A trio of public safety groups urged the FCC to require telecom providers to “implement, host, maintain, and operate” a secure, two-way outage dashboard providing updated information on 911 outages. The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, the National Association of State 911 Administrators and the National Emergency Number Association said the existing system isn’t working. “Unfortunately, the Commission’s current outage reporting rules combined with the practices of the service providers often result” in emergency communications centers (ECCs) “not being notified of outages or receiving notifications that are either irrelevant to the ECCs’ jurisdiction, provide limited information, are not updated in a timely manner, or are formatted in a way that it is difficult and time-consuming for the ECCs to parse through during an outage situation,” said a filing this week in docket 15-80. ECCs “should be notified of outages and disruptions that could impact communications … even if the outage does not meet the high thresholds that trigger a notification requirement in the existing rules,” they added.

The Rural Utilities Service announced it will start accepting applications Feb. 20 under the Community Connect Grant program for FY 2025. The window closes April 21, said a notice for Friday’s Federal Register. Approximately $26 million will be available under the program in FY 2025, it said.

The FCC tightened filing requirements for the Robocall Mitigation Database “to better ensure widespread compliance and heightened awareness of provider responsibilities to protect consumers,” said a news release and order Wednesday. “We are tightening our rules to ensure voice service providers know their responsibilities and help stop junk robocalls,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The database’s “continued effectiveness relies on information submitted by providers being complete, accurate, and up to date,” the order said. “Yet a review of filings in the Database indicates a lack of thoroughness and diligence by some providers and, in some cases, malfeasance by bad actors.” The new rules include a $100 filing fee, requirements that providers promptly update the database with changes, higher forfeitures for false or inaccurate information, an annual recertification requirement, and a two-factor authentication process for logging into the database. Incompas, NCTA and others had objected to the filing fees and higher penalties for inaccurate submissions (see 2410160037). “Through these actions, we strengthen the Robocall Mitigation Database as a compliance and consumer protection tool,” the order said. In addition, it directs the Wireline Bureau to “establish a dedicated reporting mechanism to facilitate shared oversight of the database among all stakeholders” and issue additional guidance and best practices for companies that use it.

A federal court's dismissal last week of the FCC's net neutrality rules (see 2501020028) raises the question of why traditional phone service still faces strict Title II regulation when modern phone networks are increasingly integrated with the internet, International Center for Law & Economics Senior Scholar Eric Fruits wrote Monday. A minority of U.S. households have a landline phone, and platforms like Microsoft Teams and Zoom have largely replaced traditional phone calls, he added. Meanwhile, traditional carriers' networks handle integrated voice, video and data services. As such, modern communications is stuck in an antiquated regulatory framework, prompting the need for Congress to move telecom services into the Title I rules regime governing information services, Fruits argued. This "would level the regulatory playing field, enabling traditional carriers to compete more effectively with internet-based platforms," and encourage infrastructure investment by reducing compliance costs and regulatory uncertainty, he added. A universal service goal could be maintained under Title I, and the FCC could still implement targeted consumer protections through its Title I powers.

NTIA released its final guidance Thursday on the use of BEAD funding to deploy alternative broadband technologies. The agency sought comment in August, with some seeking flexibility in the program's rules to support deployment of low earth orbit (LEO) satellites and unlicensed fixed wireless technology (see 2409110066). LEO providers will be reimbursed based on "either subscriber milestones or the number of locations in a project area" and program rules were amended to "better facilitate" provider participation, said a news release.

A November FCC order establishing the Alaska Connect Fund (see 2411050002) is effective Jan. 30, said a notice for Tuesday’s Federal Register. “While the original Alaska Plan and other Alaska support mechanisms have helped make significant progress in Alaska, many areas in the state remain unserved or underserved,” the notice said: “An estimated 51,000 Alaskans still receive 3G service -- an outdated technological standard -- or worse.”

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.