An IP-captioned telephone service provider asked the FCC for a waiver of the IP CTS 2019-20 compensation rate adjustment. MezmoCorp (dba InnoCaption) and seeks a rate freeze at the current $1.75 per-minute interim rate until a permanent rate methodology is implemented, said an emergency petition posted Thursday in docket 03-123. InnoCaption earlier joined advocates for the deaf endorsing a proposal to maintain $1.75 for another year, rather than cutting it again, to $1.58 as planned July 1 (see 1903210030). InnoCaption's petition said as “the newest entrant” in the IP CTS market, it’s not “in a position to absorb these rate reductions at such a rapid pace due to the need for continued investment in personnel and technology,” and a lower fee might force it to withdraw from the market.

Two more state attorneys general are studying T-Mobile's buy of Sprint. Delaware and Nebraska sought access to documents and information containing number resource utilization and forecast and local number portability data, said letters posted Wednesday in docket 18-197. They joined more than 20 other states seeking such data; 10 including New York and California sued to stop the deal last week (see 1906110044).

USTelecom Thursday will update the results of its pilot broadband mapping effort in Missouri and Virginia, it said Tuesday. Vice President-Policy and Advocacy Mike Saperstein and telecom modeling company CostQuest CEO Jim Stegeman will speak during the 2:30 p.m. EDT webinar.

Comments are due July 3, replies 10 days later, on Hamilton Relay's petition in docket 13-24 to reconsider exogenous cost recovery guidelines when IP captioned telephone service providers collect funds from the interstate telecom relay service (see 1906050059), says the FCC for Tuesday's Federal Register.

Microsoft representatives weighed in on secure handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) technology, in meetings with FCC staff. The agency is considering mandating rules if providers don’t come forward to implement Shaken/secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) technology on their own (see 1905150041). "Industry-led efforts [can] improve upon the current iteration of SHAKEN so that legitimate voice calls from a broader set of calling technologies and business models would be eligible for highest level attestation ,” Microsoft said, posted Monday in docket 17-59. “We also raised concerns about the possibility that voice service providers may implement SHAKEN in a non-uniform manner by inextricably commingling attestation values with other analytics.” The commission plans a Shaken/Stir summit on July 11.

Women's clothing retailer bebe and health products multilevel marketer ViSalus received limited waivers of the prior-express-written-consent Telephone Consumer Protection Act rules, said the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau in an order Thursday. It said the waivers join an array of other waivers granted due to potential confusion about the validity of written consent obtained after 2012 TCPA rules changes.

The FCC unveiled parts of the next round of funding for its National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program, which sets aside up to $10 million annually. The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau said Wednesday on docket 19-557 that $250,000 will go to national outreach by the Perkins School for the Blind, $100,000 to development of a centralized database for reporting data and reimbursement claims, and up to $9.65 million to 56 certified NDBEDP participants across the country. The agency reserved the right to make voluntary and involuntary reallocations of funds between certified programs at any time during each funding year to make the best use of the funds (see 1906100054).

Womble Bond lawyers Artin Betpera and David Carter expect new FCC call blocking rules (see 1906060056) may come with unintended consequences. The declaratory ruling “deviates from decades of precedent by allowing carriers to block telecommunications service traffic without a consumer request,” they blogged: “As well-intentioned as the FCC’s ruling might be, its departure from long-standing precedent may lead to the rule being challenged in court.” The rules are also open ended, they said. “It is difficult to otherwise predict exactly how these new rules will play out, and whether carriers will choose to implement default call blocking in the first instance,” they said: “Comments from industry and other private stakeholders that preceded the ruling highlight the substantial risks of false-positives with existing call blocking technology.”

Making responsible organizations the ones obligated to provide to Somos 833 toll-free number secondary market transaction information, with penalties for not doing so, wrongly assumes RespOrgs will be aware of all secondary market transactions, said AT&T -- a RespOrg -- in docket 19-101 replies Tuesday. RespOrgs might be completely unaware of secondary market transactions, even those involving its own subscribers, and parties to a transaction might not be willing to provide pricing or other information. AT&T said the obligations should instead be on toll-free numbering users to report those transactions or at least have responsibility in notifying RespOrgs about a change in ownership. In initial comments, parties also suggested changes to what RespOrgs have to report on secondary market transactions (see 1906040024). In a docket 95-155 ex parte posting Monday, Ignition Toll Free, MessageComm and 800 Response Information Services recapped a meeting with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel's chief of staff to discuss geographic routing of toll-free calls. They repeated their argument that the ability to accurately route those calls would have a big effect on 833 auction values (see 1905300060). They said the FCC should assure mobile phone and other originating carriers that they need to provide "fuzzy" -- rather than precise -- location information, which wouldn't violate customers' privacy protections. They said an opt-in, opt-out approach would be unnecessary and create possible safety issues for callers. They urged that assurance come in a decision on an 800 Response Information Services petition (see 1810110051).

Antitrust authorities cleared the way for IHS Markit to sell most of its technology, media and telecom research operations to Informa in return for Informa’s agricultural business intelligence group (see 1905220061). An FTC early termination notice dated Friday and released Monday ended the transaction’s Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period. IHS and Informa said last month they expect the deal to close in July.