T-Mobile told FCC staff from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics that T-Mobile Accessibility "would like to maintain and expand its IP relay offering" and "must be adequately compensated" to do so, said an ex parte posted Tuesday in docket 03-123. T-Mobile, which is the sole remaining certified IP relay provider, recommended adopting price cap regulation if not a ratemaking methodology based on a "modified version of the multistate average rate structure" (see 2112210045). It's "essential that the initial rate under a price cap system is set at a level that would give providers a fair opportunity to recover all of the costs incurred in providing IP relay service, along with an adequate operating margin," T-Mobile said.

AT&T and Northrop Grumman are joining on R&D into a 5G-based open-architecture offering that will connect a wide array of DOD distributed sensors and data, AT&T said Tuesday. Northrop Grumman CEO Kathy Warden at an Axios event Tuesday said the DOD's current architecture is numerous siloed platforms never designed to inter-communicate, and the joint work with AT&T is to create means for connecting them and allowing them to interface. She said there should be a prototype within a year, but implementation could take years.

Ariel completed its acquisition of 52.5% of video relay service provider Sorenson, the companies announced Monday (see 2203230044). The deal will "enable us to ... improve the overall Deaf and hard-of-hearing communication experience, and accelerate [research and development] and next-generation technology investments to promote functional equivalency across the diverse communities we serve," said Sorenson CEO Jorge Rodriguez.

Frontier asked the U.S. District Court of Connecticut for a default judgment against Mobi Telecom and its owner, Davinder Singh, on its claim that Singh and his company facilitated illegal robocalls, said a motion posted Tuesday in case 3:22-cv-00218 (see 2202090054). Mobi did "nothing to stop the robocallers from using its service, despite receiving notices and being fully aware of the fact that they are utilizing its networks," Frontier said, noting the company "has failed and refused to appear, plead or otherwise defend this action." Mobi Telecom couldn't be reached for comment.

The FCC plans its second virtual public hearing on consumer broadband labels on April 7 at 1:30 p.m. EDT, said a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau public notice Wednesday in docket 22-2 (see 2203110064). Speakers will include consumers, experts from nonprofit organizations, and academics, who will focus on "how to make the broadband labels useful" and the "specific information consumers need." The hearing will also focus on research on how consumers "interpret information and make informed decisions."

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Monday the FCC signed memorandums of understanding to share information and cooperate on robocall investigations with six more states and Washington, D.C. Rosenworcel wants agreements with every jurisdiction (see 2202170063). “The FCC and these state leaders share a common enemy: robocall scammers targeting consumers and businesses around the country,” she said. The agency reached agreements with Connecticut, Idaho, Kentucky, Minnesota, New Jersey and Wyoming.

The FCC’s Consumer Advisory Committee will meet virtually April 26, 1-3 p.m. EDT, the FCC said Friday. Among the topics will be a recommendation on consumer broadband labels, the FCC said.

The FCC Wireline Bureau extended through June 30 its waiver of Lifeline program document requirements for reverification, recertification, general de-enrollment, and income for subscribers in rural areas on tribal lands, said an order Friday in docket 11-42 (see 2203170030). The order noted this "will likely be the bureau's final extension of these waivers."

“While there is more work to be done,” the Cross-Sector Resiliency Forum has been a success two years after it started, representatives of CTIA, the Edison Electric Institute, NCTA and USTelecom told aides to FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks. The forum “continues to facilitate the sharing of service expectations and planning needs to enable better coordination during emergency and disaster events,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 11-60. The forum “plans to reconvene in late spring 2022 to assess progress” and “prepare for the 2022 hurricane and wildfire seasons.”

The FTC and Frontier will go to trial Sept. 6 on the agency's claim the telco misrepresented its DSL speeds to customers, pending the FTC's review of a proposed settlement Frontier presented, wrote U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Judge Gary Klausner in a Friday order in case 2:21-cv-04155 (see 2110040066). Frontier didn't comment on its proposed settlement. The case was originally scheduled to go to trial in July.