The FCC activated its disaster information reporting system for Puerto Rico communications infrastructure after recent earthquakes (see 2001070043), it said Tuesday. The agency wants updated information on telecom providers' communications equipment, restoration efforts and power sources (commercial or backup) daily by 10 a.m. until the DIRS is deactivated. The FCC’s first status report Wednesday showed 31.7 percent cellsites out of service, mostly due to power outages. Cable and wireline companies reported more than 258,600 subscribers out of service but no broadcast or 911 outages. A public notice had guidance on special temporary authority and relief requests. The FCC provided 24/7 emergency contacts. About 26 percent of the territory's network is operating with connection problems, with power outages the main reason, said Puerto Rico Telecommunications Regulatory Board President Sandra Torres Lopez in an interview Tuesday. Industry is relying on backup batteries, but they aren’t lasting, with electricity out more than 12 hours, she said. After batteries went down, industry faces the difficult task of replenishing the generators for antennas, she said. Industry is more prepared than it was for Hurricane Maria, including having more generators, Torres said: “They have enough generators, but they need to move [them] from area to the other area because they are not in place.” The commission is telling Puerto Ricans to use phones only for emergency calls to prevent network congestion, she said.

California can’t make AT&T provide next-generation 911, and a penalty “would be unjust, unwarranted, and arbitrary,” the company said at the California Public Utilities Commission in docket R.18-03-011. An administrative law judge ordered AT&T show cause last month why it shouldn’t be found in contempt or violation of CPUC rules (see 1912230045). AT&T California "has no plans to provide, and was not selected by” the California Office of Emergency Services to provide NG-911, the company said Monday: Carriers of last resort aren’t required to provide 911 service to public safety answering points; they must provide access to 911/E-911 through basic service to end users.

Pennsylvania's Public Utility Commission clarified that its authority over pole attachments starts 60 days after the rules’ expected Jan. 18 effective date; that would be March 18 (see 1912300023).

The Montana Public Service Commission cleared Frontier Communications' transfer of northwestern states telecom assets to Northwest Fiber. Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt conditions (see 1912200037). The companies also settled in Oregon and Washington state, the other two states with reviews, and await final OKs by commissions there (see 2001060058). FCC bureaus cleared the deal last month (see 1912190086).

The Supreme Court should strike down a class-action lawsuit claiming Facebook’s face scanning technology violates Illinois privacy law, TechFreedom and Consumer Data Industry Association wrote the high court Friday. Nimesh Patel, Adam Pezen and Carlo Licata sued in 2015, claiming the social network collects personal information from users in violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. Invasion isn’t a traditional harm that allows a private right of action unless plaintiffs show “actual harm,” TechFreedom argued. Circuit courts are split over “whether informational injuries can support standing absent real-world harm to the plaintiff,” CDIA said. An attorney for the class didn’t comment Monday.

The Montana Public Service Commission plans to consider OK'ing Frontier Communications' transfer of northwestern states telecom assets to Northwest Fiber Tuesday, said the PSC’s weekly agenda. Commissioner Bob Lake (R) proposed clearing the deal through a December settlement last month (see 1912200037). The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission plans Jan. 27 hearings on the deal, the UTC said Monday in docket UT-190574. A public comment hearing at 10 a.m. PST will be immediately followed by an evidentiary hearing on settlement agreements (see 1911130051).

New York’s Nassau County has until June 30 to construct 700 MHz trunked public safety stations under call signs WQUM833 and WQUT752, the FCC Public Safety Bureau ordered Friday. It was previously extended to Aug. 19, 2019. Among other wireless orders that day, staff granted waiver to Lago Vista, Texas, to modify its travelers’ information station under call sign WQUY758 to expand its service area so it can provide a 2 mV/m signal at 2.5 km from the TIS transmitter site, farther than the 1.5 km required by rules. Existing coverage wasn’t wide enough for two previous natural disasters, the city said. The bureau granted waiver to Longmont, Colorado, to modify its TIS WQQT493 to expand its service area to 4 km from the transmitter. Longmont said the current signal doesn’t cover all parts of the city and proposed to increase the 5 watt transmitter power output at its TIS to the regulatory maximum of 10 watts. The bureau denied the Nevada Department of Transportation’s petition to reconsider partially terminating its license to operate under call sign WPWR989. Staff denied a Butler County, Pennsylvania, petition to reconsider termination of its license to operate in 800 MHz under WRAE930. Staff denied a Mt. Hope/Funks Grove Fire Department (Illinois) petition to reconsider partially terminating its license to operate as WSJ347.

Pennsylvania and West Virginia commissions expect state pole-attachment rules to take effect within two months, with notification to the FCC soon afterward that the states will reverse pre-empt federal rules. In November, Pennsylvania Independent Regulatory Review Commission members cleared pole-attachment rules adopted August by the Public Utility Commission (see 1911210010). “We’ve been informed that the Office of the Budget and the Attorney General’s Office have completed their reviews, but we’re still waiting for the formal approval memos from those agencies,” a PUC spokesperson emailed Monday. “With those approvals in-hand, we expect the final rulemaking to be published in the January 18, 2020 edition of the Pennsylvania Bulletin.” Rules would be effective upon publication, he said. West Virginia Public Service Commission rules, adopted Dec. 5, take effect Feb. 3 and “we will send certification to the FCC on that same day,” a spokesperson emailed earlier this month. The states would join 20 others and Washington, D.C., in reverse pre-empting the FCC.

CenturyLink will respond by Jan. 17 to network service-quality concerns raised by Arizona Corporation Commissioner Sandra Kennedy, the carrier’s spokesperson said Friday. Kennedy wants CenturyLink CEO Jeff Storey to answer questions at the state commission’s February meeting, she said in a Dec. 6 letter to ACC Chairman Bob Burns. “It appears that there is a trend toward cost-cutting at the expense of the customers you serve,” Kennedy wrote in a Dec. 5 letter to Storey. The Democratic commissioner said she wants the executive to come to Phoenix to discuss public health and safety concerns. “There are at least five open dockets at the Commission, most of which relate to CenturyLink’s failure to provide safe, adequate and reliable service,” she said. “Over the past three months, the Commission’s Consumer Services Division has received 60 consumer complaints, focusing mainly on billing, quality of service, and repair. This uptick in complaints in such a short period of time, without any apparent reason, is also unprecedented.” Commission staff efforts to work with CenturyLink on issues have been unsuccessful, she said.

California commissioners probably won't vote on T-Mobile/Sprint until March, even though carriers want it to happen Feb. 6 (see 1912230041), Tellus Venture Associates President Steve Blum blogged Thursday. T-Mobile's desired date would require the California Public Utilities Commission to propose a decision in early January. “Anything is possible, but I would bet against it,” wrote Blum. “My guess is that the CPUC will wait for [California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D)] to weigh in, and I don’t think that will happen until there’s a verdict in his federal court challenge.” The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York hears closing arguments in that case Jan. 15. The verdict "could happen in time for a draft to be published and make it onto the commission’s 27 February 2020 agenda, but that’s optimistic,” said Blum.