The FCC North American Numbering Council, which isn't recommending use of a three-digit dialing code for a national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline (see 1902140044), is being asked to revise its draft report with answers to new questions. In a letter dated Friday from Wireline Bureau Chief Kris Monteith, posted Monday in docket 18-336, NANC is directed to answer such questions as, if the FCC does go the three-digit dialing code route, what N11 or non-N11 code would it recommend and which existing N11 code would it recommend for expansion if it opts to go that route. It also told NANC to consult with the North American Numbering Plan administrator about what codes might be best suited and how that would affect North American Numbering Plan exhaust. It said if NANC recommends repurposing an existing N11 dialing, the answer of which should be accompanied with use data for that code compared to other codes from as large a service provider sample as possible. It said NANC should detail actions needed to implement whatever three-digit code it recommends and a timeline for implementation. NANC's Numbering Administration Oversight Working Group has an April 11 deadline for getting that information to NANC, with NANC then having a May 13 deadline for getting the report to the bureau. A Veterans Affairs Department report posted Friday said since its 2016 expansion of its 24/7 Veterans Crisis Line call centers, calls no longer are routinely routed to a contracted backup center and the rollover rate went from 39.16 percent of calls in FY 2016 to 0.16 percent in FY 2018, as call volumes grew. It said 98.05 percent of calls are answered within 20 seconds and 1.7 percent of calls disconnected more than five seconds before being responded to. A Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration report to the FCC posted Friday said average longest wait for an answer at the federally funded Lifeline 10-digit national hotline rose 29 percent April 2017-April 2018. It said an N11 would be easier to remember, leading to higher volume, and be more effective than the 1-800 number used now. It said high-performing crisis center to responding to a crisis call costs roughly $25 per call, so an N11 system -- if it doubled the volume of calls Lifeline handles now -- would necessitate $50 million in additional funding.

The Rural Utilities Service will announce in March the date it will begin accepting applications for its $600 million rural e-connectivity program, says a notice for Monday's Federal Register. Applications will be accepted through May 31 for grants, June 21 for grant-loan combinations and July 12 for loans. Each category is budgeted up to $200 million, with authority for a reserve to cover further funding. Separately, Paperwork Reduction Act comments are due April 26 on extending an RUS Form 790 collecting information from borrowers when they seek to sell capital assets of their systems, says another notice for Monday's FR (see calendar).

ITTA slammed a Kairos Partners filing on behalf of enterprise users that urged the FCC to continue to prohibit carriers from "identifying" telecom relay service costs as line items on consumer bills to not "stigmatize disabled individuals" (see 1902200049). Kairos "is merely doubling down on the same red herrings, hyperbole, and misreadings of precedent that have characterized their prior filings," emailed the mid-size telco group, which has petitioned the agency for a TRS billing ruling and cited its July 3 reply as addressing criticisms. "ITTA has made it abundantly clear that ITTA is not seeking in this petition to specifically identify on consumers’ bills costs attributable to TRS. Rather, ITTA’s ask is that the Commission issue a declaratory ruling that it is and always has been permissible for a carrier recovering TRS Fund contributions via an end user cost recovery fee line item (or the like) on customers’ bills to include TRS, among other references, in the line item description. This properly balances Commission precedent both with respect to TRS and Truth-in-Billing."

The FCC should continue to bar carriers from identifying telecom relay service costs as line items on consumer bills, said 3M, Coca-Cola, Mastercard, Office Depot, Sears and other enterprise users in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 03-123. They said the FCC could soon rule on an ITTA petition "that could alter" the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and "the civil rights of all disabled individuals," including "the deaf, hard of hearing and speech impaired communities." ITTA plus AT&T, Verizon and CenturyLink "are pressuring the FCC" to overturn a rule prohibiting carriers "from identifying the cost of [TRS] (a Title IV, ADA service) as a fee, surcharge or line-item on customer invoices," the enterprise users said. The ADA "prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities," they wrote. "It would be a violation of the ADA to stigmatize disabled individuals as a 'cost burden' by identifying the cost of providing an ADA service on any consumer invoice."

The U.S. solicitor general urged the Supreme Court to affirm an appellate court ruling that a litigant in a private junk fax lawsuit can't attack validity of an FCC order that could have been challenged under the Hobbs Act when issued. "Such collateral attacks would undermine the interests of the United States and regulated parties in conclusively determining the validity of covered agency actions," said an SG/DOJ brief joined by the FCC and posted Friday, in PDR Network v. Carlton & Harris Chiropractic, No. 17-1705. PDR argued a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Hobbes Act ruling stripped a district court of jurisdiction to review an FCC "unsolicited advertisement" decision under the Telephone Consumer Protect Act (see 1901090045). Carlton & Harris, which sued PDR after receiving its fax advertising a digital version of a physician's reference book, filed its brief Feb. 7 urging the high court to dismiss the case or affirm the 4th Circuit ruling. Business interests and others filed amicus briefs in the docket, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which backed broad rights to contest FCC TCPA decisions (see 1901160030).

The C-Band Alliance (CBA), which is telling the FCC eighth floor some critics of its band-clearing plan are against competition (see 1901310050), made similar arguments with Chairman Ajit Pai, said a docket 18-122 posting Tuesday. It said it has sent more than 400 certified letters to parties potentially interested in the spectrum and its plan has broad support from various parties in multiple industries. In the docket Wednesday, the American Cable Association recapped meetings with aides to Pai and to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and Mike O'Rielly, and with Wireless and International Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff. ACA said the record lacks enough information and the satellite industry should submit information on its current and projected use of the C band, plus current and projected demand for services. It backs a reverse auction, with compensation to users and operators for their expenses and foregone investments, or alternately that if the CBA proposal is adopted that C-band users are part of the negotiations. The association said if CBA and those users can't come to agreement, baseball-style arbitration would come into play. NCTA last week said it had concerns about the CBA proposal and any C-band clearing approach it adopts should include agency oversight. S&P Global said Wednesday opening the 3.7-4.2 GHz band for 5G could mean a big enough windfall for Intelsat to allow it to significantly pay down debt from its current "unsustainable" level. It said SES, the other dominant satellite user of C band in the continental U.S., could also get a higher investment rating, depending on how it uses proceeds from any spectrum sale.

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau Tuesday sought comment on a NorthStar Alarm Services petition seeking Telephone Consumer Protection Act clarity. The company asked the commission to clarify that “calls using recorded audio clips specifically selected and presented by a human operator in real-time, a tool generally referred to as ‘soundboard technology,’ do not deliver a ‘prerecorded message’” under the TCPA, the bureau said. Comments are due March 15, replies March 29 in docket 02-278.

Cisco completed buying Luxtera. The tech company said Wednesday night it paid $660 million in cash and assumed equity awards, as expected (see personals section of Dec. 20 issue). Luxtera is a semiconductor company whose silicon photonics are used by data centers, service providers and other customers.

SGS North America, a testing and certification company, asked the FCC to take quick action to define telemarketing and “dual purpose” calls with respect to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. SGS met Travis Litman, aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. “Limited guidance” on these terms “requires immediate clarification,” SGS said in docket 02-278. The fix is easy, it said. “The content of the communication itself must control this determination,” SGS argued. “Confirm that a call is subject to the prior express written consent requirements only if it advertises the commercial availability or quality of any property, good, or service, or encourages the purchase or rental of, or investment in, property, goods, or services within the four corners of the communication itself.” SGS also reported on a call with Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff.

Tidal Wave Telecom asked the FCC to waive rules barring "non-Video Relay Service" providers from getting access to a telecom relay service numbering directory. TWT wants such access to "deploy technology solutions," including to enable jails and prisons "to identify incoming and outgoing VRS calls received and made by deaf or hard-of-hearing ... inmates where such monitoring is permitted," it petitioned, posted Wednesday in docket 03-123. It said the request is similar to VTC Secure's, approved in January 2017 (see 1701190038), and will "decrease costs and abuse of the TRS fund, increase security at correctional facilities, and promote lawful communications."