Monica Hogan

The FCC added two Wireline Bureau items to its circulation list posted Friday. An order in docket 18-155 addresses Aureon's petition for reconsideration of September's access arbitrage order (see 1909300023). It doesn't address more recent concerns that stem from increased call terminations due to spikes in teleconferencing services during COVID-19, agency officials told us Tuesday. Commissioners will also vote on an opinion and order for docket 20-11 on the five-month investigation into Northern Valley's tariff revisions filed in December (see 2001100040). In an ex parte filing posted Tuesday, Northern Valley asked the FCC to uphold its tariff revisions that are disputed by AT&T.

An agency official and hospital executive urged applying soon for the FCC COVID-19 telehealth program. Speaking on an FCBA webinar Thursday, American Hospital Association Director-Health Information Technology Policy Samantha Burch wanted to see another round of congressional funding, saying additional demand could demonstrate need. Congress allocated $200 million (see 2004010042). Through Wednesday, the FCC had approved releasing just over $50 million. "Time is of the essence for this program," said Chas Eberle, senior counsel for the FCC Wireline Bureau's Telecommunications Access Policy Division. The program is to end when the entire $200 million fund is extinguished, which Eberle expected to occur before the emergency ends. "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good" when preparing a program application, he told FCBA. Bureau staff will work with applicants and seek clarification as needed, Eberle said. "Hospitals are grateful for this iterative process," Burch said. Keep in mind the program isn't a grant program but a reimbursement program, Eberle said. Awardees need to track and submit paperwork to get funding, he said. AHA wants the FCC to include for-profit hospitals (see 2004270044). "COVID doesn't discriminate based on the tax status," she said.

Net neutrality stakeholders didn't budge on three remanded issues (see 1910010018), in replies to the FCC posted through Thursday in dockets including 17-287. "Concerns noted by the Mozilla court on three discrete issues do not justify abandoning the Commission’s decision to return to [Communications Act] Title I classification as the benefits of the regulatory framework ... vastly outweigh any potential costs," USTelecom said. Common Cause, Public Knowledge and New America’s Open Technology Institute want the FCC to retain Title II common carrier authority over broadband and "restore legal certainty for the Lifeline program, empower the Commission to protect public safety during the COVID-19 pandemic." The Greenlining Institute wants the FCC to "acknowledge the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic and the importance strong net neutrality protections" have for public safety. CTIA said "concerns regarding paid prioritization’s impact on public safety are theoretical, have not materialized." The Alarm Industry Communications Committee said "state and local laws often impose service standards that alarm companies may not be able to meet without adequate protection of their use of broadband networks." Verizon said there's ample evidence to find "no reason to revisit its decision to restore the information service classification for broadband." NCTA wants the FCC to conclude its current regime "is fully warranted from the perspective of public safety, pole access, and the Lifeline program." Incompas countered claims there have been no major net neutrality violations since the repeal: "In addition to the fact that there is no longer a federal 'cop on the beat' ... there very well could be violations occurring that customers do not realize." AT&T said the FCC "has ample ancillary authority to extend section 224 rights to standalone broadband providers if it concludes that doing so is necessary for competitive parity in non-certifying states, just as it has ancillary authority to extend Lifeline support to standalone broadband services." ACA Connects said the FCC "cannot and should not upend its entire regulatory framework for broadband merely to cater to the interests of broadband-only providers in invoking" one-touch, make-ready pole attachment rules. The Wireless ISP Association wants the FCC to use its statutory authority to eliminate practices that slow down broadband deployment, such as discriminatory infrastructure access. Other replies came from the Broadband Institute of California at the Santa Clara University School of Law (here), Center for Democracy and Technology (here) Free Press (here) and the California Public Utilities Commission (here), which unsuccessfully sought a longer deadline extension due to the pandemic (see 2005200013). Initial comments came in last month (see 2004210019).

The California Public Utilities Commission believes providers "should not be expected to choose" during a pandemic "between allocating resources to maintaining their networks at the highest levels of service" and competing for USF support in a reverse auction as complex as that for the upcoming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, the CPUC emailed us. In March, the CPUC asked for a delay of the auction's start date of 120 days or more. Tuesday, a draft auction procedures notice suggested a weeklong delay of the Phase I auction to Oct. 29 (see 2005190058). "The FCC’s proposal to delay the auction by one week does nothing to allay" CPUC concerns, it said Tuesday. "On top of that, the FCC’s challenge process allows no time for the CPUC to rebut challenges from incumbent providers. CPUC staffers estimate the challenges in California equate to hundreds of thousands of housing units, potentially reducing needed federal broadband dollars for our state by hundreds of millions." When asked about the weeklong delay in the draft public notice, an FCC spokesperson emailed that in seeking comment, the commission expected bidding to start Oct. 22 "but noted additional details and dates would be announced in the procedures public notice. If adopted, the procedures public notice has set Oct. 29 for an auction to begin."

FCC commissioners past and present touted the benefits of TV white spaces in helping confront the digital divide and asked stakeholders to keep pressure on the agency to rule on making the spectrum available for broadband soon. Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel plus ex-member Mignon Clyburn spoke at a webinar Tuesday. "It can happen this year," O'Rielly said of an FCC TVWS vote. He said the issue has the support of his colleagues but with all the other items on the agenda, it's a matter of priority. Having a statutory deadline helps, said Rosenworcel. O'Rielly preferred to defer to Congress, saying such guidance could be an impetus. Commissioners 5-0 approved an NPRM in February seeking comment on proposals to allow devices to operate with higher power in less-congested areas (see 2002280055). The FCC declined to comment now. Morgan Reed, president of webinar host ACT|The App Association, said Congress should give the FCC the resources it needs to make this possible: "I'm never a fan of unfunded mandates." "We need every type of broadband infrastructure at our disposal" to ensure the U.S. can be connected affordably, Clyburn said. Economies of scale support fiber infrastructure in urban areas, Clyburn said, "but we have a crazy big country, and a lot of it is not dense in population." She acknowledged that "whatever's decided is not going to be perfect." The FCC must be mindful of harmful interference and do what it can to promote flexibility, she said: Regulatory certainty could help encourage equipment manufacturers "to do what they promised." She wants the agency to expedite the tough decisions needed. "We don't have funding mechanisms for some of these investments" in precision agriculture or telehealth, said Nicol Turner Lee, Brookings Institution Center for Technology Innovation senior fellow. Instead of going to current government programs, she said, "maybe we should move past some of these patchworks to fund these smaller projects."

Smaller carriers that haven’t converted landline systems to VoIP seek extensions to comply with the secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) and secure handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) caller ID authentication framework requirements from the Traced Act, in comments posted through Monday in docket 20-67. They face implementation challenges (see 2002260058). NTCA wants the deadline extended to June 2023 for rural LECs. The FCC should “adopt compliance timeframes tied to RLECs’ ability to obtain and integrate into operating budgets vendor solutions," NTCA said. Extensions "without regard to the actual circumstances impacting implementation would only risk holding back the pace of the IP transition," AT&T said. USTelecom urged "proceed[ing] with caution" because in its experience "virtually all illegal robocalls are either originated by small IP-based providers" or gain network access through them. USTelecom said it supports a one-year implementation extension "due to undue hardship for small voice providers, on a case-by-case basis." Establish "policies that address the robocall and spoofing challenges differently for TDM than for IP," Verizon said. ACA Connects members need time and flexibility to overcome implementation barriers, it said. Consider transition costs and the amount of TDM that remains in the network, WTA suggested: Encourage research and deployment on alternative call authentication methodologies. WISPA asked for waivers. "Unlike larger nationwide providers, small providers often are dependent on third-party vendors" in such situations, the Competitive Carriers Association said: "Any delay by a vendor would be out of a provider’s control." T-Mobile wants the FCC to extend the mandate to intermediate carriers because otherwise terminating carriers can't verify a call's identification. Include wireline, wireless, VoIP providers and over-the-top voice services, NCTA said. Facilitating the VoIP transition could maximize effectiveness, Comcast said.

Despite the Covid-19 surge in the use of residential landline phones, stakeholders don't expect a reversal in the long-term trend toward mobile-only households. Residential landline voice traffic rose dramatically this spring as Americans sheltered in place, with volume reaching traditional Mother's Day levels in March.

Recent strength in U.S. internet performance will help prepare industry to restart the economy, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr told an online FCBA audience Monday. "We're resilient," Carr said. "We're going to get through this thing." Third parties have helped the FCC monitor network capacity during the pandemic, Carr said. Networks are holding up "very well" in the U.S., he said. Networks seem to have capacity to support the use, he said. Fixed voice call volume is up 20-25%, Carr said, with mobile call volume up 10% or less, Carr said: it indicates people are staying home, and fixed networks have necessary capacity. The COVID-19 telehealth program is in good shape now, Carr said: "We'll see what happens when we get closer" to spending the $200 million Congress allocated. The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted vulnerabilities of the telecom networks from foreign threats, Carr said. Steps to protect the networks from companies that may be owned or influenced by China are underway. "This isn't just about phone calls and emails," Carr said, and is increasingly about other network traffic, such as telehealth and online banking. "If these networks are threatened, then everything we value is threatened," he said. Carr wants Congress to consider funding in its next COVID-19 relief bill to address ways to mitigate network vulnerabilities.

Higher call volume for IP captioned telephone services and video relay services during the COVID-19 pandemic, plus longer call times, increased wait times, we heard. That has left some in the hearing loss community isolated and frustrated. Consumer advocacy groups, industry and the FCC are working to respond, stakeholders said in interviews.

A coalition advocating for veterans and elderly hard of hearing people raised concerns over a recent FCC conditional approval of an IP captioned telephone service using only automatic speech recognition technology (see 2005050027). The Clear2Connect Coalition said Thursday "ASR-only services must be evaluated based upon real-life scenarios before approving them for consumer use." Loretta Herrington, managing director-external affairs and international development for the World Institute on Disability, a C2C member, told us the group would like to be more involved in developing testing protocols with the telecom industry for usability studies in family, work and social settings.