Staff support for the newly rechartered North American Numbering Council is estimated at $432,000 annually, the FCC said in a document posted Thursday announcing that NANC was rechartered for two years. An FCC spokesperson said agency hadn't finalized the new membership.
USF E-rate funding should include support for network security equipment and services to protect schools and libraries from cyberattack, NCTA replied, posted Thursday in docket 13-184 on the FCC's proposed eligible services list for category 2 spending updates (see 1909040018). The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association said Form 470 should be simplified to give schools more flexibility in requesting support for managed internal broadband services and basic maintenance of internal connections. "All efforts to simplify E-rate application forms and processes and include important adjunct services to minimize cyber threats and limit access to unsafe content in the nation's schools in today's challenging online environment are in the public interest," NRECA said.
Communications Workers of America District 7 voted to ratify a new contract with CenturyLink, said the company Wednesday. The contract expires in April 2023 and covers 8,000 employees in 13 states (see 1908200038).
AT&T asked the FCC to "promptly" issue a declaratory ruling pre-empting "state discrimination" against VoIP customers, posted in docket 19-44 Monday. Alabama 911 districts wrote Sept. 10 (see 1909110027). The sides disagree on whether states have authority to require interconnected VoIP providers bill 911 charges to customers. AT&T said "there is no room for states to make policy decisions that result in discrimination against VoIP customers, because Congress has prohibited such discrimination."
Rural telehealth program participants told the FCC about "significant problems" with how the median rural payment rate will work under new rules released last month (see 1908200062), said a filing posted Monday in docket 17-310. USTelecom recommended exemptions from the median rural rate, rather than require providers to always follow a waiver process. The group asked to clarify a rule indirectly prohibiting service providers from using commission- or incentive-based consultants or third parties to help sell to healthcare providers who may decide to participate in the programs. Vice President-Policy and Advocacy Lynn Follansbee and executives from AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier, Alaska Communications and Consolidated met Wednesday with Wireline Bureau staff.
Yodel Technologies asked the FCC for a declaratory ruling or retroactive waiver saying calls made using soundboard technology aren’t subject to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Soundboard is a computer program, web application or device that catalogs and plays short sound bites and audio clips. The technology requires “a live agent on each call” and “affords the capability for a high degree of interactivity between a caller and a called party,” Yodel said in docket 02-278, posted Friday: “These calls are not wholly prerecorded calls that deprive consumers of the ability to register their discontent or otherwise interact.”
Communications Workers of America urged AT&T to reject Monday's investor proposal (see 1909090020). CWA said Elliott Management's plan could eliminate jobs. Instead, the union wants AT&T to invest in its core business to develop broadband, video and wireless services "and invest in its workforce through improved training and retention." AT&T declined to comment beyond its earlier statement. The investor didn't comment.
Responding to ViaSat and Hughes petitions for reconsideration on last year's Connect America Fund performance measures (see 1812190050), the FCC Wireline and Wireless bureaus and Office of Engineering and Technology changed mean opinion score (MOS) testing requirements, in an order Thursday in docket 10-90. Staff said it's sticking with eP.800 methodology, but it's adopting an alternative testing methodology aimed at guaranteeing the same quality voice service and allowing MOS testing twice yearly, not quarterly.
FCC staff granted the North American Numbering Council another extension for its Numbering Administration Oversight Working Group, until Jan. 13, to file a technical requirements document for rules to establish a single, comprehensive database containing reassigned numbers information, posted Thursday on docket 17-59. The database is meant to help consumers avoid unwanted calls intended for others. The WG must also file an adequate work plan on the topic by Sept. 30, and provide recommendations for a fee structure and pricing for users of the database by Feb. 13. Outgoing NANC Chair Travis Kavulla, of the R Street Institute, announced the extension Thursday at the last meeting of the current council, which is expected to be rechartered by Wednesday (see 1908210010). FCC Chairman Ajit Pai thanked Kavulla and the other NANC members for advising on matters such as number portability, robocalls and a proposed three-digit national suicide hotline. "NANC has punched above its weight," Pai said. NANC adopted now an August report from the Interoperable Video Calling group recommending that the council and the FCC identify experts who could suggest existing numbering databases and commercially available interoperability databases so the next WG can evaluate them (see 1906200025).
Huawei backed better spectrum harmonization at Wednesday's ITU conference. "Global spectrum synergy helps reduce the complexity and cost of implementing 5G” for all stakeholders, it said. “Distribution of nationwide spectrum remains the model of choice and main thrust by national regulators. At the same time, network synchronization should be considered to improve spectrum utilization efficiency and reduce interference.”