Make sure small phone carriers with legitimate spikes in incoming calls don't get swept up in a coming FCC order redefining how phone companies are deemed access stimulators, said representatives of rural LECs and other small LECs in interviews last week and in docket 18-155. Chairman Ajit Pai's draft gets a vote Thursday (see 1909050043). The rules would shift financial responsibility for tariffed tandem switching and transport services away from interexchange carriers to the access-stimulating LEC for terminating traffic.
Satellite interests want changes to the FCC's proposed $950 million allocation of second-round USF funding to strengthen broadband networks in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, after Hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017. Award criteria for the Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund and the USVI Funds are flawed, Hughes said in meetings with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai, aides to Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Mike O'Rielly, and with Wireless Bureau staff, per docket 18-143 postings Thursday (see here, here and here): Determining satellite isn't resilient technology is incorrect, since if the ground equipment is off island, it's by nature resilient. Hughes said the agency should include in bid evaluation the time it takes to deploy. It urged scoring that would give up to 20 points for 100 percent buildout within two years and fewer or no points for longer. The Coalition to Fund CPR membership, building a satellite-based model for emergency telecom services on the island, said the FCC should include locally based satellite communications facilities in restoration funding. It said funding should include new entrants with new technology, and allowing independent community-based emergency telecom networks to participate. The coalition said membership includes Tech Latina, National Puerto Rican Agenda, Ibero American Action League and Foundation for a Better Puerto Rico. Virgin Islands ISP Broadband VI argued against changing criteria for resiliency and redundancy, saying no data in the record supported doing so, and against applying a point reduction for backup power at customer premises in competing applications going through a brief public comment period. Commissioners vote at their Sept. 26 public meeting (see 1909040073).
Satellite interests want changes to the FCC's proposed $950 million allocation of second-round USF funding to strengthen broadband networks in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, after Hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017. Award criteria for the Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund and the USVI Funds are flawed, Hughes said in meetings with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai, aides to Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Mike O'Rielly, and with Wireless Bureau staff, per docket 18-143 postings Thursday (see here, here and here): Determining satellite isn't resilient technology is incorrect, since if the ground equipment is off island, it's by nature resilient. Hughes said the agency should include in bid evaluation the time it takes to deploy. It urged scoring that would give up to 20 points for 100 percent buildout within two years and fewer or no points for longer. The Coalition to Fund CPR membership, building a satellite-based model for emergency telecom services on the island, said the FCC should include locally based satellite communications facilities in restoration funding. It said funding should include new entrants with new technology, and allowing independent community-based emergency telecom networks to participate. The coalition said membership includes Tech Latina, National Puerto Rican Agenda, Ibero American Action League and Foundation for a Better Puerto Rico. Virgin Islands ISP Broadband VI argued against changing criteria for resiliency and redundancy, saying no data in the record supported doing so, and against applying a point reduction for backup power at customer premises in competing applications going through a brief public comment period. Commissioners vote at their Sept. 26 public meeting (see 1909040073).
The Treasury Department released its proposed regulations for the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018, granting expanded authorities to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, Treasury said in a Sept. 17 press release.
Twenty-three trade associations, led by the National Foreign Trade Council, have sent a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate committees with trade jurisdiction, asking them to hold public hearings on tariffs proposed by President Donald Trump, and telling them the Tariff Reform Coalition wants to "work with you to pass appropriate tariff reform legislation as soon as possible."
The American Council of the Blind, U.S. Geospatial Executives Organization, National Emergency Number Association and Subsurface Utility Engineering Association joined the GPS Innovation Alliance, it said Monday.
The Aerospace Industries Association released its 2019 Facts & Figures report, saying aerospace and defense exports have steadily increased despite international market uncertainty. The report said an increasing demand for commercial aircraft, combined with emerging “markets and routes,” has caused exports to grow. This has been buoyed by a “rise in geopolitical threats” that has led to “increased spending on a global scale as allies in foreign markets continue to procure cutting-edge American technology.” The AIA expects growth to continue as U.S. allies, including those in East Asia and Europe, “increase their defense budgets to address common national security concerns.”
Staff is entering the second phase of a lengthy process to update the FCC's main filing system. After spending about a year on internal communications and other early work, agency employees are now poised to speak with external stakeholders. The update may include ways to help prevent the agency's filing system from being overwhelmed with fraudulent or spam comments that could slow it down, and it could register users, officials told the agency's Consumer Advisory Committee. Unlike past filing system revamps, this one may have bigger changes, staff told CAC.
Staff is entering the second phase of a lengthy process to update the FCC's main filing system. After spending about a year on internal communications and other early work, agency employees are now poised to speak with external stakeholders. The update may include ways to help prevent the agency's filing system from being overwhelmed with fraudulent or spam comments that could slow it down, and it could register users, officials told the agency's Consumer Advisory Committee. Unlike past filing system revamps, this one may have bigger changes, staff told CAC.
Additional broadcasting, consumer and tech industry groups urged DOJ not end or change the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees, in comments the department published Friday. Almost 900 entities commented on the consent decree review. They reflected divisions between industries evident in filings we reviewed in August (see 1908120045).