The New York Public Service Commission will renew state USF two years, said an order released Wednesday in case 15-M-0742. The PSC unanimously adopted a joint settlement that the New York Department of Public Service reached with Verizon, small ILECs and the Public Utility Law Project (see 2011060038). State USF will expire Dec. 31, so the proposal would renew it for two more years from Jan. 1. The proposal “would preserve the administrative framework criteria for eligibility to receive disbursements and the obligations to provide funding that exist under the current” state USF and impose new data reporting requirements on recipients, “including detailed information on competitive wireline alternatives available in their service territories.” In another unanimous order posted in the same docket Wednesday, the PSC conditionally authorized nine small ILECs to recover from state USF revenue they lost due to the final stage of the phased reduction required by the FCC’s 2011 intercarrier compensation order.
Washington, D.C., 911 Director Karima Holmes remains a FirstNet board member, an NTIA spokesperson said Wednesday. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) announced Tuesday that Holmes is resigning next month as Office of Unified Communications head (see 2012220047).
Washington state will weigh a proposed $7.2 million fine for Lumen that’s more than 14 times what the company agreed to pay the FCC in a Dec. 14 settlement for a two-day 911 outage in late 2018 that affected most states (see 2012140058 and 1901280023). Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission staff alleged Tuesday the company, then called CenturyLink, committed about 72,000 violations of four state laws and rules, including 24,000 for failing to transmit 911 calls and 15 for failing to promptly notify public safety answering points (PSAPs) about the outage that affected about 7.4 million state residents. The three-member state commission will schedule a hearing on staff’s recommendation, the UTC said. Staff “found that the outage was due to a preventable technical error and related deficiencies within CenturyLink’s network” and “that CenturyLink incorrectly configured network devices and did not build safeguards into their traffic routing infrastructure, significantly prolonging the outage.” The carrier didn’t provide complete failed-call data requested by the state commission, so staff averaged emergency call volumes to determine the number of possible missed or dropped calls during the outage, the UTC said. The proposed fine is “misguided and misdirected” because a third-party vendor’s faulty network equipment caused the December 2018 outage, a Lumen spokesperson emailed Wednesday. CenturyLink-served PSAPs had no failed 911 calls, she said. “Service providers that rely on CenturyLink’s network to transport their traffic, including 911, may have been impacted. If another provider's 911 service was impacted during the event, it is their responsibility, not CenturyLink’s, to ensure redundancy is built into their network.” The UTC emailed a line in the report: "Regardless of whether a PSAP was receiving service from CenturyLink or Comtech, during phase one all Washington E911 calls were dependent on West, CenturyLink’s vendor, for [automatic location identification] services and on CenturyLink for call origination services." At the time of the outage, CenturyLink managed PSAPs in some of Washington’s most populated counties, including King, Spokane and Snohomish, the report said.
California, Michigan and Wisconsin may intervene in DOJ's and other states' antitrust lawsuit against Google, said a Friday minute order at U.S. District Court in Washington (case 1:20-cv-03010-APM). Trial could begin Sept. 12, 2023 (see 2012180047). The court entered scheduling, protective and discovery procedure orders Monday (in Pacer).
T-Mobile launched location-based routing and next-generation 911 capabilities, it said Thursday: The upgrades will quicken emergency response times by providing more precise locations for callers and reducing need for caller transfers.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission may require diversity reporting by telecom and other regulated entities. Commissioners voted 4-0 Thursday to start a rulemaking in docket L-2020-3017284, said the PUC. The agency updated utility diversity guidelines earlier this month (see 2012040030). State commissioners lag the nation in racial and gender diversity, per a Communications Daily Special Report Wednesday (see 2012160048).
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission may weigh state USF contribution changes Dec. 30, a spokesperson said Wednesday. A winter storm forced commissioners to reschedule their planned Tuesday meeting on a proposal in docket OSF 201900316 to change from a revenue-based method to a connections-based mechanism with a 91 cents per line monthly surcharge (see 2011170022).
Consumer groups supported industry’s call to narrow California's plan to revive and require the FCC voluntary Keep Americans Connected pledge. Cable had urged the California Public Utilities Commission limit a disconnections moratorium to customers facing economic hardships due to COVID-19 (see 2012100015). Narrowing the scope to affected customers is fine if it covers those facing financial impact or illness, replied the National Consumer Law Center and Center for Accessible Technology, emailed Monday to the service list for docket R.18-03-011. If denied, customers should have a simple way to appeal, the groups added. Wireless carriers balked at those groups’ suggestion to cover prepaid wireless. “Applying the moratorium to prepaid generally is impracticable, and in some regards impossible,” CTIA said. Commissioners vote Thursday.
The Association of National Advertisers issued guidance on California Consumer Privacy Act compliance, though CCPA will be replaced in 2023 (see 2011040043). “This is no easy task given the nearly constant modifications ... and the seemingly never-ending compliance finish line,” Executive Vice President-Government Relations Dan Jaffe said Monday. The state DOJ revised CCPA rules Thursday (see 2012100065).
The California Public Utilities Commission may vote Jan. 14 on T-Mobile/Sprint monitoring and Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) matching proposals. The agency posted a draft resolution Friday to start a citation program to monitor for T-Mobile failures to honor obligations from the agency’s April OK. Comments are due Jan. 4. Commissioners may also vote on a process for the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to leverage up to $2 billion in FCC funding from the recently completed RDOF Auction 904. The CPUC would award CASF funding to RDOF auction winners at a rate of 10%-20% of the auction’s reserve price for each census block, Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves proposed Friday. Comments are due Dec. 31.