Comments are due Jan. 20 on FCC Wireline Bureau proposed revisions to the annual telecom reporting worksheet, Form 499-A and instructions, to be used in 2019 to report 2018 revenue, said a Wireline Bureau public notice Friday in docket 06-122. Comments are also due then on proposed revisions to quarterly telecom reporting worksheet, Form 499-Q and instructions, to be used in 2019 to report projected quarterly revenue.

The FCC approved neutrality requirement changes Neustar wanted and accepted in order to continue in the role of internet-based telecom relay service telephone director administrator for an interim period. The changes take effect Jan. 1, said a Wireline Bureau letter made available last week. The bureau noted Neustar's iTRS contract was to expire Dec. 31, but the FCC asked it to continue in the role for an additional five or six months while the agency pursues a successor vendor and smooth transition. The letter also noted that until recently, Neustar had been the numbering administrator for three other databases: It stepped down as local number portability administrator May 25, and its contracts as North American numbering plan administrator and the thousands-block pooling administrator expire Dec. 31.

The FCC issued a citation to Emanuel Hernandez of Click Cash Marketing and Rock Solid Traffic, notifying him he's in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for sending unsolicited telemarketing text messages to numbers on the Do-Not-Call registry (DNC). The Enforcement Bureau said if Hernandez fails to comply with the TCPA and its rules, he may be subject to fines. The websites for both businesses were inaccessible Friday.

The California Public Utilities Commission petitioned the FCC to waive Lifeline non-usage and recertification rules, from Nov. 1 to May 1, for 12,686 subscribers affected by a recent wildfire in Butte County, plus any new subscribers enrolled during that period. The non-usage waiver is needed because lack of power and telecom service disruptions could have prevented subscribers from using their phones, and some may have left cellphones behind as they fled for safety, said the CPUC Wednesday in docket 11-42. With thousands of residents displaced from their homes, it will be difficult for subscribers to meet an annual recertification requirement generally handled through the mail, the state regulator added.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau adjusted for inflation 2019 forfeiture penalties, said an order Wednesday. The adjustment is based on fluctuations in the consumer price index, and will apply a multiple of 1.02522 to the 2018 penalty rates, rounded to the nearest dollar. The new levels apply to penalties assessed after Jan. 15, even if the violation occurred before.

The chief of a company that helps send TV content on satellites wants the FCC to adopt a "variation" of the C-Band Alliance's plan for that band, repurposing no more than 100 MHz. CBA seeks up to about 200 MHz. "Going from a bandwidth of 500 MHz to 400 MHz or even 300 MHz could directly and adversely affect the availability of frequencies and transponders," the latter cut from 40 to 20, a lawyer for PSSI Global wrote of CEO Robert Lamb meeting aides to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai including Chief of Staff Matthew Berry. Users "need a role on the transition board or oversight committee of any transition administration" so it's not only satellite operators, Lamb said, per a posting Tuesday in docket 18-122. CBA's plan is gaining steam (see 1812170038). PSSI also met an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. CBA, which includes Intelsat and SES, didn't comment. Even with CBA in the lead, there's much across-the-board opposition, the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance's chief told us (see 1812180042).

A group of Telephone Consumer Protection Act plaintiffs asked the FCC to overturn a Nov. 14 Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau order scrapping a rule requiring opt-out notices for faxes sent with a recipient's prior consent, and citing a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruling (see 1811140054). Because the bureau order "is based on the erroneous notion that the Commission has no choice in this matter, it should be vacated," said an application for review of Gorss Motels, Compressor Engineering, Swetlic Chiropractic & Rehabilitation Center, Shaun Fauley and JT’s Frames, posted Monday in docket 05-338. The bureau rejected "as 'moot' 10 petitions and two petitions for reconsideration seeking 'retroactive waivers' of 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(a)(4)(iv) -- the regulation requiring 'opt-out notice' on fax advertisements sent with 'prior express invitation or permission' -- on the basis that the D.C. Circuit’s decision in Bais Yaakov of Spring Valley v. FCC [2017] ... 'vacated the 2006 Solicited Fax Rule' and was a 'non-discretionary mandate' to the Commission to 'eliminate' that regulation," wrote the applicants, who are plaintiffs in pending TCPA suits against waiver petitioners and filed comments opposing the petitions. They said the D.C. Circuit's split decision "did not 'mandate' that the Commission do anything in particular, and the Commission is not required to 'acquiesce' to the 'expressio unius' rationale upon which the majority’s opinion is based, and is free to adopt the reasoning of Judge [Cornelia] Pillard’s dissent, concluding that the Commission had statutory authority to issue Rule 64.1200(a)(4)(iv) in the 2006 Order."

FCC staff cleared Cable One's proposed buy of Delta Communications (Clearwave Communications) and Hammer Fiber Optics Holdings' proposed takeover of Endstream Communications. A Wireline Bureau notice Monday granted associated license transfers, in dockets including 18-321. Last week, the FTC said it wouldn't oppose Cable One/Clearwave (see 1812130063).

Comments are due Dec. 27, replies Jan. 3 on CTIA, ITTA and USTelecom's one-time waiver request for eligible telecom carriers selected for forensic audit, the FCC Wireline Bureau said in Friday's Daily Digest and dockets including 10-90. The associations' Dec. 6 request said such reviews are "similar in all material respects" to biennial audits, so waiver would last for two years following a forensic audit and be for the every-other-year checks.

AT&T urged the FCC to modify and adopt proposed Stage 2 USF support for mobile providers in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, without waiting to resolve "more complex policy issues" on Stage 2 fixed service funding. "Allocate funding between the territories based on the latest Census Bureau population figures and not based on the legacy amounts each territory received pre-hurricanes," it recommended to Wireline Bureau staffers, posted Friday in docket 18-143. Focus Stage 2 obligations on "restoration and hardening efforts and ensuring that 4G LTE is deployed throughout the mobile carrier’s pre-hurricane coverage area," it advised, asking the FCC to back off proposed service obligations. AT&T said the Stage 2 fixed fund should emulate the mobility fund and disburse support "for 2-3 years" to existing facilities-based providers to restore and harden networks. A "competitively awarded Stage 3 Fixed Fund" could then "provide funding to expand broadband service to eligible areas" unserved by an unsubsidized competitor, the company said.