The FCC should "develop and implement methods for collecting and reporting accurate and complete data on broadband access, especially on tribal lands where service is known to be lacking," GAO recommended Tuesday. It said stakeholders identified limitations in location data for the broadband serviceable location fabric as a "key challenge" for the agency. Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Reps. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., sought the review. FCC officials told GAO it plans to award a one-year contract with the option for four additional years to update the location fabric with new data "at least twice a year." GAO interviewed officials from the FCC, Census Bureau, NTIA, Transportation Department and the Postal Service. It also spoke to AT&T, Lumen, NCTA, NTCA and USTelecom. The FCC "is pleased that GAO evaluated the approach being taken by the FCC to develop the broadband serviceable location fabric and accurately identified the challenges we face," emailed a spokesperson.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) launched a consumer survey as part of a state mapping effort to show broadband cost, availability and reliability, the governor’s office said Monday. The state budget directed the Public Service Commission to study broadband and make recommendations by May.
Another prison phone provider asked the California Public Utilities Commission to reconsider its decision to set an interim 7 cents per minute intrastate rate cap for incarcerated persons communications services (IPCS) and eliminate some fees. Securus sought rehearing Wednesday after NCIC Inmate Communications did so Tuesday (see 2109210080). The CPUC decision in docket R.20-10-002 contains “substantial errors of fact and law, lacking any evidence or analysis of providers’ costs to provision IPCS in California, and undermining the Commission’s ability to achieve its goals of ensuring that incarcerated persons have access to IPCS at affordable rates.”
The California Privacy Protection Agency seeks comment by Nov. 8 on a proposed rulemaking under the 2020 California Privacy Rights Act, the agency said Wednesday. It especially sought feedback on “new and undecided issues not already covered by the existing” California Consumer Privacy Act rules.
California Public Utilities Commissioners all rejected a proposed settlement between Frontier Communications and the Consumer Protection and Enforcement Division on possible violations associated with 2016 outage and service interruptions. Because carriers generally are “chronically failing” to meet service-quality standards, the CPUC is considering and Commissioner Cliff Rechtschaffen would “strongly support” opening a rulemaking to review current policy of letting carriers invest in their own networks the amount of such proposed fines, Rechtschaffen told Thursday’s livestreamed meeting. The pact would have let Frontier invest $2.1 million of a proposed $2.5 million penalty, paying the state the remaining $400,000. "We have tried this reinvestment approach" twice before “and we found that Frontier investments have been patently ineffective in improving service quality,” Rechtschaffen said. The proposed decision in docket I.19-12-009, which appeared on the consent agenda, set an Oct. 6 status conference. “Recent assessments of Frontier’s reinvestment projects since 2017 show that despite millions of dollars of infrastructure reinvestment in lieu of penalties, Frontier’s ratepayers continue to experience service quality problems,” it said. The telco declined to comment. Other telecom orders OK’d Thursday by unanimous consent included a LifeLine proposal setting varying amounts of state support to replace federal support for wireline that doesn’t meet broadband minimum service standards (MSS), depending on how much the FCC phases down support (see 2109160028). The CPUC revised an earlier proposal partly to respond to public advocate concerns that customers might lose federal support if the federal Lifeline MSS increases Dec. 1 to 18 GB the same day that California sets slower standards (see 2108270049). The CPUC faced a similar situation last year, noted the revised proposal in docket R.20-02-008. Commissioners supported a CTIA-opposed item to extend a COVID-19 moratorium on phone disconnections through Dec. 31 (see 2109090015). CTIA pointed us to its earlier CPUC filings. CPUC Administrative Law Judge Stephanie Wang separately ruled Thursday in docket R.20-02-008 to extend through Dec. 31 the temporary suspension of state LifeLine renewals and de-enrollments for non-usage and the three-month documentation rule for demonstrating income-based qualification.
Amid continuing concerns by Frontier Communications (see 2109210006), the California Public Utilities Commission again postponed a vote on a proposed enforcement program for conditions in the order approving the telco's bankruptcy reorganization. The CPUC delayed draft resolution T-178734 from Thursday until Oct. 7, showed agenda changes posted Tuesday. The agency also delayed until then a proposal to modify pole-attachment database requirements (docket R.17-06-028).
Frontier Communications asked for another delay of a California Public Utilities Commission vote on a proposed enforcement program for conditions in the order approving Frontier's bankruptcy reorganization. The CPUC earlier delayed a Sept. 9 vote until Thursday (see 2109080041). Last week’s revision improved draft resolution T-178734, but it “continues to propose extreme, cumulative penalties for nonconformance,” the telco said in a letter emailed to the service list Monday. This “subjects each of Frontier’s three ILEC entities, regardless of the number of customers or outages ... to potential minimum penalty of $700,000 per month and a maximum penalty of $12 million per year .... for a failure to achieve 90% out of service restoral in 24 hours,” it said.
NCIC Inmate Communications sought rehearing Tuesday of a California Public Utilities Commission decision to set an interim 7 cents per minute intrastate rate cap for incarcerated person communications services (IPCS) and eliminate some fees (see 2108190046). The cap shouldn’t apply to any facility with fewer than 1,000 people in its average daily population, it said. “These proposed rates, combined with the Commission’s decision to eliminate the standard, FCC-approved IPCS ancillary fees, will undoubtedly result in operational revenues which are far below NCIC’s cost of providing services.” Providers will have to charge localities to offset losses, NCIC said.
Massachusetts needs its own rules against phone number spoofing because federal efforts fall short, legislators said Monday during a hearing of the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure. The FCC stepping up robocall enforcement “isn’t enough,” said Rep. John Barrett (D), testifying in favor of HB-312. The FCC didn’t comment. Under federal law, spoofing is allowed unless a person is doing it knowingly with intent to defraud, but "why would there be any other reason?" Barrett asked. He said scammers "were out in force" during this pandemic. He said states enacted legislation to tackle spoofing, but "they're just not doing enough at the federal level." Echoing Barrett, Rep. Tom Walsh (D) said a caller using a Massachusetts area code should be required to be within the state and have a number attributable and traceable to the calling party. The federal government “seem[s] to have been dragging their feet a little bit," he said.
The California Public Utilities Commission may vote Oct. 21 on a proposed decision to adopt post-disaster community engagement and reporting requirements for investor-owned utilities (IOUs) and facilities-based telecom providers. The Thursday proposal is by Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves in the broadband-for-all docket (R.20-09-001). The CPUC would encourage IOUs to install fiber during service restoration. If a state or national disaster is declared, IOUs and telecom providers would have to file an informational advice letter within 15 days of when they're allowed into an affected area to assess damage. Within 30 days, they would have to meet in person with affected communities to discuss rebuilding plans, especially fiber buildouts, it said. “Comments filed by many of the IOUs and telecommunications service providers suggest that these companies view having to discuss service restoration and rebuild efforts with the communities they serve as an inconvenience,” it noted. “If that is the case, we encourage them to adopt a more appropriate view of the people they serve.”