The FCC's order providing video relay service and IP captioned telephone service providers a two-week "grace period" for commencing service while a user's identity is being verified by the telecom relay services user registration database takes effect Oct. 21, said a notice for Wednesday's Federal Register (see 2206300058).

The FCC Wireline Bureau extended the E-rate service implementation deadline until Sept. 30, 2023, for FY 2020 and FY 2021 applicants with nonrecurring service deadlines, said a public notice Monday in docket 02-6. The bureau cited continued delays in delivering and installing equipment and services due to "labor and equipment shortages from the global supply chain disruptions" caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The FCC Wireline Bureau wants opposition comments by Oct. 4, replies Oct. 14, in docket 19-308 on Sonic Telecom's 2021 petition for reconsideration of portions of the FCC's reverse unbundling network elements rules, said a notice for Monday's Federal Register (see 2102090077).

The FCC released guidance on how to file bulk challenges and crowdsourced information to the fixed broadband availability data on the forthcoming maps. The challenge and crowdsource processes "will open after the FCC’s broadband maps are published," said a Broadband Data Task Force, Wireline Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics public notice Thursday in docket 19-195. Individuals and entities will also be able to submit single-location challenges to the broadband data collection system through a form on the maps once they are published, the guidance said (see 2209140066).

USTelecom asked the FCC to require that session initiation protocol (SIP) code 603+ be used as the "uniform method to notify callers that their calls have been blocked," in a meeting with Wireline and Consumer and Governmental Affairs bureaus staff. Citing ATIS and the SIP Forum's recent release of SIP code 603+, USTelecom said the new standard is "the best, most reasonable, and most efficient approach forward" because it "incorporated feedback from the calling community and more than adequately meets their needs" (see 2208250067). "Some calling-side equipment" may already be ready to receive the information from a 603+ response message, the group said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 17-59, and "we expect in most cases that modest software updates will be needed to make automated use of the information."

The FCC Wireline Bureau wants comments by Oct. 14, replies Nov. 1, in docket 05-337 on National Exchange Carrier Association-proposed changes to the average schedule USF high cost loop support formula, said a public notice Wednesday. The proposed formula would take effect Jan. 1.

The FCC authorized support for 49 Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction bids for Cyber Broadband and E Fiber -- both San Juan, Puerto Rico, Tuesday. The companies have until March 1 to submit their first location data, said a public notice in docket 19-126.

InnoCaption sought full certification to provide IP captioned telephone service using either automatic speech recognition or communications assistants. It also sought a two-year extension of its conditional certification to provide IP CTS using only ASR, said an application Tuesday in docket 03-123 (see 2012110020). InnoCaption "has demonstrated a commitment to operating in a transparent and ethical manner in cooperation with the commission," it said, and "will meet or exceed all non-waived operational, technical, and functional minimum standards required of IP CTS providers."

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr called for more action to "safeguard" affordable connectivity program funding following Thursday's Office of Inspector General memorandum identifying fraudulent enrollment (see 2209080036). "I have not been alone in expressing concern," Carr said Friday: “Whatever we are doing to deter this type of fraud is not working."

Don't include a broadband label on consumers' monthly bills, said NCTA in a meeting with an aide to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr. There's "no evidence that existing customers would benefit" and label information would instead "generate customer confusion," the group said, per an ex parte filing Friday in docket 22-2 (see 2204210057). Implementing such a requirement would "dramatically increase" the "variety of systems challenges" of placing a label on provider websites, NCTA said, asking the FCC to "instead focus its rules on the display of labels at the point of sale."