -- NARUC attendees this week buzzed about the surprising election of Donald Trump. While speakers at the state commissioner association’s annual meeting stressed the uncertainty about what a President Trump means for telecom policy, some predicted an increased role for state utility regulators under a GOP-controlled presidency and Congress. Meanwhile, the National Governors Association (NGA) predicts little impact to the deployment timeline for the FirstNet public safety network even with a new administration and more than 10 new governors to educate, NGA Center for Best Practice's Homeland Security and Public Safety Division Director Jeffrey McLeod said in a phone interview Wednesday. “Timelines are in place and things will continue to move.”
The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau rejected a petition by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) asking for an exemption from the prior express consent requirement under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for autodialed or prerecorded “mortgage servicing” calls to wireless phones. In August, the bureau sought comment (see 1608030032). MBA had argued that the benefits of mortgage servicing calls “far outweigh potential privacy interests,” the bureau said. “MBA maintains that the exemption is necessary to ensure that the TCPA does not restrict mandated, timely communications with residential mortgage borrowers that are required by other federal and state laws or regulations.” The CGB disagreed. “Applying Commission precedent and in light of the record, we find that MBA has not shown, as a threshold matter, the exempted calls would be free of charge to called parties,” the bureau said in a Tuesday order. “Separately, we find that MBA has not shown that it should be able to make or send non-time-sensitive robocalls, including robotexts, to consumers without first obtaining consumer consent.”
LA QUINTA, California -- The Vermont Public Service Board will soon rule on state authority over VoIP services, PSB member Sarah Hofmann said on a panel at the NARUC annual conference. The ruling would come more than three years after a state court ordered the regulator to decide the classification of fixed VoIP as either a telecom or information service. While the telecom industry has argued that states may not regulate IP services, telecom consultant Earl Comstock -- formerly CEO of CompTel (now Incompas) -- said states wanting to regulate them need only assert themselves with fact-based determinations.