Monica Hogan

Small, rural carriers may find it harder to absorb costs of federal requirements to trace illegal robocalls, said panelists at an FCBA event Thursday on implementing the Traced Act, which became law last year. Voice providers aren't allowed to add line item charges for call blocking services. That doesn't mean carriers won't raise prices. "It depends on the magnitude of the costs" to companies for upgrading their networks and ongoing costs to administer call blocking and traceback efforts, NTCA Senior Vice President-Industry and Business Affairs Mike Romano told us. "If the costs are significant, they'll have to" raise prices, Romano said. He hasn't heard of such plans. Philip Macres of Klein Law Group said he has heard that even for small operators, it can cost $100,000 to upgrade a network for call authentication. "There are upfront costs and ongoing costs to operate," Romano said. USTelecom Senior Vice President-Policy and Advocacy Patrick Halley said operators should be careful in evaluating vendors because risk can be involved "when you have a regulatory obligation to do something in a short period." Romano said NTCA members are sensitive to issues of "reasonable analytics" used for call authentication because rural carriers were the ones that historically had problems with call completion when larger carriers didn't send phone traffic their way. The vast majority of members run IP-based phone networks, Romano said, which makes it easier to provide caller authentication for traffic originating on them. Too often, rural carriers must rely on tandem networks that still use TDM switching, he said: In many of those cases, authenticated calls from the small IP-based phone companies "will be sending out [authentication] certificates to nowhere."

At least the three FCC GOP members will approve a public notice on Rural Digital Opportunity Fund procedures at Friday's meeting that would authorize an Oct. 22 auction date for the first phase of the USF program, industry and agency officials said in interviews this week. It's less clear how much pushback it will get from Democratic commissioners. At last month's meeting, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel called the fast pace of the RDOF rulemaking, before the FCC had a chance to correct widely disputed broadband mapping data, "an election year bonanza" (see 2001300001).

Power loss continues to play a role in cellular network outages in Puerto Rico, FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said Wednesday, after his Friday hearing there. "During the recent earthquakes, the overwhelming majority of cell-site outages resulted from power loss, not damage to facilities," he said, calling power loss a long-term challenge. He visited one facility that's running on a generator more than two years after a hurricane destroyed its power lines. He said stakeholders are exploring expanded coordination agreements with power utilities, plus alternative energy sources. "At the federal level, we urgently need to consider new rules and legislation to ensure access to power," he said. Starks said ending internet inequality in Puerto Rico requires "sustained commitment and significant resources." He said closing the digital divide could allow telehealth to give Puerto Ricans better access to mental healthcare. Starks posted prepared statements from Friday's witnesses. Puerto Rico Telephone Co. General Counsel Francisco Silva in separate discussions with Starks recounted Wednesday in docket 18-143 called "inconsistent" the frameworks the commission adopted for determining location adjustments in the Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund and the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. Silva said FCC rules penalize support recipients in Puerto Rico "when location data used to establish milestones overstates the number of locations in an area, even though the challenges associated with accurately assessing location data acknowledged in the RDOF proceeding are even more acute in Puerto Rico" (see 2002200021).

Low-income consumers shouldn't have to reveal sensitive personal information or open themselves to surveillance in exchange for Lifeline subsidies, said replies posted through Wednesday in docket 17-287. FCC commissioners voted in November on party lines for a Further NPRM (see 1911140064).

The American Bankers Association said a reassigned numbers database proposed by the FCC should be able to process billions of queries monthly and respond to each within three seconds, among comments posted through Tuesday in docket 17-59. Several entities seeking to verify accuracy of their customers' phone numbers weighed in. Like the bankers, Telnyx supports an application programming interface for the database, at least as an option. The Association of Credit and Collection Professionals wants the database to "eliminate any restrictions on how many numbers can be checked at once." The telecom industry also commented this week on plans for an independent consortium to trace illegal robocalls (see 2002250002).

The consortium selected to manage industry efforts to trace illegal robocalls to comply with the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act "should enable the participation of a diverse range of voice service providers in the tracebacks that it conducts and allow the participation of any and all providers that are identified in the call path of a traceback," USTelecom told the FCC. Comments were posted through Tuesday in docket 20-22. The agency opened a rulemaking this month (see 2002060038). NCTA wants the consortium to create an executive committee represented by different industry sectors "given an equal voice in the management." The cable group wants budget transparency if fees are collected. It asked whether a traceback group must be independent from a single association. Incompas wants the FCC to spell out how it will evaluate a registrant's claim of neutrality, and it wants to know what criteria the agency will use to select a single consortium for the private-led traceback efforts. Incompas suggested the North American Numbering Council advise the FCC here. The FCC also got comments this week on technical requirements for a reassigned numbers database (see 2002250062).

Dissenting to a denial of a petition for writ of certiorari to the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Monday, a Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas suggested an earlier Brand X ruling upholding an FCC decision to keep cable modem service unregulated may be unconstitutional. "Although I authored Brand X, it is never too late" to surrender former views to a better-considered position, Thomas said. He added Brand X appears to be inconsistent with the Constitution, the Administrative Procedure Act and traditional tools of statutory interpretation. The justice was writing about an unrelated case that's not about net neutrality. "I don't see this as changing the outlook for net neutrality in the Supreme Court one way or the other," emailed Andrew Schwartzman, senior counselor for the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. "Thomas' position on this has been expressed in the past, so what he said here doesn't change that." The FCC didn't comment. NCTA declined comment.

Broadband industry stakeholders didn't request heavy edits to a draft public notice for docket 20-34 on FCC's proposed procedures for its upcoming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction (see 2002060063), but will weigh in during the open comment period if commissioners vote to adopt the item at Friday's meeting, they told us. Enlarging minimum geographic bidding areas could cause concerns, some said. The Oct. 22 auction date was seen as doable.

With FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks hosting a field hearing in Puerto Rico Friday about the need for telecom network resiliency after widespread damage from hurricanes in 2017 (see 1710030057) and more recent earthquakes (see 2002130056), scheduled witnesses hope the hearing will call attention to Puerto Rico's plight and help the telecom industry strengthen its communications infrastructure. The Wireline Bureau is moving ahead with plans to allocate millions in funding to help such efforts.

The FCC Wireline Bureau will take comments through March 30, replies until April 29, on several issues remanded to the agency after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld most of the commission's net neutrality order in Mozilla v. FCC (see 1910010018) and later denied petitions for a rehearing (see 2002180054), said a public notice in dockets 17-108, 17-287 and 11-42 Wednesday. The bureau is refreshing the record on how the FCC's Restoring Internet Freedom order could affect public safety when broadband is classified as a Title I information service; how it affects pole attachment regulation; and what authority the agency has to direct Lifeline USF support to eligible telecommunications carriers (see 1910290002). "The FCC got it wrong when it repealed net neutrality," Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement Wednesday. That's why the courts sent back key parts of the order, she said, urging the American public to use this comments period as another opportunity to weigh in on net neutrality: "It's time to make noise." Public Knowledge is also encouraging the public to "speak out about the importance of a free and open internet." Senior Policy Counsel Jenna Leventoff also questioned the agency's decision to combine the three separate issues into a single "bureau-level public notice" and provide only 40 days for public comment. Free Press Research Director Derek Turner said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's "zealous efforts to remove broadband providers from any obligations to protect internet users defies what Congress clearly intended for these critical communications services. Without Title II safeguards, we face several potentially harmful consequences to public safety and universal service." FP vowed to continue to fight to restore net neutrality protections after Pai's tenure with the FCC ends. “Since the Restoring Internet Freedom Order was adopted, broadband speeds have increased substantially, fiber deployment has hit an all-time high, and the Internet has remained free and open," an FCC spokesperson emailed. "The attempts by some to engage in the same old tired fearmongering on this issue are likely to ring hollow to more and more Americans.”