The FCC sought comment and data on actions to speed broadband healthcare solutions. The commission "seeks information on how it can help enable the adoption and accessibility of broadband-enabled health care solutions, especially in rural and other underserved areas of the country," said a public notice Monday in docket 16-46. "We expect to use this information to identify actions that the Commission can take to promote this important goal. Ensuring that everyone is connected to the people, services, and information they need to get well and stay healthy is an important challenge facing our nation. Technology innovations in clinical practice and care delivery coupled with burgeoning consumer reliance on mHealth and health information technology (or healthIT) are fundamentally changing the face of health care, and a widespread, accessible broadband infrastructure is critical to this ongoing shift." The PN is "an important step in advancing the mission of the Connect2HealthFCC Task Force," said Commissioner Mignon Clyburn in a statement, thanking Chairman Ajit Pai for his commitment to the task force and Commissioner Michael O'Rielly for his support of the item. “The emerging broadband health ecosystem includes health care providers, public health and social service agencies, innovators and entrepreneurs, academic and research facilities, state and local policymakers, patients and their caregivers, as well as fixed and wireless broadband companies," she said. "I encourage entities from each of these sectors to provide us with detailed comments ... By working together, I know we can narrow the digital and opportunities divide to ensure much needed health and wellness solutions reach all Americans.”
Wireless carriers want to include embedded, “clickable” links in wireless emergency alerts but warned the FCC against mandates for that functionality without adequate feasibility testing. CTIA said it contacted aides for the three FCC commissioners on the topic. “CTIA continues to urge the FCC and other governmental stakeholders to be mindful of the potential limitations of embedded reference functionality beyond the control of wireless carriers,” said a Friday filing in docket 15-91. “For example, last year, the National Hurricane Center website was not available for a period of time during Hurricane Matthew.” CTIA also emphasized that work remains on standards for alerts. “While the wireless industry worked diligently to complete the necessary standards work within a few months after adoption of the rule, implementation by handset manufacturers and operating system providers will be necessary before consumers will be able to ‘click’ on embedded references,” CTIA said.
The FCC sought comment and data on actions to speed broadband healthcare solutions. The commission "seeks information on how it can help enable the adoption and accessibility of broadband-enabled health care solutions, especially in rural and other underserved areas of the country," said a public notice Monday in docket 16-46. "We expect to use this information to identify actions that the Commission can take to promote this important goal. Ensuring that everyone is connected to the people, services, and information they need to get well and stay healthy is an important challenge facing our nation. Technology innovations in clinical practice and care delivery coupled with burgeoning consumer reliance on mHealth and health information technology (or healthIT) are fundamentally changing the face of health care, and a widespread, accessible broadband infrastructure is critical to this ongoing shift." The PN is "an important step in advancing the mission of the Connect2HealthFCC Task Force," said Commissioner Mignon Clyburn in a statement, thanking Chairman Ajit Pai for his commitment to the task force and Commissioner Michael O'Rielly for his support of the item. “The emerging broadband health ecosystem includes health care providers, public health and social service agencies, innovators and entrepreneurs, academic and research facilities, state and local policymakers, patients and their caregivers, as well as fixed and wireless broadband companies," she said. "I encourage entities from each of these sectors to provide us with detailed comments ... By working together, I know we can narrow the digital and opportunities divide to ensure much needed health and wellness solutions reach all Americans.”
LAS VEGAS -- The number of TV stations that chose not to sell their spectrum in the TV incentive auction demonstrates that broadcasting is the "highest and best use of spectrum," NAB President Gordon Smith said, officially opening NAB 2017 Monday. He also discussed ATSC 3.0 and chips in smartphones.
LAS VEGAS -- The number of TV stations that chose not to sell their spectrum in the TV incentive auction demonstrates that broadcasting is the "highest and best use of spectrum," NAB President Gordon Smith said, officially opening NAB 2017 Monday. He also discussed ATSC 3.0 and chips in smartphones.
The Montana Legislature passed 911 legislation ensuring that 911 fee revenue pays for system enhancements. The state House voted 100-0 Thursday to approve the bill with Senate amendments. The legislature introduced the bill (HB-61) after quashing a proposal by Gov. Steve Bullock (D) -- slammed recently by FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly -- to repurpose $12.2 million of unused state 911 reserves to cover a budget deficit (see 1703170040). The bill would direct 911 fee revenue instead to NG-911 infrastructure and a statewide 911 plan. Legislative passage is good news, said National Emergency Number Association CEO Brian Fontes Friday. "It's a positive development that will facilitate progress toward NG911 in the state of Montana," emailed National Association of State 911 Administrators Executive Director Evelyn Bailey. The bill still needs Bullock’s signature, but the governor didn’t comment. Eight states and Puerto Rico together diverted nearly $220.3 million, or about 8.4 percent of total fees collected by 49 states and four territories reporting in 2015, the commission said in its most recent annual report to Congress (see 1701170051).
Top tech sector firms and groups lobbied during Q1 against several of President Donald Trump’s policy proposals, most notably the Trump administration’s immigration executive orders, disclosure filings show. Tech’s monthslong battle against some Trump priorities intermingled with the sector’s more traditional policy interests, notably Copyright Office modernization, emerging technologies and privacy protections. Q1 lobbying filings were due Thursday. Many tech companies increased their Q1 lobbying expenditures over what they spent during the same period last year, though Google, Intel and Yahoo reported lower spending. AT&T led the telecom sector in Q1 lobbying, spending more than $1 million more than rival Verizon (see 1704210046).
Top tech sector firms and groups lobbied during Q1 against several of President Donald Trump’s policy proposals, most notably the Trump administration’s immigration executive orders, disclosure filings show. Tech’s monthslong battle against some Trump priorities intermingled with the sector’s more traditional policy interests, notably Copyright Office modernization, emerging technologies and privacy protections. Q1 lobbying filings were due Thursday. Many tech companies increased their Q1 lobbying expenditures over what they spent during the same period last year, though Google, Intel and Yahoo reported lower spending. AT&T led the telecom sector in Q1 lobbying, spending more than $1 million more than rival Verizon (see 1704210046).
The Security and Software Engineering Research Center reported its rural calling findings, announcing a new network performance metric, "Human Retries" (HMR), to address problems. "We are close to real-time HMR validation. It would be valuable to finish that work," said a paper Tuesday filed in FCC docket 13-39 by the Center, which is National Science Foundation-sponsored and industry-supported, and carried out the rural calling project with help from Verizon and others. "Old network performance metrics seem incapable of identifying" emerging problems as new technologies are introduced and wireline systems change, the paper said. "Originating carriers have no idea if calls are truly being mishandled once they leave the carrier's network." The FCC "cites three factors: uncaptured or incorrect signaling, the presence of automated call traffic, and the increase of phone numbers without subscribers, which work together to reduce the capability of older metrics to measure network health," the Center wrote. It created the HMR metric to avoid those issues as much as possible, with the intent to identify and resolve rural call problems quickly. "While we were unable to completely disentangle HMR" from some lingering issues and more work is needed, "we were able to detect anomalies that potentially indicate problems that the other metrics were not able to capture," the group said. "We propose that we instrument the network at the point where we can detect call failure: at the rural carrier’s interfaces with the rest of the public network. We can create tooling for rural carriers to detect deviations between normal call volumes and reduced call volumes." It expected robocalls and declining wireline use would continue to present challenges.
The Security and Software Engineering Research Center reported its rural calling findings, announcing a new network performance metric, "Human Retries" (HMR), to address problems. "We are close to real-time HMR validation. It would be valuable to finish that work," said a paper Tuesday filed in FCC docket 13-39 by the Center, which is National Science Foundation-sponsored and industry-supported, and carried out the rural calling project with help from Verizon and others. "Old network performance metrics seem incapable of identifying" emerging problems as new technologies are introduced and wireline systems change, the paper said. "Originating carriers have no idea if calls are truly being mishandled once they leave the carrier's network." The FCC "cites three factors: uncaptured or incorrect signaling, the presence of automated call traffic, and the increase of phone numbers without subscribers, which work together to reduce the capability of older metrics to measure network health," the Center wrote. It created the HMR metric to avoid those issues as much as possible, with the intent to identify and resolve rural call problems quickly. "While we were unable to completely disentangle HMR" from some lingering issues and more work is needed, "we were able to detect anomalies that potentially indicate problems that the other metrics were not able to capture," the group said. "We propose that we instrument the network at the point where we can detect call failure: at the rural carrier’s interfaces with the rest of the public network. We can create tooling for rural carriers to detect deviations between normal call volumes and reduced call volumes." It expected robocalls and declining wireline use would continue to present challenges.