Connecticut telecom outages from Tropical Storm Isaias declined, the FCC said in a disaster information reporting system status report Tuesday. Cable and wireline companies reported about 39,400 subscribers without service Tuesday, down from 70,000 subscribers Monday, and out-of-service cellsites declined to 0.5% from 1.6% (see 2008100037). Also, on Tuesday, the FCC deactivated DIRS for Isaias. It said it will "continue to monitor the status of communications services and work with providers and government partners as needed" to support restoration efforts.

Miscommunication appeared to cause more 911 dispatching issues this week in Washington, D.C., by the Office of Unified Communications (OUC). An ambulance, with a patient inside, called for help Monday after getting hit by a vehicle chased by police in Southeast Washington, according to OpenMHz audio of radio transmissions flagged by former reporter Dave Statter. The D.C. dispatcher appeared to become confused which ambulance had sought help, and at first sent responders to a different one located in the city’s Northeast quadrant. A day earlier, responding to three men who fell overboard from a power boat, D.C. dispatchers sent help to the wrong marina, about five miles away, tweeted Statter with audio from that incident. The three men drowned, said a Washington Post report. OUC declined comment Tuesday. The Office of D.C. Auditor might probe OUC next year after many reports of dispatching issues including sending first responders to the wrong address or multiple responders to the same place (see 2008070042).

New York City Public Design Commission members critiqued aesthetics of the Department of Information Technology’s (DoITT) 5G deployment plan. The committee voted 6-0, with one abstaining, to largely approve the plan, at Monday's livestreamed virtual meeting. The authority rejected installing facilities on certain types of poles, among other conditions. President Signe Nielsen, abstaining over objections about the matter’s handling, said she had concerns about how small cells looked on three or four pole types. Some “look ridiculous,” agreed Commissioner Laurie Hawkinson. Commissioner Ethel Sheffer favored customizing designs, especially since some have historic significance and are part of the “fabric of the neighborhood's design.” Commissioner Manuel Miranda asked if installations could be clearly labeled. DoITT directed industry to collaboratively design a uniform, minimally obtrusive attachment, said Brett Sikoff, the agency's liaison to the commission. In cities where deployments were unregulated, "a lot of this equipment is unshrouded and ... haphazardly put on poles," he said. Different designs for different poles could be more obtrusive and confuse residents, he said. The city’s involvement means more equitable deployment, Sikoff stressed. Commenters raised health concerns about RF emissions, comparing emissions to “second-hand smoke” and facilities to cluster bombs. Some commissioners voiced uncertainty about health risks, noting science is outside their purview. The FCC governs RF safety, Sikoff said. “We can only enforce the rules.” Some commissioners said they heard complaints about not enough outreach. Sikoff said it was sufficient and DoITT addressed concerns.

Out-of-service Connecticut cell sites declined to 1.6% Monday, after Tropical Storm Isaias caused outages, the FCC said in a disaster information reporting system (DIRS) status report. It was down from 3.6% in Sunday’s update and 7% Saturday. Transport network issues and power outages were mostly to blame. Cable and wireline companies reported about 70,000 subscribers out of service Monday, down from 121,000 subscribers Sunday and about 257,000 Saturday. There were no broadcast or 911 outage reports on any of the three days after the Public Safety Bureau activated DIRS Friday. The FCC is requiring reports about all Connecticut counties daily at 10 a.m. Bureaus released procedures and contact information. The FCC didn't activate DIRS for other states hit by Isaias. An agency spokesperson said government partners requested the agency activate DIRS for hard-hit Connecticut.

Frontier Communications expects a bankruptcy court to confirm its reorganization plan by month’s end, the carrier said in a Thursday filing at the West Virginia Public Service Commission. U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has a hearing Aug. 21, the telco said. “Following confirmation of the Plan by the Bankruptcy Court later this month, Frontier is prepared to emerge from Chapter 11 as soon as it secures the necessary regulatory approvals,” including from West Virginia, it said. PSC staff sought a “proactive” effort to improve service quality (see 2008060027).

Frontier Communications is addressing some service-quality issues flagged by a state audit but needs to do more, West Virginia Public Service Commission staff wrote Wednesday in case 18-0291-T-P. “Frontier must begin operating in a proactive versus a reactive manner if it is to ever improve service quality for its landline customers,” staff said. Since Frontier refuses to commit to any specific spending, the commission should apply conditions to the company’s bankruptcy application, said the Consumer Advocate Division. Frontier’s reorganization faces state scrutiny in several states where the carrier sought speedy reviews (see 2007140042).

The Georgia Public Service Commission launched a rulemaking to set the rate electric cooperatives can charge telecom companies for broadband pole attachments. Commissioners unanimously adopted a notice of proposed rulemaking in docket 43423 at a special hearing Thursday. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) Wednesday signed a broadband law requiring the commission to set rates, fees, terms, conditions and specifications in any pole attachment agreement between a communications provider and an electric membership corporation, based on what’s reasonable, nondiscriminatory and commercially reasonable. The law requires the commission to publish the rates and other items by Jan. 1; they would apply starting July 1. Under the NPRM, comments are due Aug. 20, with a hearing possible Aug. 27; the PSC may consider adopting rules Sept. 8.

ACA Connects said Vermont is waiting to enforce its net neutrality law limiting state contracts with ISPs. Enforcement could have started Wednesday under terms of a previous hold (see 2008030043). Vermont, ACA Connects and other ISP association plaintiffs Tuesday “entered into a stipulation agreeing to stay enforcement ... pending further discussions between the associations and the State,” an ACA Connects spokesperson emailed Thursday. ACA Connects didn't share the agreement, which also hadn’t appeared in the U.S. District Court of Vermont docket for case No. 2:18-cv-167 (in Pacer) by Thursday afternoon. DOJ and ISPs renewed their lawsuits against California’s open-internet law Wednesday by filing motions for preliminary injunction (see 2008050060). ISP groups hope Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan (D) will agree to continue to stay enforcement “until the California preliminary injunction motion is decided,” the ACA representative emailed. The AG office didn’t comment.

New York's Andrew Cuomo (D) directed the Department of Public Service to probe Verizon's and utilities’ “failed” responses to Tropical Storm Isaias, the governor’s office said Wednesday. DPS is working with utilities to restore service, it said. Verizon will fully cooperate, a spokesperson emailed: "The vast majority of our wireless and wireline networks are performing as usual in the Northeast. As customer issues have arisen, we’ve been working around the clock to resolve them and have deployed portable network assets in areas where coverage and capacity have been impacted by commercial power outages."

The California Public Utilities Commission may take the rest of 2020 to review the Frontier Communications bankruptcy reorganization. Under Wednesday's scoping memo by Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves, the agency would hold events in September or October, with opening briefs due Nov. 18, replies Dec. 10. The memo noted that statute requires the proceeding be resolved within 18 months. The CPUC needn’t consider some elements of a typical transfer-of-control review, but others are fair game, it said. “The primary issue in this proceeding is whether ... the Restructuring is in California’s public interest.” Issues include economic benefits to ratepayers, changes to Frontier’s management, financial condition and service quality, impact to employees, and effect on prices and network spending, the memo said. The telco sought expedited review. The planned restructuring is a parent company ownership change that won’t harm consumers and has “unquestionable” benefits, said Frontier Chief Legal Officer Mark Nielsen in testimony emailed Tuesday to the A.20-05-010 service list. “The longer the Applicants remain in Chapter 11, the more resources and expenses they will have to expend in support of the bankruptcy process.” The CPUC needn’t do a typical transfer-of-control review because it’s “not a purchase or a merger transaction,” he said. Frontier's reorganization plan "is progressing as expected and we will continue to respond as needed to move the approval process forward expeditiously for Frontier’s change of control applications," a spokesperson said Wednesday. Frontier got OKs from Nevada, Nebraska and South Carolina.