The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau Thursday released a resolution, which the Disability Advisory Committee approved Tuesday, on calls to N11 numbers, such as 211 for community health and disaster information (see 1602230066). The committee found that people with disabilities often cannot call N11 numbers. The resolution states that the DAC recommends “the FCC provide clarification of current [Telecommunications Relay Services] rules and remind TRS providers of their obligation to handle N-1-1 calls and, if appropriate, institute an inquiry to find out the extent to which people who use Telecommunications Relay Services are able to contact their local or regional N-1-1 services.” The FCC also released the text of a DAC resolution urging the agency to issue a rulemaking on phasing out text technology (TTY) in favor of real-time text (RTT). “As new technology emerges for voice communications, additional guidance from the FCC, as part of a rulemaking, is necessary to reflect changing consumer behavior and preferences,” the resolution said. “The FCC has recognized the limitations of TTY on some wireless networks, while also recognizing the potential of RTT services.”

The North American Numbering Council will meet March 24 at 10 a.m. at the FCC, the commission said in a Monday public notice. The NANC is slated to hear various reports, including on local number portability administration from PwC, the LNPA transition oversight manager. PwC will hold its next LNPA transition outreach and education webcast on March 9 at 3 p.m., the Wireline Bureau said in a Friday public notice, which includes a registration link.

Seemingly shedding U-verse in favor of DirecTV, AT&T is creating a smaller multichannel video programming distribution marketplace -- something the FCC should investigate, Herring Networks said in an FCC filing Monday in docket 14-90. When the AT&T/DirecTV deal was announced in 2014, Herring had said it could be an opportunity for independent programmers, given that AT&T doesn't have its own programming (see 1405200025). Now with AT&T focusing on DirecTV and letting U-verse atrophy, U-verse vendors like Herring's One America News Network and AWE and other indie programming networks, as well as set-top box suppliers, "are being harmed," Herring said. The company also said the FCC should investigate "whether AT&T adequately disclosed [in the merger review] its full intentions" of ending U-verse and the harms to indie programmers and other vendors, consumers and the MVPD market of such an action. In a statement Tuesday, AT&T said, "To realize the many benefits of our DirecTV acquisition, we are leading our video marketing approach with DirecTV. However, our first priority is to listen to our customers and meet their needs, and if we determine a customer will be better served with the U-verse product, we offer attractive and compelling options.”

The NG911 NOW Coalition Tuesday called for national action to make Next-Generation 911 a reality nationwide by 2020. Coalition members include the National Association of State 911 Administrators, the Industry Council for Emergency Response Technologies and the National Emergency Number Association. “NG911 will enhance the 911 system to create a faster, more flexible, resilient, and scalable system that allows 911 to keep up with communication technology used by the public,” the coalition said in a news release. “Citizens in need of emergency assistance will be able to transmit photos, videos and other forms of broadband data and applications to 911 professionals, in addition to making a traditional voice call or sending a text message.” “Over the past year, I have been very vocal about the fact that the transition to Next Generation 911 is stalled and we need an all-out effort to accelerate it,” said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in a statement. “Today’s announcement of a new coalition to hasten the NG911 transition is welcome news. Modernizing the nation’s 911 system will take work from many stakeholders -- including the FCC, state and local 911 authorities and legislatures, industry, and Congress -- but together we can save lives.” NTCA said rural call centers “face significant challenges to upgrading their systems; among them, the current 911 funding model is broken and ineffective at supporting existing services, let alone advanced capabilities.” Monday, Wheeler spoke on the issue at the NENA conference (see 1602220048).

President Barack Obama wants to involve states more in combating cybersecurity threats, he told governors Monday at a National Governors Association reception in the White House State Dining Room. The governors had gathered in Washington for their winter meeting over the weekend. “This is a complex challenge, and we’re not going to be able to meet it alone,” Obama said. “We’ve made a lot of progress these past seven years, including sharing more information with industry and with your states. But all of us are still vulnerable.” He mentioned the launch this month of the Cybersecurity National Action Plan and a pending “major overhaul” of federal computer systems. “I want to do more with your states, including sharing more information about threats, improving our joint response capabilities,” he said. Obama referred to a new bipartisan commission he has formed and said he will want feedback from state governors. “And I think that we probably have some good ideas about where your vulnerabilities are in terms of your state databases and what you’re doing there,” he told the governors. “So that’s an area where I think we can probably work together.” Obama also mentioned that the governors can apply pressure to Congress on other priorities, such as approval of the administration’s Trans-Pacific Partnership deal. “It is inconceivable if, for example, you are in California, that you don’t want a Trans-Pacific Partnership that ensures the gateway for commerce in the Pacific is open to California businesses and workers for decades to come,” Obama said. “It’s inconceivable that you’d be opposed to that.”

Vonage filed a request with the FCC to obtain phone numbers directly from numbering resource administrators. The 152-page Vonage application and supporting materials came Thursday, the first day interconnected VoIP providers were allowed to seek phone numbers directly under a 2015 FCC order.

The North American Submarine Cable Association supports an FCC proposal to create a "clearinghouse" for information about submarine cable system landings in the U.S. and discussed potential benefits with International Bureau officials, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 15-206. Representatives of Alaska Communications, AT&T, Tata Communications, Tyco Electronics Subsea Communications and Verizon and other undersea cable operators attended the meeting, and NASCA Counsel Kent Bressie said in the filing that the group "emphasized the need for a centralized system of submarine cable deployment and contact information." An NPRM also would allow the creation of an outage reporting system for submarine cable systems (see 1511030019). In its initial filing with the commission about the outage reporting proposal, NASCA called the reporting requirements "needlessly burdensome" but lauded the FCC's focus on submarine cable protection (see 1512040037). During its meeting with the bureau, NASCA cited "overlapping -- and sometimes conflicting" licensing and permitting requirements that "burden" the industry, Bressie said. "The federal permitting process ... overlaps significantly with the state and local reviews." Permitting and licensing requirements tend to be burdensome due to the "logistical challenges inherent to submarine cable installation," the group said. Challenges include "the limited availability of cable ships globally, the expense and difficulty of storing cable when installation is delayed, the need to work around inclement weather and the need to work around seasonal environmental protections for protected species," it said. NASCA also discussed the "importance of coordination and information sharing in order to enhance protection of submarine cable infrastructure during its operational phase." The lack of a central federal government resource for information about installed undersea cable systems, plus a lack of no single point of government contact for undersea cable issues, "often results in agency actions that increase the risk of damage to submarine cable systems," NASCA said.

The FCC fined "DSM Parties" $1.84 million for sending unsolicited fax ads to consumers of chiropractic supplies in violation of agency "junk fax" rules, said an agency release of an Enforcement Bureau order approved as a consent agenda item at Thursday's meeting. The commission received 350 consumer complaints about Scott Malcolm, sole corporate officer of DSM Supply and Somaticare, collectively, the DSM Parties, the release said. A DSM representative had no comment.

If President Barack Obama is determined to nominate a black woman to fill Justice Antonin Scalia’s vacant seat on the Supreme Court, one viable candidate would be Ketanji Brown Jackson, U.S. district judge in the District of Columbia, wrote Tom Goldstein, founder of SCOTUSBlog.com, Tuesday in a blog post. Jackson is the presiding judge in the recording industry’s complaint that the major automakers have violated the Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA) by shipping CD-copying hard drives without paying royalties required under the statute (see 1407310086). Jackson held a hearing May 5 on the automakers’ motions to dismiss the case because their products are outside the AHRA’s scope (see 1505060062), but after nine months of taking the arguments under advisement, she hasn't ruled on the pleadings. In Jackson, Obama would have a nominee who previously was confirmed “without any Republican opposition in the Senate not once, but twice,” first for a seat on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, later to her current judgeship, said Goldstein. Jackson’s “credentials are impeccable,” including cum laude graduate honors at the Harvard Law School and being a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, said Goldstein, who has argued more than 30 cases before the Supreme Court. Jackson, 45, also is related by marriage to House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., wrote Goldstein.

The FCC fined Calling 10, Telseven and their owner Patrick Hines more than $3.4 million for unauthorized charges they billed to consumers, and other rules violations, said an agency release on Enforcement Bureau actions (here, here) approved under the consent agenda at Thursday's commission meeting. The related companies in Florida "deceived consumers who mistakenly called their toll-free numbers about their purported services and then subsequently billed those consumers for services that were neither provided nor requested, a practice known as 'cramming,'" said the release. "At the direction of Mr. Hines, the companies, based in the Jacksonville area, acquired approximately one million toll-free numbers, some of which were similar to existing working numbers or formerly used by well-known entities such as Chase Bank and other financial institutions. These acquisitions served no apparent purpose other than to increase the likelihood that consumers would dial one of these numbers and reach Telseven or Calling 10 by mistake," the release said. The companies didn't deny the violations, but Hines said he shouldn't be held personally liable, it said. Neither Hines nor a representative of the companies could be reached for comment.