Inter-exchange carriers said a U.S. district court erred in ruling LECs can impose access charges on them simply because they are IXCs. The 1996 Telecom Act mandates that local wireline telcos can charge other carriers "reciprocal compensation" when they exchange local calls and "access charges" when exchanging long-distance calls, said a brief (in Pacer) Tuesday by appellants MCI Communications, Verizon and Sprint to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals regarding In re: IntraMTA Switched Access, No. 18-10768. They said an FCC intraMTA rule categorizes all wireless-to-wireline calls within a "major trading area" as local calls, subject to reciprocal compensation "without exception." The Northern District of Texas erred by creating an exception and allowing LECs to impose access charges when long-distance carriers are involved in routing intraMTA calls, the IXCs wrote. "The district court ruled that the 1996 Act did not displace the LECs' preexisting practice of imposing access charges on IXCs, absent an express action by the FCC to supersede the access charge regime," they added. "But the Act's preservation of access charges does not apply to local calls. Because intraMTA calls are local, regardless of whether they are transported by IXCs, they are subject only to reciprocal compensation, and access charges cannot be applied" and "this Court should reverse."

The Lifeline National Verifier (NV) should “not be transitioned until the verifier is provided access" to the Medicare and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program databases, California Public Utilities Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves told FCC commissioners and the Wireline Bureau in meetings last week. The CPUC member met separately Monday and Tuesday during the NARUC conference with Chairman Ajit Pai, Commissioners Mike O’Rielly, Brendan Carr, Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks, and Telecom Access Policy Division Chief Ryan Palmer, said ex-parte letters in docket 11-60. Some federal Lifeline revisions could harm the California program, “especially if done without a proper transition,” said Guzman Aceves, who raised concerns about the NV, program budget and the FCC’s proposal to limit Lifeline to facility-based providers. Lifeline was a hot topic at the NARUC conference, where commissioners agreed to a resolution urging the FCC and Universal Service Administrative Co. (USAC) ensure the NV accesses state databases required to automatically check user eligibility (see 1902130052). In commissioner meetings, Guzman Aceves also discussed CPUC efforts to prevent wildfires and the need to increase communications infrastructure resiliency. Hardware was to blame for most 911 system failures in 2018, which could be prevented with adequate investment and maintenance, she said. The CPUC wants to find areas of joint jurisdiction with the FCC “to restore wireless as infrastructure burns and address first responder concerns like the need for backup power for 911 selective routers,” she said. Guzman Aceves told the bureau and commissioners she wanted to better align the California Advanced Services Fund with the federal Connect America Fund. The California commissioner “described the challenges and drain on resources the CPUC has faced in obtaining data regarding whether an area is served as the carriers will not provide information on where they are building.” The FCC "could help substantially with this transparency issue by requiring USAC to collect data at the most granular level possible (address level), in order to avoid duplication of work at the state level for verifying if an area is in fact served or not,” she said.

T-Mobile fired back Wednesday at Chris Shelton, president of the Communications Workers of America, who had slammed the Sprint/T-Mobile deal Tuesday in a C-SPAN interview (see 1902190068). “CWA has a track record of inaccuracy and subsequently no credibility,” emailed Kathleen Ham, T-Mobile senior vice president government affairs. CWA earlier had said T-Mobile’s buy of MetroPCS seven years ago would eliminate 10,000 U.S. jobs, Ham said: “The reality is that nearly 3x more people come to work for our Metro business every day -- compared to the time of the merger. That is job growth.” The T-Mobile/Sprint deal will be “jobs positive from day number one and create at least 11,000 jobs” in the U.S., she said. Ham is a key T-Mobile official working with federal regulators on deal approval.

T-Mobile offered the FCC a revised proposal for an incentive auction in the C band. The plan “includes a mechanism through which satellite earth station registrants can participate in the auction,” T-Mobile said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-122. “Including earth station registrants will provide competition in the reverse auction and the opportunity for those entities to directly obtain auction proceeds, leading to a more efficient reallocation of spectrum.” Under the proposal, the FCC would conduct a forward auction among potential licensees for all 500 MHz of C-band spectrum in each market. The purchase price in each market would be offered to satellite operator and earth station registrant incumbents, T-Mobile said. T-Mobile “continues their spiteful attack on Broadcasters and TV Programmers who would be evicted from C-band distribution,” emailed Preston Padden, C-Band Alliance head-advocacy and government relations. “Their updated ‘Disincentive Auction’ proposal changes nothing, except to exacerbate its infeasibility. Once again, T-Mo is trying to distract everyone from their true purpose: delaying C-Band wireless deployments to ensure that, for as long as possible, New T-MO enjoys a monopoly on deploying 5G mid-band spectrum.”

The FCC closure during the partial federal shutdown shouldn't affect the ability of agency workers to file employment discrimination complaints within the 45-day required window, Chairman Ajit Pai said in a letter dated Feb. 6 and released Friday. He responded to a Jan. 6 letter from House Commerce Committee Vice Chairwoman Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., urging him to consider waiving or extending complaint filing periods for the shutdown duration. Pai said federal code lets FCC workers seek a waiver of the 45-day deadline for uncontrollable circumstances, such as a shutdown. He said the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission tolled its time limits for Dec. 22-Jan. 25 deadlines, extending them for 40 days. The FCC won't close again due to funding through Sept. 30 (see 1902150055).

The General Services Administration approved the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee charter renewal, the FCC said in Friday's Federal Register. The FCC said it plans to charter BDAC “on or before” March 1 for a new two-year term.

Chairman Ajit Pai cited FCC action timelines and other efforts to improve 911 calling and responses as part of an "all-of-the-above" approach to public-safety communications. He expects to adopt rules later this year on Kari's Law provisions to require building and campus multiline telephone systems to let users dial 911 directly, he said in remarks at a National Emergency Number Association event Friday. The FCC is working to meet a September deadline for implementing a Ray Baum's Act mandate to ensure "dispatchable location" information is conveyed with 911 calls, regardless of technology. He expects to move later this year on a "Z-axis accuracy" standard in a proceeding aimed at pinpointing wireless 911 callers' vertical location in multistory buildings. He said the FCC is reviewing how best to improve wireless 911 call routing -- plagued by "upwards of tens of thousands" misrouted calls -- to ensure it's based on the location of callers and not cell towers. Pai said wireless providers are "making meaningful progress" toward meeting "stringent" location accuracy standards on 70 percent of calls in 2020 and 80 percent in 2021 to help responders find the callers. Since some states continue to divert 911 fee funds to other purposes, he's ready to work with Congress and stakeholders to ensure all such fees strengthen public safety communications. Pai's "continued engagement will keep pressure on those states stealing critical 9-1-1 fees to change their awful ways & prevent new states/territories from joining," tweeted Commissioner Mike O'Rielly. "New Congressional action would be welcome for habitual states that divert (NY, NJ & RI)."

A judge vacated a briefing schedule after Jason Prechtel, the FCC and General Services Administration resolved the journalist's remaining records-release claims in a lawsuit over agency handling of Freedom of Information Act requests for electronic comment submission details. U.S. District Court in Washington Judge Christopher Cooper granted a joint motion (in Pacer) that said additional briefing on the issue is no longer needed, and all that remained was Prechtel's claim for attorneys' fees and costs, said a notice Wednesday in docket 1:17-cv-01835 (in Pacer). Cooper ordered the parties, as they proposed, to file a joint status report by March 27 updating the court on negotiations to resolve the final claim.

Mike O'Rielly expressed interest in another term as FCC commissioner once his current one expires, while taping a recent episode of C-SPAN's The Communicators, an aide confirmed Wednesday. His five-year term expires June 30 (see 1412170031).

Privacy legislation is a growing focus in states beyond California, especially in light of the EU general data protection regulation (see 1901100018), said Abbie Gruwell, National Conference of State Legislatures policy director, at an FCBA lunch Wednesday. Connecticut, Delaware, Nevada and Oregon have approved similar laws giving people more control of how their data is used, she said. Lots of legislators are asking about how data brokers work “and how they can be regulated,” Gruwell said: “Disclosure is a good first step.” Among other trends is legislation on wiretapping, location data and biometric data, Gruwell said: States “are trying to keep up with technology.” They're moving away from regulating data use by specific industries to “overarching data-privacy laws,” but “nobody else has come close to California yet,” she said. Many of the state telecom bills this year are focusing on small cells, said Angelina Panettieri, National League of Cities principal associate-technology and communications. Some of the legislation is “interesting,” she said. In Mississippi, one bill would allow public utilities and rural co-ops to offer broadband, she said: “They sort of moved further towards the center of pre-emption.” Maryland has two small-cell bills, one endorsed by industry and chambers of commerce and the other by municipal groups, she said. “We’re still waiting to see what’s happening there.” Bethanne Cooley, CTIA senior director-state legislative affairs, highlighted legislation aimed at speeding siting of small cells and cutting deployment costs. Estimates are industry will need more than 800,000 small cells in the next few years, Cooley said. “If we’re paying $100,000-plus per small cell, we’re never going to get to 5G and we are in a race,” she said. So far, 21 states have passed pro-industry bills, she said. Small-cell measures are alive in five states with about “a half dozen” more to come during the 2019 session, she said. “All bills are different,” she said. CTIA is telling the states that despite work the FCC is doing on siting, and an FCC shot clock, they need to pass their own legislation, Cooley said.