The House Commerce Committee unanimously advanced the Spectrum Innovation Act legislative package (HR-7624) and three other telecom bills Wednesday, as expected (see 2207120079). The House was expected to begin votes Wednesday night on amendments to the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-7900). The House Rules Committee agreed 9-4 Tuesday to allow floor votes on more than three dozen telecom and tech amendments to HR-7900 (see 2207070064).
President Joe Biden this week extended for one year beyond July 14 a national emergency that authorizes certain sanctions against China for efforts to undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy, the White House said. The situation in Hong Kong continues to “pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy” of the U.S., the White House said July 11.
Public safety groups urged the FCC to push for more use of location-based routing (LBR) to 911 call centers, in response to a June public notice, approved by commissioners 4-0 (see 2206080040). T-Mobile said how industry addresses the issue should be voluntary without the imposition of new FCC rules. AT&T and T-Mobile said implementation has to be done carefully and takes time.
Telcos facing state scrutiny for allegedly impeding Minnesota's transition to next-generation 911 said they will propose a possible resolution. Christensen Communications and nine others named in a Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) complaint would “provide all requested services and interconnections” if DPS agrees to compensate the providers from the date the services are provided, they said in Friday comments at the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (docket C-22-245). The providers said the rates they had proposed, which led to the DPS complaint, “accurately reflect” the services to be provided and were “based on a National Exchange Carrier Association tariff, with prices updated as of 2021, approved by the" FCC. The companies "are neither refusing to interconnect nor attempting to leverage or delay the transition to the NG 911 system,” they said. DPS urged the PUC to act fast. The providers “placed unreasonable conditions on their willingness to interconnect,” are “impeding the full adoption of necessary improvements, thus jeopardizing their customers’ 911 access, and are seeking to impose unreasonable and unnecessary costs on the 911 fund,” it said. Minnesota's Commerce Department said the “allegations warrant investigation" and the PUC has authority. DPS also received support for its complaint from the Minnesota Sheriffs’ Association, Statewide Emergency Communications Board and the Metropolitan Emergency Services Board for the Minneapolis/St. Paul region.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel added Carmen Scurato, who was at Free Press, as legal adviser-consumer and public safety issues. Scurato was associate legal director and senior counsel at the public interest group, focused on “racial justice, technology and internet policy.” She was previously general counsel to the National Hispanic Media Coalition. Rosenworcel welcomed Scurato’s expertise working for consumers. “Keeping our telecommunications networks safe and protecting consumers takes on elevated urgency as new threats emerge from all sides,” Rosenworcel said Monday. The addition was part of a larger shift in the chairwoman’s office. David Strickland is now Rosenworcel’s adviser on media, Ethan Lucarelli on wireless and international, and Ramesh Nagarajan on wireline and enforcement.
The American Bankers Association, the American Financial Services Association, the Credit Union National Association, the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions and others met virtually with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to raise robocall blocking concerns. “The Associations explained that many time-sensitive calls are being wrongly blocked by voice service providers’ use of analytics engines,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 17-59. “These erroneously blocked calls include emergency calls from public safety organizations, anti-fraud messages, safety recall messages, research calls on behalf of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and necessary account updates and reminders needed to maintain financial health and well-being,” the groups said. The groups raised concerns about providers’ use of session initiation protocol code 603, in addition to SIP codes 607 and 608, to meet the FCC’s call blocking notification requirement. “A caller receiving a SIP Code 603 response would not be able to understand whether the response code signaled that the call’s recipient declined the call or that the provider blocked the call in the network,” the groups said: “The Associations emphasized our continued support for the adoption of SIP Code 608 -- which was ‘designed to be used for call blocking’ -- to provide immediate notification of analytics-based blocking, and that SIP Code 608 could be implemented without the need to encrypt information regarding the blocking entity.”
The FCC shouldn’t modify or replace the emergency action notification (EAN) code used for alerting in nationwide emergencies, said NCTA in an ex parte call with the Public Safety Bureau Tuesday, according to a filing Thursday in docket 15-94. “The EAN code is substantially different” from other emergency alert system codes “in that it is hard-wired into downstream equipment” such as set-top boxes, NCTA said. “Thus, any changes to the EAN code would be difficult to implement.” Modifying the code was among several proposals the FCC floated last year for updating emergency alerting (see 2110200065). Cable set-top boxes have about a 10-year lifecycle, and many customers may have even older boxes, NCTA said. “Older set-top boxes are frequently phased out via attrition, rather than actively replaced.”
The FCC shouldn’t modify or replace the emergency action notification (EAN) code used for alerting in nationwide emergencies, said NCTA in an ex parte call with the Public Safety Bureau Tuesday, according to a filing Thursday in docket 15-94. “The EAN code is substantially different” from other emergency alert system codes “in that it is hard-wired into downstream equipment” such as set-top boxes, NCTA said. “Thus, any changes to the EAN code would be difficult to implement.” Modifying the code was among several proposals the FCC floated last year for updating emergency alerting (see 2110200065). Cable set-top boxes have about a 10-year lifecycle, and many customers may have even older boxes, NCTA said. “Older set-top boxes are frequently phased out via attrition, rather than actively replaced.”
The National Retail Federation and its members want the White House to appoint “respected, experienced and impartial arbitrators” to a presidential emergency board to avert a freight rail strike in September, NRF CEO Matthew Shay wrote President Joe Biden Wednesday. NRF and its members “are concerned about the potential for U.S. freight rail disruptions stemming from the National Mediation Board’s premature release of the parties from labor negotiations,” said Shay. “We urge the administration to encourage the parties to come back to the table where they can make their own fair and mutually beneficial agreement.” Peak import season “is upon us, tied to back-to-school and holiday shopping,” said Shay. Rail network disruptions in September “could have long-lasting negative effects on these important selling seasons,” he said. “Product delays and shortages are correlated with inflation -- an issue of great significance to Americans and the economy.”
Lawmakers are proposing a range of telecom and tech-focused amendments to the House Armed Services Committee’s FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-7900). They include proposals to require more DOD transparency on its implementation of its 2020 spectrum sharing strategy, bar TikTok use on government devices, and several focusing on the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The House Rules Committee Thursday afternoon hadn't set a meeting to consider the amendments.