The FTC won't increase fees for telemarketers who access phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry in FY 2016, the agency said in a news release Tuesday. The fees are outlined in a Federal Register notice, it said. The vote to authorize the fees to be listed in the Federal Register was unanimous.
NTIA issued a broadband funding guide to help communities tap federal programs supporting high-speed Internet projects and related efforts. The guide "provides a roadmap on how to access federal funding to support broadband planning, public access, digital literacy, adoption, and deployment," said an NTIA blog Monday. The guide provides overviews of broadband programs at the Appalachian Regional Commission, Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service, Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration, FCC and Institute of Museum and Library Services' Office of Library Services. NTIA released the guide as part of its BroadbandUSA initiative, which seeks to build on the experience the agency gained in overseeing more than $4 billion in grants under its Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (see 1509280060).
The FCC Public Safety Bureau said it opened the Public Safety Support Center (PSSC), a “web-based, one-stop portal” for the use of public safety answering points and other public safety entities. “A principal goal of the Bureau is to ensure consistent and timely support to public safety stakeholders,” the bureau said in a public notice Monday. The new PSSC “will handle notifications of service outages, complaints related to carrier provision of location information, and register issues or submit inquiries regarding PSAP or Public Safety operations or FCC rules and regulations,” the bureau said.
AT&T and Verizon led an "investment heroes" list for U.S. capital spending in 2014 put out by the Progressive Policy Institute, said a news release Monday. AT&T topped the top 25 list for the fourth year in a row, with $21.2 billion in domestic capital spending, while Verizon was second with $16 billion, the group said. Google was fourth with $10.7 billion, Comcast was eighth with $7.4 billion, Intel was ninth with $6.5 billion, Amazon was 16th with $4.8 billion, Time Warner Cable was 19th with $4.1 billion, Apple was 20th with $4.1 billion and Microsoft was 25th with $3.1 billion.
Samsung Electronics formally opened its new Device Solutions America headquarters in San Jose Thursday. Jaesoo Han, president of Device Solutions America operations, called the research and development operation the “most strategically important Samsung facility in the U.S. and also our biggest investment in Silicon Valley.” The building is on the same corner where Samsung’s original San Jose campus was built 30 years ago.
President Barack Obama signed the E-Warranty Act (S-1359) into law Thursday. “To remain competitive in the era of the Internet of Things, we must be able to streamline and modernize redundant regulations,” said Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., the bill's author, in a statement Friday. “The E-Warranty Act is a bipartisan success because it brings common-sense solutions to outdated rules.” She had introduced the legislation with Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla. “Consumers and businesses will now have the ability to take advantage of new and improving online technologies to help with their commerce,” Nelson said in a statement Friday.
Free market tech advocacy group Lincoln Labs approves of the direction of Jeb Bush’s regulatory proposals, which would include rolling back the FCC net neutrality order if elected president (see 1509220058). Bush is seeking the GOP presidential nomination and is a former Florida governor. “We believe that if we can reduce the number of out-of-date and harmful rules, we can unleash this country's entrepreneurial spirit and kick start economic growth,” said Lincoln Labs Chief Technology Officer Chris Abrams in a statement Wednesday. “Each candidate should weigh in regarding their ideas for reducing the regulatory burdens faced by entrepreneurs, including reforms to the broken patent and copyright systems." Lincoln Labs highlighted Bush’s broader desires for regulatory overhaul, including limited deference to agencies on rulemaking and congressional approval of major regulations.
The FCC Disability Advisory Committee will meet Oct. 8, starting at 9 a.m., in the Commission Meeting Room, said a notice in the Federal Register. The DAC is expected to take up a recommendation from its Communications Subcommittee on ways to address the needs of people with disabilities in new and emerging technologies and a report on the activities of its Emergency Communications Subcommittee, among other business, the FCC said Wednesday.
The FCC Wireline Bureau denied a motion to extend the reply deadline in its Lifeline USF rulemaking, leaving the date at Sept. 30. In an order issued Wednesday in docket 11-42, the bureau noted it had already granted one extension and said a further extension was "not warranted under the present circumstances." The extension was requested by the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates and other consumer groups (see 150918005).
AT&T representatives explained the importance of a waiver the carrier is seeking of an FCC requirement that it support text telephony (TTY) “during the pendency of the real-time text (RTT) rulemaking and until RTT is fully deployed.” The discussion came in a meeting with Amy Bender, aide to Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. Limitations in the operation of TTY “may impair or altogether prevent TTY message delivery over Wi-Fi networks,” AT&T said in a filing in docket 15-178. TTY is the technology historically used by the deaf and hard of hearing, but it is expected to be phased out in favor of RTT (see 1508250063). “Instead of retrofitting TTY for next-generation networks and services, AT&T plans to surmount these accessibility challenges by deploying RTT,” it said. Until RTT is fully deployed, AT&T faces a dilemma, the carrier said. It can either “not offer Wi-Fi calling and other new VoIP services, which would put AT&T at a competitive disadvantage vis-à-vis other wireless providers that are currently offering W[i]-Fi-calling, or seek a waiver of Commission rules requiring the provision of TTY,” AT&T said.