FCC Chairman Ajit Pai cited heartening and challenging hurricane-response lessons that he plans to incorporate into agency actions to bolster public safety communications. A spike in emergency calls put "tremendous strain" on Florida's Miami-Dade County's first-responder system as power outages affected home phone service and internet access, he blogged Wednesday, citing recent travels to storm-affected and other areas (see 1710050056). Pai said "ripple effects" included people turning to radio "as a reliable source of information" -- and to social media, which is a "double-edge sword": providing new sources of information but creating problems for first responders in monitoring, verifying and using related information. He said 911 "is still the best way" to get emergency assistance, with more study needed on how to use social media without hampering "efforts to improve location accuracy and promote next-generation 911." Florida first responders said better coordination was needed between power companies and telecom companies, Pai said, but he was encouraged by "inter-jurisdictional collaboration" on visits to 911 call centers in Indiana, Missouri and Kansas. Among other challenges are the need to increase location accuracy for mobile 911 calls; "the huge number of misdialed 911 calls," including inadvertent "pocket calls," that tie up dispatchers; and call-center staff attrition.

Free State Foundation President Randolph May said he met with FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and an aide to Commissioner Brendan Carr on the group’s recommended changes to net neutrality rules. Broadband internet access services are Title I “information services” and not Title II “telecommunications services … under the text and structure of the Communications Act,” FSF said in docket 17-108 Monday. “Therefore, the FCC does not possess authority to regulate broadband [ISPs] as common carriers and impose harmful public utility regulation.” FSF said the FCC “lacks authority” under Section 706 “to regulate broadband ISPs’ practices.”

Amazon held a “surprise” news-media event in Seattle on new Echo and Fire TV products for the holidays and Alexa integration with BMW. Reports earlier in the day said Google yanked YouTube from Amazon’s Echo Show video device. Another new Echo product is the Spot, a small, rounded device with second-generation far-field mic technology and a small display for viewing the weather, video news briefings, alarm clock functions or to “check on your kids,” said Amazon. The new Fire TV with 4K ($69) follows Apple’s announcement of its 4K streaming media player by a couple of weeks. Fire TV has high dynamic range and Dolby Atmos audio, said Amazon. Bundles are part of the announcements, like a two-month pass to Hulu and one-month Showtime trial.

More use of e-labels, displaying regulatory or product other details in electronic format rather than through physical labels, would improve consumer convenience, help manufacturers continue to innovate and meet regulatory requirements, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation reported Monday. E-labeling is needed, said ITIF, because products are getting smaller and it's more difficult to fit multiple, small labels that notify consumers and others about complying with electromagnetic interference, energy, materials, recycling and safety regulations, which can increase costs and limit design options. ITIF said e-labeling should be permitted through an iterative process, starting with displaying product information on a device's inbuilt screen and then expanding it to products without a screen by providing access to information via a URL or QR code. ITIF said there's a "regulatory reluctance" to shift from physical to e-labels, partially due to concerns over monitoring for non-compliance, and policymakers may need to enact legislation. The report noted challenges such as e-labels becoming unavailable if devices are broken or have lost power, but manufacturers could provide peel-away screen labels or present information on their websites.

Intercarrier compensation comments will be due Oct. 26, replies Nov. 13, as an FCC public notice is set to be published in Tuesday's Federal Register. The commission is seeking to refresh the record on issues raised in a 2011 Further NPRM "regarding the network edge for traffic that interconnects with the Public Switched Telephone Network, tandem switching and transport, and transit," said an FR prepublication notice Monday.

Privately held Procera Networks completed its acquisition of Canada-based Sandvine, which provides broadband network solutions for fixed and mobile operators, said the Fremont, California-based networking equipment provider in a Friday news release. The combined company will operate under the Sandvine name and be led by Procera CEO Lyndon Cantor. The Canadian $562 million deal (about $456 million U.S.) was announced in July.

The FCC said initial comments on a Form 477 Further NPRM are due on Oct. 10, clarified a public notice in Friday's Daily Digest. The deadline had been extended to Oct. 9 (see 1709190068), but that falls on Columbus Day, the PN noted.

That autonomous vehicles will make lives safer, more “affordable” and more “enjoyable” are reasons to “get excited,” CTA President Gary Shapiro said in a Wednesday opinion piece. He noted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates 94 percent of U.S. traffic accidents are caused by human error. Self-driving cars “will cut the costs of insurance, licensing and repairs, and will free up time spent in traffic or searching for parking spaces,” he wrote for U.S. News & World Report.

Hamilton Relay urged the FCC to consider all IP captioned telephone service (CTS) issues in a new Further NPRM, given the time that has passed since a 2013 NPRM and "numerous pending rate proposals." For now, the agency should "continue to employ the Multistate Average Rate Structure (MARS) for calculating IP CTS rates, because MARS is the only market-based [telecom relay service] rate mechanism ...[and] has proven to produce predictable rates that reasonably compensate IP CTS providers" for costs, said a Hamilton filing posted Wednesday in docket 13-24 on conversations with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Brendan Carr. It asked the FCC, as it did on video relay service rates, to release for comment any IP CTS draft order before a vote. CaptionCall and parent Sorenson Communications opposed a ClearCaptions proposal for a four-tier rate structure, and they urged the FCC not to propose any rate tiers in an FNPRM. Although the FCC has adopted VRS rate tiers, "the IP CTS market is fundamentally different" and such an approach could be disruptive, they said Tuesday. CaptionCall said Sept. 7 it believed all the rate issues should be considered in an FNPRM, but it understood the FCC was considering setting a transitional rate; if the commission does so, the company urged regulators not to prejudge issues. CaptionCall agreed with Sprint that "service quality standards" must be considered with long-term rates. "We also agree with Sprint and Hamilton that the MARS methodology has avoided dramatic swings in the IP CTS rate, allowing providers to invest in their services with reasonable certainty that they will recover their investments," said a filing it and Sorenson made on a meeting with a Pai aide.

Industry regulatory fee payments for FY 2017 are due by Tuesday, said an FCC order to be published in Friday's Federal Register, though entities in areas affected by hurricanes Irma or Harvey have until Sept. 29 (see 1709150046). The order collectively assessed regulated industry parties $356.7 million and hiked satellite-TV provider fees (see 1709060050).