The FCC should make a database of reassigned phone numbers to curb unwanted robocalls, the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable commented, posted Friday at the FCC in docket 17-59. “Creating and maintaining such a database should impose only a minimal cost on voice service providers and should be readily available to callers making legitimate robocalls.” To minimize exposure of personal information, the database should include only disconnection information, including the phone number, deactivation date and the reporting phone provider, the department said. It should cover all technologies of voice providers because unwanted calls are made to phone numbers “regardless of service type,” it said. The FCC should regularly monitor the database’s operations and ensure compliance, it said. Consumer groups back a reassigned number database (see 1805300032).

The USF contribution rate will decrease from Q2's 18.4 percent to 17.9 percent in Q3, of carriers' U.S. interstate and international telecom end-user revenue, emailed industry consultant Billy Jack Gregg Friday. He said Universal Service Administrative Co. projected USF-applicable telecom revenue for Q3 to be $12.95 billion, an increase of about $146 million. That breaks the long-term downward trend in the contribution base for the first time since Q3 2014, he said. USAC also revised projected high-cost USF demand for Q3 upward by over $125 million to comply with a March order increasing rural telco support, and changed a "prior period adjustment," resulting in a net rise in USF demand of $81.7 million, he said.

An E-rate consulting group asked the FCC and Universal Service Administrative Co. to ensure an advanced training workshop this fall is open to all. Responding to a recent American Library Association filing, Infinity Communications and Consulting agreed there should be a "day-long session" in Washington to examine complex issues and possibly help develop solutions. "ALA’s proposal to allow only state and regional E-rate coordinators to attend the training held in DC would limit the effectiveness of the USAC trainings, could lead to fewer successful applications and would unfairly provide a competitive advantage to a select group of for-profit entities," Infinity CEO Fred Brakeman wrote to the FCC and USAC, posted Wednesday in commission docket 13-184. ALA urged the Washington workshop be focused "on the needs of state and regional E-rate coordinators." School and library representatives were told last year the fall 2017 Washington workshop "would focus on their needs, but unfortunately that did not occur," ALA said. "For the first fall workshop we still strongly encourage USAC to designate it as a 'train the trainer' workshop specifically intended for state and regional E-rate coordinators." Infinity, which represents more than 300 E-rate applicants, said "there may be a disconnect between what USAC wants to accomplish at the 'train the trainer' meeting and what seasoned Applicants and Service Providers want." Infinity seeks a training session "where there is time for attendees to ask more complicated questions." The FCC and USAC didn't comment Thursday.

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel was in Alabama Thursday, and used a tour to seek better location accuracy of wireless 911 calls. She tweeted from a 911 festival in Haleyville, where the first 911 call was made 50 years ago, which she called a big innovation. Rosenworcel also toured a 911 call center. “Today 88% of calls coming in to #Birmingham 911 come from #wireless phones,” she tweeted. “It's a reminder that improving the location accuracy information that comes in with wireless emergency calls needs to be a #publicsafety priority.”

Consumer groups "strongly support" possible FCC use of a reassigned number database to help curb "the escalating problem of unwanted robocalls" while maintaining liability provisions. An "effectively created and managed database will significantly reduce the number of unwanted calls to consumers and will reduce liability under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) for callers," said early comments of the National Consumer Law Center and six other groups Tuesday, in docket 17-59 on a Further NPRM (see 1803220028). Comments are due June 7. Callers using the reassigned number database will "significantly reach their intended recipients more successfully," the groups said. "However, it is essential ... to maintain liability for robocalls to cell phones made without consent. Without this liability, callers will not have sufficient incentive to use the database, and all of the good work by the FCC will be for nothing. Liability for making wrong-number calls gives callers reason to spend the time or the money to check the database to ensure that they are calling only numbers for which they still have consent." Bandwidth cited concern about "gaps" in Secure Handling of Asserted Information using toKENs/Secure Telephony Identity Revisited (Shaken/Stir) call authentication. It said industry ability to distinguish "valid end-user originated traffic" from illegal robocalls "will hinge critically on the adoption of a set of Telephone Number Proof of Possession (TN PoP) standards and best practices." The IP-based wholesale provider "is concerned that without the industry’s simultaneous adoption of TN PoP standards, IP-enabled services that rely upon underlying carriers will risk being improperly discriminated against," said a filing on a meeting with FCC staffers.

NTIA Administrator David Redl blogged Wednesday the agency is looking for new ways to tabulate broadband data beyond FCC Form 477 reports. NTIA asked for comments by July 16 on how to enhance broadband data quality and accuracy (see 1805290031). The FCC said more than 30 percent of rural Americans live in areas without broadband, Redl wrote. “We know these gaps exist, but what we don’t know is precisely which areas of the country have insufficient broadband capacity. That makes it difficult to ensure that public investments in infrastructure are efficient and effective.” Form 477 data is “valuable, but the data is not independently validated or verified,” he said. “It is also reported at the Census block level, so that can lead to inaccuracies that overstate availability -- especially in rural areas where Census blocks are large.”

NTIA is seeking comments by July 16 on how to enhance broadband data quality and accuracy -- especially in rural areas -- and how to improve analysis of broadband availability, says a notice scheduled to appear in Wednesday's Federal Register.

Quicken Loans, the nation’s largest home mortgage lender, urged the FCC to provide more clarity on the agency’s interpretation and implementation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Earlier this month the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau sought comment (see 1805150014) and Quicken Loan officials met with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Brendan Carr on the notice, said filings in docket 18-152. “Quicken Loans (1) expressed the importance of a clear autodialer definition, which says dialing from a list does not institute an autodialer; (2) supported a safe harbor for a reassigned number database; and (3) discussed clear rules of the road, including designated snail mail, email, websites, and others, so consumers know how to opt-out of receiving calls,” said the company Thursday.

T-Mobile and Cox Communications cited 2018-2019 timelines for implementing Shaken/Stir call authentication standards targeting spoofed robocalling, and CenturyLink expects visible "impacts" beginning in 2019. T-Mobile plans "to commercially launch our STIR/SHAKEN network solution prior to the end of 2018," said a filing posted Friday in docket 17-59 on a discussion with FCC Chief Technology Officer Eric Burger and other staffers. "[W]e expect that by the end of 2019, all handset specifications will include the requirements necessary to support display of the STIR/SHAKEN verification result." It also noted its "Scam ID and Scam Block solutions" deployed in March 2017: "We believe these solutions are the best in the business, and our customers love them." Cox's "target date to begin to test SHAKEN/STIR for its residential customers is late 2018 to early 2019, with broader implementation" in 2019, said its filing on a discussion with agency staffers. CenturyLink cited the benefits of Shaken/Stir (Secure Handling of Asserted Information using toKENs/Secure Telephony Identity Revisited), its related efforts and "the company's and the industry's anticipated schedule for testing and deployment." CenturyLink believes "implementation and increasing deployment of these standards will benefit consumers, with impacts being visible beginning in 2019," said a filing on a discussion with agency staffers. Comcast (see 1805220014) and AT&T cited 2018-2019 implementation timelines, while Sprint cited hurdles (see 1805170018). FCC Chairman Ajit Pai accepted North American Numbering Council recommendations for creating a Shaken/Stir framework for VoIP service within a year and encouraging carrier implementation (see 1805140028).

The FCC set terms for access to sensitive information in its rulemaking to safeguard national security in communications (see 1804170038). An NPRM "seeks comment on a rule to prohibit, going forward, the use of universal service support to purchase equipment or services from any communications equipment or service providers identified as posing a national security risk to communications networks or the communications supply chain," said the Wireline Bureau protective order Wednesday in docket 18-89. On Capitol Hill, anti-ZTE efforts moved forward (see 1805230058).