Comments are due April 3, replies May 3, on a rulemaking on curbing spoofed robocalls launched by FCC commissioners 5-0 last month (see 1902140039). That's after expected publication in Monday's Federal Register.

The FCC reminded telecom carriers and VoIP providers of Friday's deadline to file annual certifications of compliance with rules prohibiting unauthorized access, use or disclosure of customer proprietary network information. "Protection of CPNI is of paramount importance, as it includes sensitive personal information that carriers collect about their customers during the course of their business relationship (e.g., telephone numbers of calls made and received; the frequency, duration, location, and timing of such calls; and any services purchased by the consumer, such as call waiting and voicemail)," said an Enforcement Bureau advisory Thursday in docket 06-36.

The CableLabs-developed Micronets premises network management system isn't a panacea for possible security threats to IoT devices and networks, but can blunt the effects through real-time threat detection and network segmentation, NCTA blogged Wednesday. CableLabs said Micronets uses device fingerprinting and dynamic identity techniques to organize network-connected devices into "micronet" trust domains and manage their interconnectivity. CableLabs said Micronets is designed for relative ease of use, with "easy onboarding of new devices with minimal know-how" while also allowing users to simply identify connected devices. It said using different micronets allows isolating security threats, like a particular hacked device, from damaging the entire network so attackers can't get easy access to devices in other trust domains. NCTA said the rise of botnet attacks, particularly distributed denial of service attacks, points to the need for systems like Micronets, which could have prevented the Mirai botnet attack in October 2016. CableLabs said beyond Micronets, it's working on better compromised-device detection, DDoS monitoring and IP-address spoofing prevention, and taking part in Open Connectivity Foundation efforts toward an IoT specification standard.

Electric utilities and telecom groups sought further coordination to improve wireless network resiliency and restoration from disasters. "Communications providers should continue hardening their infrastructure and designing networks to avoid single points of failure, said Edison Electric Institute and other utility interests, as replies were posted Tuesday in FCC docket 11-60. They said the FCC "should promote best practices to address communications network back-up power deficiencies" and engage regularly with state and local authorities and other stakeholders, and encourage communications providers do likewise. They want more utility industry seats on the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee. Most initial commenters (see 1902110034) "agree the best forum for improved coordination between communications providers and power companies is the local emergency operations center [(EOC)] level," said American Electric Power and Southern Co. They disputed wireless pushback to the need to improve back-up power. CTIA said commenters "widely support enhancing cooperative efforts, at the local level and through the BDAC" and Department of Homeland Security. It backs "a flexible approach to resilience" that has "proven effective," though it acknowledged "restoration efforts were challenging" for communications providers and power companies after "recent historic hurricanes." USTelecom said coordination between communications and electric companies "runs deep," and to the extent more is needed, "continue those discussions in existing venues at the Commission and within other government partners." Noting wireline telcos provide wireless backhaul, USTelecom agreed communications companies may be able to enhance coordination with state EOCs but disputed "any suggestion that our sector does not work together in disaster recovery." The American Cable Association said a cooperative resiliency framework for backhaul providers isn't needed. "Modest improvements" in coordination between power and communications providers "would enhance disaster resiliency," ACA said.

The FCC North American Numbering Council, which isn't recommending use of a three-digit dialing code for a national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline (see 1902140044), is being asked to revise its draft report with answers to new questions. In a letter dated Friday from Wireline Bureau Chief Kris Monteith, posted Monday in docket 18-336, NANC is directed to answer such questions as, if the FCC does go the three-digit dialing code route, what N11 or non-N11 code would it recommend and which existing N11 code would it recommend for expansion if it opts to go that route. It also told NANC to consult with the North American Numbering Plan administrator about what codes might be best suited and how that would affect North American Numbering Plan exhaust. It said if NANC recommends repurposing an existing N11 dialing, the answer of which should be accompanied with use data for that code compared to other codes from as large a service provider sample as possible. It said NANC should detail actions needed to implement whatever three-digit code it recommends and a timeline for implementation. NANC's Numbering Administration Oversight Working Group has an April 11 deadline for getting that information to NANC, with NANC then having a May 13 deadline for getting the report to the bureau. A Veterans Affairs Department report posted Friday said since its 2016 expansion of its 24/7 Veterans Crisis Line call centers, calls no longer are routinely routed to a contracted backup center and the rollover rate went from 39.16 percent of calls in FY 2016 to 0.16 percent in FY 2018, as call volumes grew. It said 98.05 percent of calls are answered within 20 seconds and 1.7 percent of calls disconnected more than five seconds before being responded to. A Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration report to the FCC posted Friday said average longest wait for an answer at the federally funded Lifeline 10-digit national hotline rose 29 percent April 2017-April 2018. It said an N11 would be easier to remember, leading to higher volume, and be more effective than the 1-800 number used now. It said high-performing crisis center to responding to a crisis call costs roughly $25 per call, so an N11 system -- if it doubled the volume of calls Lifeline handles now -- would necessitate $50 million in additional funding.

The Rural Utilities Service will announce in March the date it will begin accepting applications for its $600 million rural e-connectivity program, says a notice for Monday's Federal Register. Applications will be accepted through May 31 for grants, June 21 for grant-loan combinations and July 12 for loans. Each category is budgeted up to $200 million, with authority for a reserve to cover further funding. Separately, Paperwork Reduction Act comments are due April 26 on extending an RUS Form 790 collecting information from borrowers when they seek to sell capital assets of their systems, says another notice for Monday's FR (see calendar).

ITTA slammed a Kairos Partners filing on behalf of enterprise users that urged the FCC to continue to prohibit carriers from "identifying" telecom relay service costs as line items on consumer bills to not "stigmatize disabled individuals" (see 1902200049). Kairos "is merely doubling down on the same red herrings, hyperbole, and misreadings of precedent that have characterized their prior filings," emailed the mid-size telco group, which has petitioned the agency for a TRS billing ruling and cited its July 3 reply as addressing criticisms. "ITTA has made it abundantly clear that ITTA is not seeking in this petition to specifically identify on consumers’ bills costs attributable to TRS. Rather, ITTA’s ask is that the Commission issue a declaratory ruling that it is and always has been permissible for a carrier recovering TRS Fund contributions via an end user cost recovery fee line item (or the like) on customers’ bills to include TRS, among other references, in the line item description. This properly balances Commission precedent both with respect to TRS and Truth-in-Billing."

The FCC should continue to bar carriers from identifying telecom relay service costs as line items on consumer bills, said 3M, Coca-Cola, Mastercard, Office Depot, Sears and other enterprise users in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 03-123. They said the FCC could soon rule on an ITTA petition "that could alter" the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and "the civil rights of all disabled individuals," including "the deaf, hard of hearing and speech impaired communities." ITTA plus AT&T, Verizon and CenturyLink "are pressuring the FCC" to overturn a rule prohibiting carriers "from identifying the cost of [TRS] (a Title IV, ADA service) as a fee, surcharge or line-item on customer invoices," the enterprise users said. The ADA "prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities," they wrote. "It would be a violation of the ADA to stigmatize disabled individuals as a 'cost burden' by identifying the cost of providing an ADA service on any consumer invoice."

The U.S. solicitor general urged the Supreme Court to affirm an appellate court ruling that a litigant in a private junk fax lawsuit can't attack validity of an FCC order that could have been challenged under the Hobbs Act when issued. "Such collateral attacks would undermine the interests of the United States and regulated parties in conclusively determining the validity of covered agency actions," said an SG/DOJ brief joined by the FCC and posted Friday, in PDR Network v. Carlton & Harris Chiropractic, No. 17-1705. PDR argued a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Hobbes Act ruling stripped a district court of jurisdiction to review an FCC "unsolicited advertisement" decision under the Telephone Consumer Protect Act (see 1901090045). Carlton & Harris, which sued PDR after receiving its fax advertising a digital version of a physician's reference book, filed its brief Feb. 7 urging the high court to dismiss the case or affirm the 4th Circuit ruling. Business interests and others filed amicus briefs in the docket, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which backed broad rights to contest FCC TCPA decisions (see 1901160030).

The C-Band Alliance (CBA), which is telling the FCC eighth floor some critics of its band-clearing plan are against competition (see 1901310050), made similar arguments with Chairman Ajit Pai, said a docket 18-122 posting Tuesday. It said it has sent more than 400 certified letters to parties potentially interested in the spectrum and its plan has broad support from various parties in multiple industries. In the docket Wednesday, the American Cable Association recapped meetings with aides to Pai and to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and Mike O'Rielly, and with Wireless and International Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff. ACA said the record lacks enough information and the satellite industry should submit information on its current and projected use of the C band, plus current and projected demand for services. It backs a reverse auction, with compensation to users and operators for their expenses and foregone investments, or alternately that if the CBA proposal is adopted that C-band users are part of the negotiations. The association said if CBA and those users can't come to agreement, baseball-style arbitration would come into play. NCTA last week said it had concerns about the CBA proposal and any C-band clearing approach it adopts should include agency oversight. S&P Global said Wednesday opening the 3.7-4.2 GHz band for 5G could mean a big enough windfall for Intelsat to allow it to significantly pay down debt from its current "unsustainable" level. It said SES, the other dominant satellite user of C band in the continental U.S., could also get a higher investment rating, depending on how it uses proceeds from any spectrum sale.