Groups again raised themes from previous proceedings in response to an FCC request for comments (see 1705250035) on what would accelerate adoption and accessibility of broadband-enabled healthcare solutions. Replies were due Thursday in docket 16-46, and some filings were made early (see 1706080060). “The Commission should focus its efforts on accelerating broadband deployment by continuing to remove barriers to the siting of wireless broadband infrastructure,” the Wireless Infrastructure Association replied. “By removing barriers to the deployment of infrastructure like distributed antennas systems (DAS) and small cells and encouraging an environment of rapid upgrades and installation of equipment on traditional macrocellular infrastructure through collocation, the FCC can facilitate greater coverage and capacity.” Communication Service for the Deaf stressed the importance of accessibility. “In part due to the speed with which the telemedicine industry is expanding, we urge the Commission to reinforce the need for telemedicine technology to be designed in accordance with the principles of universal design, to ensure the accessibility of such technology,” the group said. “Because telemedicine can be, and is, used in urgent care or life threatening situations, it is crucial that accessibility be a foresight in the development process, and not an aftersight.” The Health IT Now coalition said if employers follow through with plans, telehealth adoption in the employer market could reach 92 percent by 2018. Universal broadband deployment is critical, the coalition said. "Doctors, patients, and the public in general are increasingly reliant on smartphones and tablets.”

The Transportation Department “issued a public call in the Federal Register soliciting solutions and suggestions on ways to improve government permitting,” Secretary Elaine Chao said at headquarters Friday during an event on the administration's infrastructure effort. “If you have ideas, we want to hear.” She recently said an administration infrastructure proposal is likely coming in Q3 and named broadband as one component (see 1706070029). “The excruciating wait time for permitting has inflicted enormous financial pain for cities and states,” President Donald Trump said at the event. The administration is “setting up a new council to help project managers” manage the federal bureaucracy, Trump said, promising “a new online dashboard allowing everyone to track every project through every stage of the approval process. This council will make sure that every federal agency that is consistently delaying projects by missing deadlines will face tough new penalties.”

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai continued along with his rural broadband road trip Friday, spending it in South Dakota, according to his Twitter feed Thursday and Friday. Thursday, Pai met with tribal leaders from South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, Oklahoma and Wisconsin at South Dakota’s Rosebud Indian Reservation, he tweeted. "Received thoughtful input from Tribal members on everything from Treaty of Laramie in 1868 to FCC's Tower Construction Notification System,” said Pai. Friday, Pai visited broadband providers Golden West Telecom and Midco and landmark Mount Rushmore, he said on Twitter. "Inspiring to see etched visages of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln,” he said. Pai is expected to end his Great Plains Twitter travelogue in Wyoming (see 1706020053).

Roll Call reporter John Donnelly said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's apology (see 1706080058) for his manhandling by FCC security at the May 18 commissioners' meeting was appreciated, but "his version of the facts is inaccurate." In an email to us Friday, Donnelly said he "never attempted to enter a restricted area. ... Even if the guards had somehow convinced themselves that I was trying to enter a restricted area, that does not excuse what they did." He said if security guards had inadvertent physical contact with him, they should have said so or apologized then. That security asked him why he hadn't asked his question during the news conference instead of trying to catch Commissioner Mike O'Rielly afterward "tells you they knew I was a reporter and they felt justified in knocking me back," Donnelly said. He disagreed with Pai's denial he was pinned, saying he "could not move for several seconds as they leaned into me." The FCC didn't comment.

The FCC is looking for nominations for members and a chairperson for the Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment, which will start service in the fall and last for two years, said a public notice. The committee’s mission will be to provide recommendations to the FCC on “how to empower disadvantaged communities and accelerate the entry of small businesses, including those owned by women and minorities, into the media, digital news and information, and audio and video programming industries,” the PN said. The FCC is seeking members from “various sectors of the communications industry, state and local regulators, and consumer and community groups, particularly from “organizations and other entities representing disadvantaged communities,” the PN said. Nominations are due by midnight June 28.

The FCC released an updated Mapping Broadband Health in America platform through its Connect2Health Task Force. “The 2017 platform now reflects the latest complete annual fixed broadband dataset from the Commission and updated health data from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s County Health Rankings,” the FCC said in a Thursday news release. “As telehealth, telemedicine, and other cutting-edge mHealth initiatives gain momentum across the country, this web-based mapping platform enables more efficient, data-driven decision making at the intersection of broadband and health.” The FCC said data is a first step for everything from “better leveraging broadband to help manage chronic health conditions for seniors in Giles County, Tennessee” to reducing post-surgical pain “through Virtual Reality applications in Barbour County, West Virginia.” The FCC said nearly half of U.S. counties have high incidents of chronic disease and a need for better broadband connectivity. “That translates to over 36 million people who live in counties with a ‘double burden’ of need -- an increase of 1 million between 2014 and 2015,” the agency said. The data shows preventable hospitalizations are 150 percent higher in the least-connected counties compared with other counties, it said. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said the data shows the situation remains bleak for many Americans. “By investing in this vital broadband health mapping platform and unveiling a new list of critical need counties, the Commission is providing the data needed to ensure connectivity reaches those communities most in need," she said. "I am confident that when relevant stakeholders work together across sectors, we will successfully break boundaries at the intersection of broadband and health policy.”

The latest legs of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s tour of Plains states to talk rural broadband brought him to Minnesota, Iowa and South Dakota, according to his tweets Wednesday and Thursday. In Minnesota Wednesday, Pai visited a fiber-to home company, watched workers wire a neighborhood, and spoke with the Minnesota Telecom Alliance. In Iowa, Pai visited two facilities that deliver broadband to small communities there. He also met with the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce in Sioux City to discuss broadband access and spoke about the issue on local KELO(AM) Sioux Falls, his tweets said. In South Dakota Thursday, Pai visited an Indian reservation. “Going to Rosebud Sioux Reservation to listen to, learn from Tribal leaders,” said Pai’s tweet. He's expected to visit Wyoming for the last leg (see 1706020053).

Verizon slammed comments by the Competitive Carriers Association that the FCC shouldn’t find in its upcoming mobile competition report that industry is effectively competitive (see 1705090051). CCA "refuses to acknowledge what the American public knows to be true: the U.S. mobile marketplace is effectively -- and intensely -- competitive,” Verizon said. “It ignores that the vast majority of Americans are experiencing falling prices and burgeoning choices. Instead, CCA myopically focuses on remote, less populated areas.” CCA in the proceeding, docket 17-69, agreed "industry is continuing to evolve at a rapid rate,” it commented. “To broadly claim that competition for mobile wireless service is present nationwide is factually inaccurate, contradicts the Chairman’s own Digital Empowerment Agenda, and is dismissive of rural and remote consumers’ experiences.” Section 254(b) of the Communications Act dictates the FCC examine whether “services in ‘rural, insular, and high cost areas’ that are ‘reasonably comparable’ to those provided in urban areas,” CCA said. CTIA urged a finding that industry is competitive. It's "vibrant and competitive, creating myriad choices,” the group commented. Verizon is a member of CTIA, not CCA.

The FCC has told security officers not to "physically engage" with anyone at open meetings unless they're purposefully disruptive or pose a safety threat to commission employees, Chairman Ajit Pai said in a letter to Sens. Tom Udall, D-M.N., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H. Pai said it also instructed security that reporters shouldn't be asked to leave areas of headquarters that are open to the public. The FCC caught heat for manhandling a reporter at its May meeting and other security measures (see 1705190031). Pai said the incident "should not have occurred," but defended building security as "hav[ing] a difficult job to do, particularly in cases where the FCC is facing violent threats." Udall and Hassan -- who wrote Pai expressing concern about the May incident -- said they remain troubled by an apparent pattern of hostility by the Trump administration toward the media. Security was understandably high at the meeting, Udall said, but "I'm extremely concerned that the FCC security wasn't able to better balance the need to ensure access and safety." While applauding the steps the FCC is taking, Udall said he hopes Pai also "ensure[s] that FCC commissioners understand that their job includes answering for their actions and being reasonably responsive to the people and the media." Meanwhile, the National Press Club's Journalism Institute invited the FCC to a summit later this year on media access and security issues, as expected (see 1705250014). In a letter Wednesday to Pai, the NPC said the goal is "to talk about the challenges facing all of us and how we might establish some common ground and rules of the road for security and access in a 21st century democracy." The NPC also said it was skeptical of the recap of the incident that Pai provided to the senators, since it "diverges considerably" from what the reporter described: "The account of the events you have given the Senate simply does not ring true to us." The FCC told us it "continues to review its security procedures and has taken steps the minimize the chance of a similar event occurring in the future."

The FCC’s newly reconfigured Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council will meet June 23, starting at 1 p.m.. in the Commission Meeting Room, said a notice in Wednesday's Federal Register. The last CSRIC met the final time in March (see 1703150058). The FCC rechartered the group in April for a new two-year term, though with no focus on cybersecurity issues (see 1704100059).