Monica Hogan

An interoperable video calling (IVC) advisory committee to the North American Numbering Council couldn't reach consensus between a plan to implement a telephone number database or to use a technology platform-based approach, said working group co-chair Matthew Gerst, vice president-regulatory affairs at CTIA. "We're asking for an extension of our charter." The group issued preliminary recommendations to the FCC in a report and a roundtable discussion at the agency's headquarters Thursday. The group was tasked with determining how to best facilitate point-to-point video calls using 10-digit phone numbers across video service boundaries.

The FCC proposes to provide an 85 percent discount on qualifying connectivity services to support a three-year study on benefits, costs and savings associated with connected care technologies, it said. The agency released a draft NPRM Wednesday to advance the three-year, $100 million USF telehealth pilot called connected care and commissioners vote on it at the July 10 meeting. Commissioner Brendan Carr spoke during a visit to an Appalachian community healthcare clinic in southwestern Virginia Wednesday to demo how remote patient monitoring technologies including mobile apps used with smartphones, tablets and other devices can help track chronic conditions and improve outcomes.

The FCC plans to undo "unnecessary regulation" of transport services and facilities for ILECs, according to two draft orders released Wednesday that will come up for a vote at the commissioners' July 10 meeting, as the agency promised a day earlier (see 1906180053). An opinion and order from docket 18-141 would partially grant USTelecom's request for forbearance from DS1 and DS3 transport unbundling obligations for price-cap carriers, where endpoints for competitive fiber is located within a half mile. An order on remand from docket 16-143 would grant price-cap carriers nationwide relief from ex ante price regulation of their lower speed TDM transport business data services.

The 1996 Telecom Act set mandates for ILECs to open networks to competitors, but incumbents say enough competition exists for the FCC to grant USTelecom's petition for forbearance from a requirement to provide unbundled network elements (UNEs) to competitive LECs. At minimum, ILECs seek forbearance wherever there is evidence of facilities-based market competition, such as from a cable provider. CLECs said they still need UNE access (see 1905140012). All sides told us recently to expect the FCC to act soon.

Rural broadband stakeholders hope to bridge a divided U.S. by pushing bipartisan support for increased infrastructure spending in rural America. NCTA hosted House Rural Caucus co-Chairs Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., and cable executives to showcase the public-private partnerships to increase speeds and access. Justin Forde, Midco senior director-government relations and a proponent of fixed-wireless broadband services, said it's critical government funding programs remain technology neutral to make rural. Federal broadband investment should be concentrated in areas unserved by high-speed broadband, and better mapping is needed to do so, executives agreed. NCTA proposes providers use more granular shapefiles rather than Census blocks to inform a new mapping system (see 1905030060), noted Amy Bender, NCTA legislative counsel. There's a proceeding in docket 11-10, and Bender hopes the FCC and Congress will act quickly to impose a better mapping system. She wants to see whether Congress presses FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on the status at a Wednesday oversight hearing (see 1906050044).

Some USF program allies raised alarms in interviews and statements about Friday's FCC 3-2 NPRM calling for an overall budget cap for the four programs (see 1905310069). Some plan to spread the word about the rulemaking to the public, hoping for a critical response. Advocates for government fiscal discipline had kinder words about the rulemaking.

Rural telecom carriers stand to gain some and lose some if T-Mobile buys Sprint and the carriers live up to the conditions they offered (see 1905200004) to clear the way for likely FCC OK, insiders say. Many remain skeptical that a new T-Mobile would be willing or able to build a 5G wireless infrastructure covering two-thirds of the rural U.S. population and 99 percent of the country within six years.

Interests representing ILECs and competitive LECs pressed opposing sides in replies mainly posted Wednesday in FCC docket 18-141 on a USTelecom petition for forbearance from selling unbundled network elements (UNEs) to competing telcos (see 1905140012). Incompas argued the Wireline Bureau "should not rely on unreliable data" in current broadband coverage maps (see 1905230043) in deciding, and that USTelecom "attempts to use the predictions of eventual competition made over two years ago to substitute for proof of actual competition today." Incompas said USTelecom hasn't met the burden of proof under forbearance procedures to demonstrate competitors are providing fiber in significant quantity to justify relief to ILECs from selling UNEs.

The promise of a rapid buildout of 5G infrastructure, especially across rural communities, justifies moving the U.S. from a market with four major wireless providers to three, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr suggested last week in an interview on C-SPAN. There appear to be enough commissioner votes to approve T-Mobile's buy of Sprint, following promises the combined company would commit to building out 5G infrastructure within three years to 97 percent of the U.S. population (see 1905200051). DOJ hasn't publicly weighed in.

There's optimism Congress could shift its focus to infrastructure soon, said USTelecom President Jonathan Spalter in a recent interview for C-SPAN's The Communicators to be televised this weekend and posted here. “We hear a lot of talk about the opportunity to pivot Congress’s attention back to the idea of a national infrastructure framework,” he said. “We’ve heard figures of up to $40 billion” to bring fiber networks across the country, Spalter said. “A national bipartisan commitment to infrastructure could propel broadband access to all Americans who need or want it.” USTelecom is developing a more sophisticated U.S. broadband map with more data at the granular level. It’s started with maps in Virginia and Missouri with plans to create a scalable database with harmonized and digitized data (see 1903210041). “We have to know where the underserved areas are,” Spalter said, as well as where broadband isn't available at all. He noted that several million Americans may have no access to broadband, especially in areas where the terrain is too difficult to deploy fiber in or where the economics of scale prohibit it. “We’re working with the FCC to close that gap,” Spalter said. He said the broadband mapping data is necessary for regulators to fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities in subsidizing rural broadband expansion. He noted 5G technologies won't likely start in rural areas nor in underserved urban markets, “but it absolutely has to include our rural communities.” Spalter favors the principles of net neutrality but not the Save the Internet Act (S-682), which he suggested would return telco policy to outdated 1934-era public-utility-style rules. When asked about Democratic presidential candidates’ interest in breaking up larger social media giants, Spalter said he’d rather see Congress “break up the difficult red tape” for telcos and establish more shared responsibility by all actors who touch the consumers through the internet, so it doesn't fall more on ISPs.