The FCC committed more than $2.8 million in additional Emergency Connectivity Fund support Thursday. The new funding will support 15 schools, five libraries and one consortium, said a news release. “With today’s funding round, we continue our progress in providing students the online access they need to connect with their teachers and keep up with schoolwork,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.
ATIS asked the FCC to direct the Toll Free Numbering Administration to release the nearly 16,000 "833" toll-free numbers into the spare pool as soon as possible so they can be available to businesses that wish to use the numbers," (see 2206290051), per an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 17-192. Meeting with an aide to Commissioner Brendan Carr, the group also sought an "equitable allocation method under which the unassigned “800” TFNs would be made eligible for allocation but with an allocation limit of 125 numbers" per responding organization.
An FCC NPRM reaffirming the Wireline Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics' Office's data collection authority for inmate calling services is effective Thursday, said a notice for that day's Federal Register. Commissioners adopted an item starting the implementation of the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act during their March meeting (see 2303160009).
Sorenson Communications urged the FCC to address video relay service rates before the next funding year. The COVID-19 pandemic "reshaped how Americans communicate" and VRS has "fallen very far behind services available to the hearing population," Sorenson said in a letter posted Tuesday in docket 03-123, saying the service is "no longer functionally equivalent." VRS users "have been waiting during the pandemic and now beyond for VRS to catch up with services now widely used by the hearing population," it said.
The FCC Wireline Bureau released draft guidance Monday on the type of data to be collected for the affordable connectivity program's data collection. Comments on the proposed information collection are due May 15 in docket 21-450, said a public notice.
ZP Better Together urged the FCC to act on video relay service reimbursement rates, in separate meetings with Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington, plus aides to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. ZP said the FCC "will need to adopt an order approving new VRS rates on or before June 30" to avoid another rate extension, per an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 03-123.
A coalition of industry groups raised concerns about certain consumer broadband label requirements, in a meeting with FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff. USTelecom, CTIA, ACA Connects, NTCA and NCTA said the requirement that providers display pass-through fees from government agencies is "an unwarranted departure from the commission’s approach in 2016 and adds unnecessary complexity to the label for providers and consumers," per an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 22-2. The groups asked the FCC to grant its petition clarifying that providers can satisfy this requirement by providing an explanatory statement saying such fees may apply. They also asked that providers be allowed to satisfy the requirement that they document instances when a customer is directed to the label at an alternate sales channel by "developing appropriate business practices to promote distribution of the label through alternative sales channels and retaining documentation of these practices and any associated training materials for two years."
An FCC order adopted in January improving the rural healthcare program's funding mechanism is effective April 24, said a notice for Thursday's Federal Register (see 2301260041). Rules on the urban rate determination, rural rate determination, and invoicing are delayed indefinitely. The FCC also wants comments by April 24, replies by May 22, in docket 17-310 on the rate determination rules, said a separate notice for Thursday's Federal Register.
The FCC Wireline Bureau dismissed and denied SES Government Solutions' petition for reconsideration of a 2017 order clarifying that the USF's government-only exemption applied only to contractors "providing service directly and exclusively to government and public safety entities and does not apply to subcontractors," in an order on reconsideration Wednesday in docket 06-122. Expanding the exemption "would defeat the narrow purpose of the exemption and be detrimental to the stability of the fund," the order said.
The FCC Wireline Bureau and Office of the Managing Director issued guidance Thursday on wind down of the agency's COVID-19 telehealth program. Eligible telehealth expenses for equipment must be delivered and recurring services must be purchased by May 11, said a public notice in docket 20-89. The Oct. 31 deadline for submitting reimbursement requests and the Jan. 31 deadline to submit post-program feedback reports were unaffected.