Rolka Loube Associates projected the FCC telecom relay service fund needs $1.62 billion in net cash for FY 2019 starting July 1 (up 23 percent from $1.32 billion in FY 2018), and an industry contribution factor of 3 percent (up from 2.3 percent), said filings by the TRS fund administrator posted Monday in docket 10-51. It projected total demand of almost $1.8 billion from the six relay services and additional requirements: $5.4 million for interstate traditional TRS, $7.8 million for interstate captioned telephone service, $713,429 for interstate speech-to-speech (including outreach), $495 million for video relay service, $7.9 million for IP relay service, $998.7 million for IP captioned telephone service and $279.9 million in "non-provider" requirements. The latter include an FCC-mandated two-month budgetary reserve of $252.6 million for FY 2019, $10 million for a deaf-blind equipment distribution program, $8.65 million for TRS research, and smaller administrative and other expenses. The projected net cash need was lowered by offsets from the projected $172.2 million surplus as of June 30 (from a current reserve) and $1.2 million in estimated interest on invested funds. Rolka Loube said the best available estimate is that the relevant annual interstate and international telecom end user (minus reseller) revenue base will be $53.5 billion (down from $58 billion); that, combined with the $1.62 billion cash need, produces the 3 percent projected contribution factor, which most providers pass on to consumers on phone bills.

The North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System demonstrated telehealth capabilities during a visit by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to the Lecanto, Florida, community-based outpatient clinic, the system said Monday. Pai said one reason digital divide issues are a top priority is that "communities on the wrong side of the divide, particularly rural communities, will not be able to be as healthy and strong as they should be," and Lecanto "shows us what is possible." He tweeted last week after the visit that telehealth "is saving lives and improving the health of veterans" in the region. The Veterans Health System is part of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Pai has been on a sweep of Gulf Coast states (see 1804270068).

Representatives of Alaska’s General Communication Inc. asked the FCC to expedite the flow of funding coming through the USF Rural Healthcare Program. “We urged rapid completion of the Funding Year 2017 commitments process, as we are already ten months through that year,” GCI said in a filing in docket 02-60. “The delay in completing the commitments and disbursement process is threatening to disrupt GCI’s ability to undertake key network improvements to improve wireless and wireline broadband in Alaska during the coming construction season.” GCI said representatives met with staff from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and the Office of Native Affairs and Policy.

The local number portability administrator transition remains on track to meet a May 25 deadline for "final acceptance" of iconectiv's Number Portability Administration Center (NPAC), with previous risks largely addressed, said a North American Portability Management report for April in docket 09-109. "Program risks previously reported here have been either mitigated or resolved. There are currently no summary-level program risks being tracked," said NAPM, the industry consortium the FCC charged with overseeing the LNPA transition. It said the first regional NPAC migration from incumbent Neustar to iconectiv "was successfully completed" April 8 (see 1804060030 and 1804130030). "The iconectiv NPAC is now processing porting transactions for NPAC users in the Southeast region," the report said. "Mechanized and low-tech interface users are accessing the NPAC. Mass Update / Mass Port jobs are being successfully processed, and the interface with the pooling administrator is operational. As part of the April 8th migration, interactive voice response service also transitioned nationwide. No critical or high severity defects for the iconectiv NPAC are currently outstanding." NAPM noted it reached a rollback agreement on April 6 with Neustar giving industry providers "a way to revert back to Neustar’s NPAC" if necessary. The Midwest, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regional migrations are set for Sunday, and the Southwest, Western, and West Coast migrations are set for May 20. Neustar didn't comment.

AT&T praised the FCC for proposing a streamlined Enforcement Bureau complaint process and supported "suggestions to harmonize the procedural rules that apply to Section 208 formal complaints, Section 224 pole attachment complaints, and disability access complaints" under the Communications Act. The commission should also "adopt a rule setting forth processes for the filing and consideration of pre-answer Motions to Dismiss for all kinds of formal complaints," said the company's filing posted Monday in docket 17-245 on an NPRM (see 1709180057). "Although the Commission already has authority to entertain and grant such motions, adopting a rule specifying procedures for doing so would provide Commission staff and formal complaint parties with useful guidance and certainty. ... [M]any formal complaints raise threshold legal questions that, if decided at early stages of the proceedings, would significantly narrow or eliminate entirely the litigation, minimizing or avoiding the need for potentially costly, lengthy, and onerous discovery, non-dispositive motions practice, and fact-finding." Commenters had mixed views last October on the notice (see 1710270027).

AT&T pressed the FCC to increase USF support for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as proposed by Chairman Ajit Pai. The "communications network situation" on the islands after Hurricanes Irma and Maria "remains serious," said filings (here and here) posted Thursday and Friday in docket 10-90 on meetings with aides to Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel, Brendan Carr and Mike O'Rielly, following up on a previous meeting with Wireline Bureau staffers (see 1804230065). ATN International, parent of Virgin Islands Telephone (Viya), also backed additional USF support, meeting with Wireline and Wireless bureau staff, said a filing posted Monday.

Video relay service providers got another year to implement an interoperability mandate on a technical standard for an interface with certain VRS devices. The FCC suspended an April 27 deadline for VRS providers to comply with the interoperability profile for relay user equipment (RUE profile) defining a standard interface between VRS provider services and end-user devices using an open-source software called the VRS access technology reference platform (VATRP). The deadline was "based on the expectation that the VATRP would be available to support interoperability testing well before this date," but "this has not occurred," said a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau order in docket 10-51 and in Friday's Daily Digest. "Some additional steps are needed to make the VATRP an effective tool." Postponing the deadline to April 29, 2019, the bureau said, "We expect that this time period will be sufficient to enable completion of the VATRP, as well as to provide a reasonable opportunity for VRS providers to prepare for compliance with the RUE specifications." Sorenson Communications sought the delay, backed by other VRS providers and consumer groups (see 1801240009 and 1708210026). Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is "extremely pleased," emailed Executive Director Claude Stout Friday. "This will give all parties time to test, correct errors if they come, and to ensure a smooth transition to all's benefit." Sorenson didn't comment.

More video streaming and film content, along with smartphones and set-top boxes use Dolby, executives said after fiscal Q2 results. Revenue rose to $301.4 million from $267.5 million in the year-ago quarter and net income rose to $70.6 million vs. $50.6 million, but it expects higher operating costs for the year, as high as $749 million, on unfavorable exchange rates in non-U.S. operations, said Chief Financial Officer Lewis Chew. BT and Sky Sports have been delivering live sports in Dolby Atmos, and Comcast and DirecTV delivered portions of the Winter Olympics in the immersive sound format, said CEO Kevin Yeaman.

Seventeen of 22 internet, mobile and telecom companies tracked by a New America report improved scores on at least one issue like privacy, security and corporate governance, yet "companies still fall short," it said Wednesday. Top-rated, in order of highest to lower, were Google, Verizon's Oath, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter and Vodafone, with percentage scores in the 50's or low 60s. AT&T had a "digital rights" score of 49 percent, Apple 44 percent and Samsung 28. The lowest rated was Ooredoo, a Qatar mobile and broadband firm. Apple and Twitter improved the most and third-most from the 2017 ranking (see 1703210015). Much of Apple's "improvement was due to improved transparency reporting, plus new direct disclosure to users on its own website of information that it had previously only disclosed to experts and other third parties," an executive summary said. Overall, another summary of the 143-page report said, "Companies fail to disclose enough about what user information is collected and shared, with whom, and under what circumstances. ... Companies provide insufficient evidence of measures to protect users’ information." The Internet Association didn't comment, nor did Apple, AT&T, Ooredoo or Samsung.

Federal appellate judges upheld a lower court dismissal of a robocall lawsuit alleging General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia didn't err in barring the suit under an immunity doctrine, ruled a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Craig Cunningham v. GDIT, No. 17-1592. Cunningham alleged he received, without giving express prior consent, an autodialed, prerecorded GDIT phone call advertising health insurance, violating the TCPA. The district court granted GDIT's motion to dismiss under a Supreme Court doctrine immunizing government contractors from suit when the government validly authorized the contractors' actions (Yearsley v. W.A. Ross Construction Co., 1940). The plaintiff appealed and argued the district court erred for various reasons, including that the Yearsley doctrine doesn't apply as a matter of law to federal claims. He also argued GDIT failed to qualify for immunity because the government didn't authorize its actions and the authorization wasn't validly conferred, and even if immunity did apply, it's a merits defense from liability, not jurisdictional immunity. "We find these arguments unpersuasive, and now affirm the district court's dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction," said the opinion of Judge Henry Floyd, joined by William Traxler and Dennis Shedd. Cunningham's lawyer said his client is considering "all his options."