FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel was in Alabama Thursday, and used a tour to seek better location accuracy of wireless 911 calls. She tweeted from a 911 festival in Haleyville, where the first 911 call was made 50 years ago, which she called a big innovation. Rosenworcel also toured a 911 call center. “Today 88% of calls coming in to #Birmingham 911 come from #wireless phones,” she tweeted. “It's a reminder that improving the location accuracy information that comes in with wireless emergency calls needs to be a #publicsafety priority.”

Consumer groups "strongly support" possible FCC use of a reassigned number database to help curb "the escalating problem of unwanted robocalls" while maintaining liability provisions. An "effectively created and managed database will significantly reduce the number of unwanted calls to consumers and will reduce liability under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) for callers," said early comments of the National Consumer Law Center and six other groups Tuesday, in docket 17-59 on a Further NPRM (see 1803220028). Comments are due June 7. Callers using the reassigned number database will "significantly reach their intended recipients more successfully," the groups said. "However, it is essential ... to maintain liability for robocalls to cell phones made without consent. Without this liability, callers will not have sufficient incentive to use the database, and all of the good work by the FCC will be for nothing. Liability for making wrong-number calls gives callers reason to spend the time or the money to check the database to ensure that they are calling only numbers for which they still have consent." Bandwidth cited concern about "gaps" in Secure Handling of Asserted Information using toKENs/Secure Telephony Identity Revisited (Shaken/Stir) call authentication. It said industry ability to distinguish "valid end-user originated traffic" from illegal robocalls "will hinge critically on the adoption of a set of Telephone Number Proof of Possession (TN PoP) standards and best practices." The IP-based wholesale provider "is concerned that without the industry’s simultaneous adoption of TN PoP standards, IP-enabled services that rely upon underlying carriers will risk being improperly discriminated against," said a filing on a meeting with FCC staffers.

NTIA Administrator David Redl blogged Wednesday the agency is looking for new ways to tabulate broadband data beyond FCC Form 477 reports. NTIA asked for comments by July 16 on how to enhance broadband data quality and accuracy (see 1805290031). The FCC said more than 30 percent of rural Americans live in areas without broadband, Redl wrote. “We know these gaps exist, but what we don’t know is precisely which areas of the country have insufficient broadband capacity. That makes it difficult to ensure that public investments in infrastructure are efficient and effective.” Form 477 data is “valuable, but the data is not independently validated or verified,” he said. “It is also reported at the Census block level, so that can lead to inaccuracies that overstate availability -- especially in rural areas where Census blocks are large.”

NTIA is seeking comments by July 16 on how to enhance broadband data quality and accuracy -- especially in rural areas -- and how to improve analysis of broadband availability, says a notice scheduled to appear in Wednesday's Federal Register.

Quicken Loans, the nation’s largest home mortgage lender, urged the FCC to provide more clarity on the agency’s interpretation and implementation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Earlier this month the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau sought comment (see 1805150014) and Quicken Loan officials met with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Brendan Carr on the notice, said filings in docket 18-152. “Quicken Loans (1) expressed the importance of a clear autodialer definition, which says dialing from a list does not institute an autodialer; (2) supported a safe harbor for a reassigned number database; and (3) discussed clear rules of the road, including designated snail mail, email, websites, and others, so consumers know how to opt-out of receiving calls,” said the company Thursday.

T-Mobile and Cox Communications cited 2018-2019 timelines for implementing Shaken/Stir call authentication standards targeting spoofed robocalling, and CenturyLink expects visible "impacts" beginning in 2019. T-Mobile plans "to commercially launch our STIR/SHAKEN network solution prior to the end of 2018," said a filing posted Friday in docket 17-59 on a discussion with FCC Chief Technology Officer Eric Burger and other staffers. "[W]e expect that by the end of 2019, all handset specifications will include the requirements necessary to support display of the STIR/SHAKEN verification result." It also noted its "Scam ID and Scam Block solutions" deployed in March 2017: "We believe these solutions are the best in the business, and our customers love them." Cox's "target date to begin to test SHAKEN/STIR for its residential customers is late 2018 to early 2019, with broader implementation" in 2019, said its filing on a discussion with agency staffers. CenturyLink cited the benefits of Shaken/Stir (Secure Handling of Asserted Information using toKENs/Secure Telephony Identity Revisited), its related efforts and "the company's and the industry's anticipated schedule for testing and deployment." CenturyLink believes "implementation and increasing deployment of these standards will benefit consumers, with impacts being visible beginning in 2019," said a filing on a discussion with agency staffers. Comcast (see 1805220014) and AT&T cited 2018-2019 implementation timelines, while Sprint cited hurdles (see 1805170018). FCC Chairman Ajit Pai accepted North American Numbering Council recommendations for creating a Shaken/Stir framework for VoIP service within a year and encouraging carrier implementation (see 1805140028).

The FCC set terms for access to sensitive information in its rulemaking to safeguard national security in communications (see 1804170038). An NPRM "seeks comment on a rule to prohibit, going forward, the use of universal service support to purchase equipment or services from any communications equipment or service providers identified as posing a national security risk to communications networks or the communications supply chain," said the Wireline Bureau protective order Wednesday in docket 18-89. On Capitol Hill, anti-ZTE efforts moved forward (see 1805230058).

Comments are due June 22, replies July 9, on two petitions for FCC interpretations under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The Insights Association and the American Association for Public Opinion Research asked for declaratory ruling clarifying four areas, including that "communications are not presumptively ‘advertisements’ or ‘telemarketing’ under the TCPA simply because they are sent by a for-profit company, or might be for an ultimate purpose of improving sales or customer relations,” said a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau public notice Wednesday in docket 02-278. The P2P Alliance, a coalition of providers and users of peer-to-peer text messaging, asked the FCC "to clarify that P2P text messaging is not subject to the [TCPA] restrictions on calls to wireless phone numbers because such messaging does not use an automatic telephone dialing system (autodialer)," said another PN.

The Supreme Court's overturning federal limits on some state gambling laws may help ISPs in the long run, assisted by the FCC's net neutrality rollback, said New Street Research analysts, referring to Monday's 6-3 decision in Murphy v. NCAA, No. 16-476. "The end game of all manner of gambling, particularly sports gambling, eventually opens the door for ISPs to enjoy some, if not a large portion, of the potential profits, without significant new costs," they wrote investors Tuesday, acknowledging further steps are needed and "potentially several years before those profits are realized." The analysts expect real-time online betting integrated with sports watching "will be a huge business," including "micro-betting" during a game that could require "high reliability, low latency, and huge backend computing power." ISP "leverage" to "offer services to platforms wishing to facilitate such gambling and to customers wishing to have the best performing platforms is greater than in the past due to the elimination of net neutrality protections," they wrote. "The ability of ISPs to monetize the gambling is even greater when the entities are vertically integrated ISPs and content distribution companies with sports programming." They said states must still pass new gambling laws and there must be underwriting of "the gambling risk of paying off more than the platform takes in," which will be a challenge in a real-time online setting.

The FCC established an online portal for ISP broadband disclosure filings required by transparency rules in its net neutrality rollback order, said a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau public notice in docket 17-108 and Tuesday's Daily Digest. ISPs choosing to disclose their network-management practices, performance characteristics and commercial service terms through the portal will be able to do so starting May 29, though the order doesn't take effect until June 11. Those that don't use the portal must provide the information on a "publicly available, easily accessible website," the PN said.