A large majority of Americans remain unable to text 911 for help in emergency situations, but some local authorities continue to question calls to support SMS at public safety answering points (PSAPs), 911 officials said in interviews. The National Emergency Number Association is frustrated the rollout isn’t going faster, said NENA Director-Government Affairs Trey Forgety. “If everyone made a decision that text-to-911 had to be implemented before the end of the year 2017, it could be done easily.” Localities are sympathetic to the need for text-to-911 but worry there's not a sufficient business model to move forward, said Fire Chief Don Crowson of Arlington, Texas. “We’re not resistant. We’re concerned.”
NARUC will seek more respect for states and cooperative federalism as the utility regulator association communicates next year with a new FCC and incoming administration, NARUC President Robert Powelson told Communications Daily. NARUC named Pennsylvania Public Utility Commissioner Powelson its new president this month at the association’s annual meeting. The new NARUC leader announced “Infrastructure, Innovation, and Investment” as the association’s focus for 2016, a theme that could align with President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed $1 trillion infrastructure package. “As we talk about infrastructure, I firmly believe that the telecom sector will continue to be the epicenter for growth and innovation,” Powelson said.
Verizon violated no FCC rules when it sent copper retirement notices to Maryland consumers, the company told the state Public Service Commission. In a Wednesday letter, the company urged the PSC to dismiss an Oct. 28 petition by the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel (OPC) to investigate the notices -- sent in September -- that told consumers fiber would replace copper service Dec. 14. “Customers are always given at least the FCC-required period of notice before they are required to migrate,” Verizon said. Commissions in other East Coast states also received calls to probe Verizon copper and fiber upgrade practices.
Telecom companies sounded alarm bells over industry rule changes proposed by the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB), including how the regulator views state authority over VoIP services. In comments that were due Wednesday in docket RMU-2015-0002, competitive providers Sprint, T-Mobile and Cox Communications sought to maintain a distinction between retail and wholesale VoIP regulation, and small Iowa LECs said the board shouldn’t deregulate voice services based on the underlying technology. Meanwhile, CTIA balked at a proposal requiring local exchange carriers to provide wireless service during service interruptions exceeding 72 hours.
Citing possible harm to newscasters, NAB urged the FCC to reject a proposal to make available for private land mobile radio (PLMR) use frequencies on the band edge between industrial/business (I/B) and broadcast auxiliary service (BAS) spectrum. NAB and others commented Tuesday on an NPRM to expand access to PLMR spectrum (see 1608180045). “The Commission should not adopt this proposal, as it creates an unacceptable risk of harmful interference,” NAB said in docket 16-261. "BAS operations are critical to the operation of broadcast stations, and BAS spectrum is already severely constrained in many markets and at many news events. The proposal to expand I/B spectrum at 450 MHz would compound the reduction in BAS spectrum that will already occur as a result of the incentive auction. This would be contrary to FCC and ITU regulations and would significantly impact broadcasters’ ability to provide news coverage with negligible benefit to PLMR users.” The commission previously decided not to assign a channel for PLMR operations that would overlap BAS spectrum, NAB said. “The NPRM provides no analysis to show how such BAS and IB uses can co-exist without interference occurring and no explanation as to why the Commission’s previous decisions were in error and should be changed. Abruptly reversing course with no justification would be arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law as well as poor spectrum policy.” But the National Association of Manufacturers and MRFAC, a certified frequency coordinator for private land mobile bands, jointly supported adding UHF channels between PLMR and BAS spectrum, saying "access to additional frequencies would help relieve spectrum congestion affecting manufacturers." Manufacturers also supported a proposal in the NPRM by the Land Mobile Communications Council to amend the rules to allow 806-824/851-869 MHz band incumbents in a market a six-month period to apply for expansion band and guard band frequencies before the frequencies are made available to applicants for new systems. That would "very much facilitate the improvements sought in manufacturers' radio systems, an essential factor in the growth of U.S. manufacturing productivity,” NAM and MRFAC said. APCO also supported a priority window for incumbents. “A shorter window such as three months would not afford public safety enough time to secure buy-in from stakeholders and the necessary funding,” it said. The Florida Public Safety Bureau, part of the Department of Management Services Telecom Division, supported an FCC tentative conclusion to expand conditional authority to 800 MHz public safety pool frequencies 10 days after the application is submitted to the FCC. "This would provide public safety agencies the opportunity to meet their communications needs prior to receiving radio station authority; but, after the applications succeeds through the frequency coordination process,” it said. "Public safety agencies typically experience a lengthy process that includes planning, budgeting, purchasing and implementing their radio systems. Providing conditional authority will avoid delays mid-stream of their process to await issuance of a radio station license that could potentially compromise their budget and spending authority.”
LA QUINTA, California -- NARUC attendees this week buzzed about the surprising election of Donald Trump. While speakers at the state commissioner association’s annual meeting stressed the uncertainty about what a President Trump means for telecom policy, some predicted an increased role for state utility regulators under a GOP-controlled presidency and Congress. Meanwhile, the National Governors Association (NGA) predicts little impact to the deployment timeline for the FirstNet public safety network even with a new administration and more than 10 new governors to educate, NGA Center for Best Practice's Homeland Security and Public Safety Division Director Jeffrey McLeod said in a phone interview Wednesday. “Timelines are in place and things will continue to move.”
LA QUINTA, California -- The Vermont Public Service Board will soon rule on state authority over VoIP services, PSB member Sarah Hofmann said on a panel at the NARUC annual conference. The ruling would come more than three years after a state court ordered the regulator to decide the classification of fixed VoIP as either a telecom or information service. While the telecom industry has argued that states may not regulate IP services, telecom consultant Earl Comstock -- formerly CEO of CompTel (now Incompas) -- said states wanting to regulate them need only assert themselves with fact-based determinations.
LA QUINTA, California -- NARUC is poised to ask the FCC to postpone a Dec. 2 deadline to align state low-income programs with updated federal rules that added broadband as a supported Lifeline service. In a vote Monday at the NARUC annual meeting, the Telecom Committee unanimously passed a resolution supporting USTelecom and state petitions for waiver. The commission plans to act soon on the petitions, FCC Wireline Bureau Telecom Access Policy Division Chief Ryan Palmer said on a panel before the voting.
FirstNet probably won’t be slowed by the transition to President-elect Donald Trump and several new state governors, said state and industry panelists on a Thursday webinar hosted by the International Wireless Communications Expo. Also, the officials said states shouldn’t wait for FirstNet radio access network plans before developing alternatives, even if they don’t intend to opt out. In September, Rivada Networks agreed to develop an alternative public safety broadband plan for the New Hampshire Department of Safety for the state to compare with a proposal that FirstNet will develop (see 1609070063).
Colorado communities voted Tuesday to allow their local governments to deploy municipal broadband. The result builds on a movement that some observers Wednesday said could be a model for other states. The Colorado counties voted to opt out of a 2005 state restriction on municipal broadband (see 1609160028). Meanwhile, the North Carolina race -- which may have an impact on the state’s own ban on muni broadband expansion -- was too close to call. In state commission elections, NARUC Telecom Committee Chairman Chris Nelson kept his chairmanship at the South Dakota Public Service Commission, while a Democratic broadband advocate lost her election in Louisiana.