Pay Tel Communications asked the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hold unlawful certain portions of the FCC's order covering incarcerated people's communications services in a petition filed Tuesday (docket 24-1984). Pay Tel said parts of the order are "arbitrary" and "an abuse of discretion within the meaning of the Administrative Procedure Act." A coalition of 14 states petitioned the 8th Circuit on similar grounds (see 2410020039). Last month, the 1st Circuit was selected to hear consolidated challenges of the order (see 2409190061).
The Cybersecurity Coalition urged the FCC to include stand-alone domain name system (DNS) and dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) services on the list of eligible services for E-rate funding recipients, per an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 13-184. The coalition asked Wireline Bureau staff to place the services under category 1 and category 2. DNS and DHCP are "foundational to function connectivity and resilience for schools and libraries," the group said (see 2409110053).
During a meeting with FCC Wireline Bureau staff (see 2409230038), Verizon disputed Wide Voice's claim that it discontinued time division multiplexed (TDM) service without complying with certain regulations. The carrier, in an ex parte filing Friday in docket 01-92, said it "followed the appropriate process to notify its wholesale customers of its planned discontinuance and to obtain FCC authority to discontinue its services to retail customers." Verizon detailed its discontinuance process, saying it filed an application with the commission and notified carrier customers in 2021. "Wide Voice's contrary assertions ignore Verizon's public filings and statements demonstrating that it followed the commission's discontinuance and notice processes," it said. It's "Wide Voice’s apparent insistence on receiving local traffic at its switch in this manner – and not anything that Verizon did or is doing – that is preventing local calls from ILEC customers from reaching Wide Voice."
DC BLOX sees a business model for building regional data centers in places like Greenville, South Carolina, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Birmingham, Alabama, Alan Poole, general counsel of the Atlanta-based company, said during an Incompas webinar Thursday. As connected devices became more powerful, tech companies realized they needed to move data centers and computing power closer to users, Poole said in a conversation with Incompas CEO Chip Pickering during the session. COVID-19 spurred tech growth, Poole said: “The investment in digital infrastructure around that time to help meet the pace of demand was wild, awe-inspiring, and we’re still going through that,” he said. A key element DC BLOX considers is how welcoming a city will be to investment, as data centers require access to land and electricity. The company also examines potential tax incentives to build. Policymakers must ask what they’ll do if one developer takes all the available power, which is “happening all over the country,” Poole said. One center can require up to one gigawatt of power, which is "eye-popping.” Accordingly, the ability of data centers to generate power onsite, including “green” energy, will become increasingly important, he said. Communities should decide whether they want to compete “because there are many [competing] markets” and they are offering tax and other incentives. “At least at DC BLOX we’re doing everything we reasonably can to head off community concerns as soon as possible, because it makes more sense financially.” The availability of large enough fiber pipelines to handle growing demands is also a concern. “Is there enough fiber on all these routes?” Poole asked. “It was assumed, until very recently, that we were never going to need materially bigger conduits and that has proven absolutely untrue.” Some markets getting high-speed internet for the first time don’t have a nearby internet exchange point yet, allowing ISPs to exchange data with other networks: “That’s where the true internet compute happens and if you’re not close to one of those exchanges, you have problems with things like latency that might make real-time videoconferencing … unworkable.” Pickering said he loves the focus on “Tier 2” markets. “Those are great emerging hubs” and data centers “are a critical component and a critical piece of the infrastructure to make those hubs grow, succeed, prosper.” As communications technology rapidly evolves, “electricity is still kind of in the old world,” Pickering said. As the U.S. competes with China, “electricity and energy really is the supply-chain critical component.”
The FCC Wireline Bureau wants comments by Nov. 4, replies by Nov. 18, in docket 23-62 on proposed revisions to its annual reporting and certification requirements for providers of incarcerated people's communications services, per a public notice Thursday.
The FCC rejected Securus' petition seeking a delay in implementation of an order from August on incarcerated people's communication services pending the outcome of the company's challenge before 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (see 2409050034). “To show likelihood of success on the merits, a petitioner must make a ‘strong showing’ that they are likely to succeed; a ‘mere possibility of relief’ is insufficient,” said an order in Thursday’s Daily Digest. Securus “likewise fails to demonstrate that it would suffer imminent and irreparable harm without a stay,” the FCC said. “Bare allegations of what is likely to occur," the agency said, "are of no value” under legal precedent.
A coalition of 14 states asked the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to vacate an FCC order establishing per-minute rate caps for intrastate audio and video communications services for incarcerated people in a petition filed Monday (see 2409190061). Indiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia filed the joint petition (docket 24-2983). A brief from the states is due Nov. 25.
Spectrum Advanced Services notified the FCC of its intent to acquire the customer base of 2125 Cable Co., though Spectrum Advanced said it doesn’t believe the notice is necessary. “The Commission has not determined whether interconnected VoIP services are telecommunications services, nor has it yet ruled that its carrier change rules apply to interconnected VoIP services,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 00-257. Spectrum said it also complied with FCC customer notification rules “out of an abundance of caution.”
The FCC on Friday released an order commissioners approved Thursday expanding the range of accessibility features that must be included in videoconferencing platforms (see 2409260026). The item also includes a Further NPRM. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Anna Gomez issued statements with the order. “We take steps to ensure that people with disabilities are able to access and use video conferencing, a modern communications tool that is critical in connecting for work, education, health, and other fundamental life activities,” the item says.
Sorenson sought "minor changes" to the FCC's draft order and Further NPRM on accessibility in videoconferencing during meetings with aides to all commissioners and Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff. Commissioners will consider the item during an agency meeting Thursday (see 2409040053). The provider asked that video interpreters be allowed to change their display name before entering an interoperable videoconferencing service (IVCS) call to maintain some privacy. It also sought clarification that a communications assistant (CA) may satisfy the requirement that they must identify themselves as an interpreter by indicating this in their display name. "To the extent that the current language would require another method, such as requiring the CA to identify herself verbally, that would be intrusive to the call," Sorenson said in an ex parte filing Monday in docket 23-61. Sorenson asked that the commission reconsider its proposed rule to provide a five-minute compensable period for CAs to remain on a call if another video relay service user requests a CA, raising concerns about the potential for duplication of CAs on a call. "We think the better approach is to allow the CA to remain on the call provided there remains someone who is actively using [American Sign Language] and who appears to be deaf," Sorenson said. The provider also asked the FCC to consider moving its decision on the use of specially trained CAs from the draft order to the FNPRM to develop a record on whether "allowing providers to route requests for VRS for IVCS calls to specially trained CAs will provide a more functionally equivalent experience for the users."