The latest Numbering Utilization Report shows that 54.7% of U.S. telephone numbers were assigned to end users as of Dec. 31, 2023, according to a Monday release from the FCC's Office of Economics and Analytics. The previous report, released in 2022, showed 52.2% were assigned to end users as of the end of 2019. The Numbering Utilization Report summarizes “an ongoing, systematic collection of comprehensive data on the utilization of telephone numbering resources within the United States” using data from carriers and VoIP providers. The latest report shows mostly small changes in number utilization rates from the 2022 version, although utilization for competitive local exchange carriers is up, from 46% to 53.1%, and the utilization rate for VoIP providers has risen from 19.8% to 32.7%. Monday's report shows more than 855 million numbers ported since wireless porting began in 2003, up 165 million from the 2022 report. OEA analyzed the report's data “as part of our ongoing assessment of the efficacy of numbering resource optimization measures prescribed by the Commission’s Numbering Resource Optimization (NRO) Orders,” the report said.

Talkie Communications this week urged NTIA to reject Delaware's draft final BEAD proposal. In a letter Tuesday, the ISP raised concerns about the state's draft. For example, it includes 31 locations eligible for funding that overlap with existing FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund enforceable commitments, Talkie noted. As such, approving the proposal "wastes taxpayer resources." Talkie accused the Delaware Department of Technology and Information of "favor[ing] and cater[ing] to large businesses," saying the draft "effectively created insurmountable barriers for small businesses." DTI inappropriately proposes spending an "excessive" amount of its BEAD funding on non-deployment initiatives, Talkie added.

The aim of the FCC's one-to-one telemarketing consent rule is stopping abuse of the agency's prior written consent requirement, said an FCC fact sheet in Thursday's Daily Digest. The FCC adopted the rule 12 months ago (see 2312130019); it becomes effective Jan. 27. Lead-generated communications comprise a large portion of unwanted robocalls and robotexts, the commission said, and they "often rely on flimsy or nonexistent" consent claims. The FCC bars lead generators from using a single consumer-written consent for multiple unwanted telemarketing robocalls and robotexts from an array of sellers when a consumer visits comparison shopping websites, and the FCC said it made clear each caller or tester soliciting consumers must obtain express written consent from each consumer before making such robocalls or robotexts. Moreover, the FCC said the consent rule doesn't impact the practice of connecting a third-party agent to a prospective customer on a telemarketing call that isn't autodialed and doesn't include a prerecorded or artificial voice message. The one-to-one rule is the subject of a challenge at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, with judges hearing oral argument earlier this month (see 2412180008).

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel hearing oral arguments about the FCC's one-to-one telemarketing consent rule (see 2412180008) didn't debate counsel much about petitioner Insurance Marketing Coalition's First Amendment arguments, Sheppard Mullins' A.J. Dhaliwal and Mehul Madia wrote Monday. As a result, they said it makes it unlikely the rule will be struck down on those grounds. Instead, the judges focused more on whether the rule's implementation violates the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which gives consumers the ability to agree to receive telemarketing calls. Dhaliwal and Madia said a decision isn't likely before Jan. 27, when the one-to-one rule goes into effect. But the panel seemed to indicate it believes the FCC overstepped its authority, they said, noting it's unclear whether the 11th Circuit invalidates the rule.

The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission fined Lumen's CenturyLink more than $130,000 for customer service violations, the agency said Monday. Customers experienced "excessive wait times to reach a live customer service representative" and CenturyLink failed to provide the commission with the required documentation. CenturyLink was fined for 178 violations between March through November 2022 and March 2023 through February 2024.

NTIA has received useful feedback on improving its planned Local Estimates of Internet Adoption (LEIA) project that it's working on with the Census Bureau (see 2409110021), acting Deputy Associate Administrator Rafi Goldberg blogged Friday. For example, Goldberg noted a Heritage Foundation Center for Data Analysis suggestion about adding inputs into the LEIA experimental model, such as the share of households with seniors. He also mentioned feedback from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights that racial, ethnic and other demographic lines be tested as model inputs. Multiple commenters said NTIA should employ metrics that include satellite and/or fixed wireless service, suggesting that LEIA should provide internet adoption metrics suitable for different purposes. LEIA was announced in September.

NTIA obligated its BEAD funding to all states and territories, the agency said Monday. All eligible entities may now access their funding (see 2411190072). NTIA released two documents to streamline the process for submitting final proposals. Three states -- Louisiana, Delaware and Nevada -- have completed their final proposals.

It's "not too late" for Nevada to change course on its BEAD plan, Information Technology & Innovation Foundation Director-Broadband and Spectrum Policy Joe Kane blogged Thursday. Kane said the state's provisional choices for allocating its funding, which required NTIA approval, "reflect a misunderstanding of the digital divide." The state could deploy high-speed low-earth-orbit satellite service for $600 per location. "Nevada could use savings from a more reasonable deployment plan to provide a similar affordability benefit to its low-income residents" as the FCC's affordable connectivity program, he said. Nevada's Office of Science, Innovation & Technology didn't comment. Kane also urged NTIA to revise its fiber preference in BEAD program rules (see 2412130011). NTIA should stop its "irrational preferencing of fiber deployments and require that states choose the most economical technologies to complete deployment so that leftover funds can address more widespread and serious causes of the digital divide," he said.

Federal court oral argument this week regarding the FCC's one-to-one lead generation consent requirement (see 2412180008) seems to indicate that at least some of the rule will go away, Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) lawyer Eric Troutman blogged Thursday. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel seemed focused on a consumer's "right of consent" -- an idea "the panel seems to have made up ... out of whole cloth," he wrote. Neither the FCC nor petitioner Insurance Marketing Coalition "seemed totally prepared for the curveball that may ultimately determine the outcome here," he added. The panel seemed to agree the FCC can set standards for implementing the express consent terms of the TCPA, said Troutman, and that limiting consumers to expressly defining in a clear and conspicuous way the entities they want to hear from is fine. He also said the panel also seemed to feel that the FCC's one-to-one consent rule wrongly restricts consumers from blanket consenting to receive calls from affiliates of a brand and wrongly restricts them from being able to consent to receive calls from different products that are not topically and logically related to a website. It seems likely the "logically and topically" standard will fall.

While georouting texts to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline can be useful, the Trevor Project said it's "vital" that georouting avoids taking precedence over LGBTQ+ youth specialized services and doesn't interfere with access to those services. In docket 18-336 comments posted Wednesday, it said that it's essential that LGBTQ+ youth who contact 988 are transferred to a provider of counselor services that is competent in LGBTQ+ issues. The FCC should ensure text georouting mandates don't complicate that transfer, it added. The 988 call georouting order approved unanimously at the FCC's October meeting included an NPRM about text georouting (see 2410170026).