FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel will host a listening session in Chicago on incarcerated people's communications services (IPCS) Oct. 27 at 2:30 p.m., said a news release Friday (see 2305090066). Rosenworcel will hear from formerly incarcerated people and their loved ones about their experiences with IPCS and "obtain additional public comment in support of the commission’s ongoing efforts to ensure just and reasonable rates and charges for IPCS consumers."
IP captioned telephone service providers InnoCaption and CaptionCall met separately with FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics staff about rates for IP CTS, said ex parte filings posted Friday in docket 03-123. CaptionCall also met with staff from the Office of Managing Director. InnoCaption asked the FCC to "establish a three-year rate cycle while maintaining a single IP CTS rate" until there's enough data on the impact of automatic speech recognition. CaptionCall asked that research and development costs be treated as compensable "above mandatory minimum standards" to achieve functional equivalence. It also asked that acquiring North American numbering plan phone numbers for IP CTS users be treated as compensable.
Sorenson Communications wants the FCC to issue a declaratory ruling and interim waiver "to remove regulatory hurdles in the integration of interoperable videoconferencing services (IVCS) and video relay services (VRS)," said a letter posted Friday in docket 03-123 (see 2310100069). The company asked the FCC to direct the Telecom Relay Service Administrator to implement URL billing, allow users to select the provider of their choice on an IVCS call, and let providers confirm IVCS users' VRS eligibility using their assigned 10-digit number. "Prompt action will provide immediate relief to Deaf and hard-of-hearing consumers trying to use IVCS platforms," Sorenson said.
An FCC order establishing a new compensation formula for video relay services funded by the Telecom Relay Services Fund is effective Dec. 18, said a notice in Thursday's Federal Register (see 2309280076).
The FCC committed more than $53.4 million in additional Emergency Connectivity Fund support Wednesday. The new funding supports about 175 schools and school districts, four libraries and library systems, and two consortiums, said a news release.
The FCC disagreed with a letter from USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter urging the House and Senate Intelligence committees’ leaders to “pay special attention to the FCC’s mission creep into the cybersecurity space” because of the draft NPRM (see 2310160062). Although the commission “is already actively involved in federal interagency cybersecurity planning, coordination, and response activities, it has limited authority to incorporate updated cybersecurity standards into its network policies,” a spokesperson emailed us Monday. “A clear example of this is” the FCC’s Communications Act Section 214 authority, “which provides the agency with the ability to monitor and mitigate the existence of bad actors in telecommunication systems. That authority currently extends only to phone networks, not broadband. Similarly, the FCC has been closely working with other federal agencies on the best way to identify Broadband Gateway Protocol (BGP) vulnerabilities and mitigate risks, a process that would be strengthened through Title II reclassification by providing the agency with the clear and direct authority to act in close coordination with other agencies.”
NCTA asked the FCC to modify the E-rate eligible service list by moving Wi-Fi functionality from a category two service to a category one service, in reply comments posted Friday in docket 13-184. It has "become more evident that educational instruction is effectively achieved by provisioning Wi-Fi on school campuses," the group said: "Given the undeniable importance of Wi-Fi, it no longer fits the characteristics of a category two service." NCTA also asked the FCC to clarify that "routing and switching equipment that enables category one broadband service is itself category one equipment." The current approach "creates significant uncertainty as to whether and how costs should be allocated," it said.
The FCC Wireline Bureau granted Intermountain Infrastructure Group's transfer of control request to WRA II-Pioneer, said a public notice Thursday in docket 23-85 (see 2309280055).
Archtop Fiber closed on its buy of Hancock Telephone, a family-owned telco in New York's Southern Tier region, Archtop said Monday. It said the deal will have it providing telecom services in part of the Southern Tier and northeastern Pennsylvania. The transaction was announced early this year (see 2301050025). The Hancock deal follows Archtop's buy of GTel in New York's Hudson Valley, and Archtop's purchase of Warwick Valley Telephone in New York state is pending regulatory approval.
The FCC approved a new compensation formula for video relay services funded by the Telecom Relay Services Fund Thursday (see 2308310049). VRS is "a vital communications tool that we must support with top-quality interpreting and technology," said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The new formula will increase support for services under a two-tier rate structure. Large VRS providers will be compensated $6.27 per minute for the first 1 million minutes handled and $3.92 per minute for any additional minutes. Smaller providers with up to 1 million monthly minutes will be paid $7.77 per minute. Providers using a specialized service for users who are deafblind will be paid an additional 19 cents per minute when that service is used. An accompanying Further NPRM seeks comment on other situations that may warrant additional compensation.