An area code overlay coming to the District of Columbia may be one of the most significant in years for major metropolitan areas and could lead to a secondary market for 202 numbers, experts told us last week. The yet-to-be-announced new number will mean 10-digit dialing will be required in the District, a change that will require education, said Betty Ann Kane. She previously chaired the Public Service Commission and the North American Numbering Council (NANC).
Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley subpoenaed AT&T Thursday for information on what happened with more than $283 million in Connect America Fund support to expand broadband to 133,000 Mississippi locations. “I want to know very simply how many of these customers have in fact signed up,” but AT&T refused to say when Presley asked last week, he said Thursday in a news conference livestreamed on Facebook. Presley, who is NARUC president, also asked the company for data on customer complaints and how many consumers in areas advertised as covered couldn’t get service. "AT&T is in full compliance with the federal requirements" in CAF and "state and federal laws regarding federal USF program monies, and we will respond to any lawful request for information," a spokesperson said. "In Mississippi as part of our participation in Phase II of the CAF program, we are confident that we will exceed the final deployment goal of providing high-speed access to 133,000 rural Mississippi locations by the end of this year." Earlier this week, Presley said he will hold up Frontier Communications’ bankruptcy reorganization until that telco improves service (see 2009090055).
Federal failure to spread broadband requires systemic changes, said California Public Utilities Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves at the agency's Thursday livestreamed virtual meeting. CPUC members voted 5-0 to open a rulemaking on ways to spur high-speed internet. “We’ve been forced by our federal government to succumb to rules based on imaginary definitions of what the internet is, which then block our ability to ensure universal service and affordable service through regulation,” said Guzman Aceves. A “neoliberalism economic theory” that competition will fill gaps “has failed many Californians,” she said. Nearly a quarter of its households -- 8.4 million Californians -- don’t have internet at home, the commissioner said. Less than 7% of Californians have a choice of three or more providers, while half have two and more than 40% have one or none, she said. Guzman Aceves sought ideas to expand fiber and make infrastructure open access. “We need fresh participants,” including public networks and public-private partnerships, she added. President Marybel Batjer “enthusiastically” supports the rulemaking, she said. “This is so needed.” Commissioner Cliff Rechtschaffen added that it’s “incredibly timely given the COVID pandemic and the disparity that it’s underscored.”
Local governments seek to remove a restriction on municipal broadband from a Michigan bill to establish a state grant program. The House Communications Committee voted 5-0 at a livestreamed meeting Wednesday to amend HB-4288, including to increase its proposed internet speed requirement to the federal standard, 25 Mbps downloads and 3 Mbps uploads. The amended bill still would ban the state from “directly or indirectly” awarding grants to governmental entities, educational institutions or affiliates. Localities “should have the option to participate,” said Michigan Townships Association Legislative Liaison Tom Frazier at the hearing in Lansing. “In some cases, that might be the only option.” At least allow municipal broadband in areas where no private entity applies, he said. Committee Chair Michele Hoitenga (R) disagrees “with the premise that a municipality would need to start their own broadband” since the bill would “give incentive for our providers to places they would not typically go.” The Telecom Association of Michigan and Communications Workers of America supported HB-4288. About 100 Michigan localities will oppose the bill due to the muni broadband restriction and other reasons, said Protec General Counsel Mike Watza. The bill requires speeds that are too slow and lacks buildout, rate or service quality conditions, he added.
Restructuring Frontier Communications “manifestly benefits the public interest, with no countervailing harms,” trumpeted the carrier as it closed its case for FCC OK to emerge from Chapter 11. In replies posted Wednesday in docket 20-197, Frontier urged rejecting a union and consumer group’s concerns. Mississippi Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley promised to stand in the deal's way unless the carrier improves.
The head of the Washington, D.C.’s 911 call center welcomes a possible audit by the Office of the D.C. Auditor next year, amid a growing furor over reported dispatching problems. “I know what we do in this agency,” D.C. Office of Unified Communications Director Karima Holmes said Thursday on WAMU(FM) Washington’s The Kojo Nnamdi Show. “It is not a systematic problem in D.C. 911. These things happen, but fortunately we have safety nets in place to make sure they don’t.” Holmes disputed 911 dispatch expert Dave Statter’s reports alleging frequent mistakes that others have also glommed onto in criticizing OUC and saying its errors could cost first responders priceless time answering emergency medical and other calls for help. “Sharing snippets of radio traffic and other incomplete piecemeal records just do not accurately convey the full picture here,” said Holmes. “Dave Statter is not my oversight.” The mayor, deputy mayor and city council oversee OUC and “have this information,” she said. “All of that gets investigated, and we do a full investigation” that includes the 911 call and what information the caller gave, she said. “Anytime an error is made, we address it.” A caller to the radio program identified as Christina said her daughter’s teenage friend watched her mother die from a heart attack as D.C. 911 sent responders to the wrong address. Holmes replied it’s a tragic situation, though she didn’t know the specific incident. “Things are hard,” she said. “People are in the middle of emergencies, and sometimes that address is wrong, and sometimes it is the call-taker” who “takes the call wrong.” Statter told the radio program he wants more transparency and accountability from OUC. Holmes told the D.C. Council only four times last year when dispatchers were sent to incorrect addresses and 21 times in five years, but Statter “can show 38 bad addresses since December,” he said. OUC recently responded to our Freedom of Information Act request for records on previous 911 dispatching issues (here), and Thursday we sent another FOIA request for records on three late-August incidents. OUC responded more than 24 hours later to our request for comment on our Wednesday report about those three incidents: “We caution against the use of publicly available partial records of emergency operations as they generally do not include the full emergency response and may inaccurately present critical variables such as the nature or fluidity of the emergency, the engagement between the caller and call-taker, and/or the extent or duration of the dispatch,” a spokesperson emailed.
COVID-19 required local governments step up to expand internet access and broadcast critical information, NATOA President Brian Roberts and General Counsel Nancy Werner told us. NATOA hopes “to spend less time responding to FCC preemptive orders” next year, and more time supporting local effort to fill gaps shown by the pandemic, Werner said during the group's virtual meeting this week.
The Nebraska Public Service Commission should keep the revenue-based USF contribution for business and government services because it’s less complex than a connections-based mechanism, big telecom and cable companies said in comments received Monday and emailed to us Wednesday. The PSC is proposing to expand its connections-based method that now applies only to residential services (see 2008110047). “Business customers' connections may fluctuate” and “the applicable surcharge would need to be examined, and potentially changed on a monthly basis,” Cox Communications, Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable commented jointly in docket NUSF-119. Large business customers might relocate to a lesser taxed state due to rate shock, the cablers warned. Carriers understand revenue-based contribution; applying contributions to business and government services “will be complex, costly and confusing,” said AT&T. Complexities applying the connections method to business and government services have increased in the past three years, said CenturyLink. COVID-19 “has caused an unprecedented shift to work from home and away from business communications services which is likely to impact the analysis,” it added. Nebraska law requires revenue-based contribution for prepaid wireless services, said CTIA. A connections method for residential services stabilized and increased the fund, so "the financial threat to the NUSF viability has been overcome,” said Frontier Communications. Moving to connections for business and government lines is "impractical at this time," said Windstream. Small rural telcos countered that applying connections-based contribution for all kinds of services is fairer. “Much of rural Nebraska remains unserved or underserved," and current remittances "will come nowhere close" to providing enough support, commented the Rural Telecommunications Coalition of Nebraska. Exempt prepaid wireless, toll revenue and directory, private line and paging services, which don't lend themselves to a connections-based surcharge, said a state group of rural independent companies. Keep revenue-based at least for institutional operator service providers, urged Securus, saying it doesn’t “have the ability to determine or charge the NUSF applying a connections-based methodology" because it charges prison customers per call.
A big Democratic win in November could lead to a reversal on last year’s cable local franchise authority order, but don’t assume the next FCC or Congress will act, local government officials said Wednesday at a NATOA virtual conference. Localities challenging the order in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals say a decision is possible next year (see 2009010053). The pandemic could affect the issue’s politics, said panelists and other attendees.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr extended an olive branch to local governments at NATOA’s virtual conference Tuesday. Later, some local officials raised eyebrows due to the Republican’s work on preemptive decisions. Federal overriding could continue even if President Donald Trump loses to Democratic nominee Joe Biden in November’s election, warned National League of Cities Legislative Manager Angelina Panettieri.