The FCC moved a step closer to a three-year, $100 million telehealth pilot, with an NPRM issued Thursday, a day after unanimous approval, in docket 18-213. The OK was expected (see 1907090034). Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel hopes the pilot will include projects to study how broadband-enabled monitoring can help curb the growing incidence of maternal mortality by tracking blood pressure, weight and other metrics in women with preeclampsia. She would like to see patients studied in every state and territory. Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said the program could help remotely connect veterans, adolescents and others to mental health professionals outside their own states. Comments are due 30 days after Federal Register publication, replies 30 days later.
Democratic FCC members voiced frustration that discussions on USF contribution revisions haven't progressed more. State officials want to see work on this, said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Wednesday after the FCC meeting. She encouraged states to comment to the FCC and not wait for a rulemaking. Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, who recently joined a joint advisory board on contribution changes, said he has heard "a lot of strong voices at the state level" who are eager to see the issue vetted. Chairman Ajit Pai said, like Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, that he doesn't support including a fee on broadband access or usage in the USF contribution factor (see 1906250011). O'Rielly said there's no official timeline on a proceeding. He, like others, was answering our questions. Last month, the agency announced the USF contribution factor had grown to its highest ever (see 1906130014).
Nokia added the Beacon 1 ($129) to its network lineup to improve the Wi-Fi experience in homes with multiple connected devices, high-bandwidth use, interference from neighbors’ Wi-Fi or Bluetooth devices or dead zones due to building materials. Bridge mode connects a beacon to an existing gateway with routing functionality, it said Tuesday.
Cisco agreed to buy its supplier Acacia Communications, paying about $2.6 billion cash for the optical interconnect technology maker for service providers, data centers and others using lots of data. Purchase of the fabless semiconductor company is expected to close in the second half of Cisco's fiscal 2020, and needs some regulatory approvals. The buy "suggests that Cisco intends to compete directly with the optical systems leaders Huawei, Ciena and Nokia," Raymond James analyst Simon Leopold wrote investors after Tuesday's announcement.
The FCC posted its agenda Tuesday on Thursday’s summit on secure handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) and secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) technology. The schedule includes a speech by Chairman Ajit Pai and a discussion with the chiefs of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs offices, and the Enforcement and Wireline bureaus. Three will panels look at the state of industry readiness to deploy, how the technology will affect consumers and the problems faced by smaller providers. The summit starts at 9:30 a.m. in the Commission Meeting Room. AT&T said, meanwhile, it's making call blocking technology widely available for its customers. AT&T will provide automatic fraud blocking and suspected spam-call alerts “to millions of AT&T consumer lines at no charge,” it said Tuesday: “New AT&T Mobility consumer lines will come with the anti-robocall service. Millions of existing AT&T customers also will have it automatically added to their accounts over the coming months.”
The FCC seeks comments and petitions by July 19, replies July 26, on an application to transfer licenses of Zayo and units including Electric Lightwave and Allstream Business US to Front Range, said a public notice in Monday's Daily Digest and on docket 19-166. The companies also petitioned for declaratory ruling to permit foreign investment in Zayo above the 25 percent benchmark. Zayo provides competitive LEC services across the country and is a licensee on the AmeriCan-1 submarine cable. Zayo would go private and the licensees wholly owned indirect subsidiaries of Front Range, an investment firm with U.S. and foreign investors (see 1905080021).
Telzeq Communications asked the FCC to waive a violation of the Lifeline rules for failing to properly enter customer information into the national Lifeline accountability database that resulted in an overpayment to the provider of $272,820. Telzeq said, posted Friday in docket 11-42, it can show good cause for the waiver because its consultant didn't enter most of its customers into the NLAD.
The FCC canceled a tribal workshop scheduled for July 17 at the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan (see 1906210019), it said Wednesday. It didn't give a reason for the cancellation.
D-Link agreed to security improvements to settle a 2017 FTC lawsuit, the agency said Tuesday. The commission previously alleged the company's wireless routers and internet cameras were vulnerable to hackers and invasion of users' privacy, an allegation the manufacturer had vowed to fight. Now, it will start "a comprehensive software security program, including specific steps to ensure that its Internet-connected cameras and routers are secure," the agency said. "This includes implementing security planning, threat modeling, testing for vulnerabilities before releasing products, ongoing monitoring to address security flaws, and automatic firmware updates, as well as accepting vulnerability reports from security researchers." D-Link will get biennial third-party assessments of its software security program for 10 years. The pact was filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco and commissioners approved 5-0. "Security flaws risked exposing users’ most sensitive personal information to prying eyes,” said Consumer Protection Bureau Director Andrew Smith. “Manufacturers and sellers of connected devices should be aware that the FTC will hold them to account for failures that expose user data to risk of compromise.” The company didn't comment.
AT&T reached two tentative union workers agreements with Communications Workers of America District 4 in Midwest contract talks, the carrier said Sunday. The four-year agreements would cover about 8,000 employees, with one for Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin wireline employees, and a smaller contract covering some Michigan employees, AT&T said. The proposed contracts “will be submitted to the union's membership for ratification votes in coming days,” it said. CWA is "still in the process of sharing information about the tentative agreement with our members,” a spokesperson emailed Monday.