Questions about the security of using non-U.S. satellite constellations to supplement GPS in determining wireless 911 caller locations and privacy concerns related to phone functionality during a 911 call will require further debate, industry executives said Wednesday during a panel at NARUC’s meeting. Nebraska Public Service Commissioner Tim Schram asked what cybersecurity measures U.S. carriers should take if they use non-U.S. global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). NARUC Telecom Committee Chairman Chris Nelson, chairman of the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission, asked whether Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functionalities on cellphones should automatically be enabled when someone calls 911.
Jimm Phillips
Jimm Phillips, Associate Editor, covers telecommunications policymaking in Congress for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications News in 2012 after stints at the Washington Post and the American Independent News Network. Phillips is a Maryland native who graduated from American University. You can follow him on Twitter: @JLPhillipsDC
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said he's hopeful the commission will move soon on an order allowing state agencies access to the Network Outage Reporting System (NORS) database, the subject of one of two resolutions (see 1502050039) that NARUC’s Telecom Committee approved Tuesday. The committee unanimously approved a resolution urging the FCC to grant state agencies access to the NORS database in response to a November 2009 petition from the California Public Utilities Commission.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler struck back against “ill-informed” criticisms that his draft net neutrality order would institute a 1930s-level regulatory structure on broadband. He said during NARUC’s winter meeting in Washington Tuesday that his order would use a “modern version” of Communications Act Title II. The FCC is expected to vote 3-2 Feb. 26 for the net neutrality order, which would reclassify broadband as a Title II service. The draft order would forebear from 27 of Title II’s 38 sections, which Wheeler said was almost four times the seven Title II sections that the FCC forbore from when it crafted mobile voice rules under Title II and Telecom Act Section 332 following enactment of the 1996 Telecom Act. CTIA, where Wheeler was president when he backed forbearance of regulatory sections in Title II for wireless carriers, has said it will join other industry groups in suing the FCC over the new net neutrality rules (see 1502130049). CTIA President Meredith Baker is to speak during a Wednesday NARUC session.
Industry executives praised the FCC’s new 911 wireless indoor location accuracy rules as a well-balanced compromise during an FCBA event Thursday, and FCC Public Safety Bureau Deputy Chief David Furth called the order a “watershed order” on 911 location accuracy. The rules the FCC adopted 5-0 last month were a compromise from an earlier draft order circulated by Chairman Tom Wheeler, with the final order putting additional emphasis on the industry-public safety road map’s concept of dispatchable locations. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn concurred with the rules despite concerns they were weaker than a February 2014 NPRM (see 1501290066).
President Barack Obama signed a cybersecurity executive order Friday to encourage cyberthreat information sharing between the private sector and the government and to effectively concentrate that sharing at the Department of Homeland Security. “There’s only one way to defend America from these cyber threats, and that is through government and industry working together, sharing appropriate information as true partners,” he said. The order represents an important step on improving cybersecurity, but isn't as far-reaching as a 2013 executive order that resulted in the production of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Cybersecurity Framework, industry executives and lawyers told us.
Emergency communications, the IP transition and net neutrality are expected to be the main telecom issues discussed at NARUC’s meeting in Washington, state officials and industry observers told us. The meeting is to unofficially begin Friday and run through Wednesday, with Telecom Committee sessions to begin Monday. The Telecom Committee is considering two resolutions, including one that would urge the FCC to continue collaborating with state utility regulators on issues included in the commission’s November IP transition NPRM. The other telecom resolution would seek expedited FCC approval of a 2009 petition from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for state regulators to get state-specific access to the commission’s Network Outage Reporting System (NORS) (see 1502050039).
Verizon’s proposed sale of its wireline assets in California, Florida and Texas to Frontier Communications will face scrutiny from the FCC and two state utility regulators. The $10.54 billion deal, announced last week, is expected to double Frontier’s customer base (see 1502060059). The FCC didn’t comment. Verizon plans “to file at the appropriate regulatory agencies in due course, and we expect to close the transaction in the first half of 2016,” a spokesman said.
Local governments need to continue closely following changes to the cable franchising model that are likely to accelerate with continued growth in over-the-top services, NATOA President Tony Perez said Monday during a webinar. Recent OTT developments like the HBO Go service and Dish Network’s Sling TV service (see 1502090025) show that long-forestalled changes to the cable franchising model are beginning to take hold, and that “the pace of change is likely to accelerate over the next couple of months,” said Perez, director of Seattle’s Office of Cable Communications. A 2014 Seattle survey indicated cable subscribership in the city had dropped 13 percent in the preceding four years, with the rise in OTT options being seen as a primary factor, he said.
Verizon’s proposed sale of wireline assets in California, Florida and Texas and its plan to lease or sell more than 11,400 cell towers show the telco is continuing to increase its focus on its wireless business, industry analysts said Friday. Verizon said Thursday that it would sell its wireline assets in three states to Frontier Communications for $10.54 billion. The deal would add 3.7 million voice connections, 2.2 million broadband connections and 1.2 million FiOS video connections to Frontier, essentially doubling the company’s size. Verizon said it reached a deal with American Tower to lease the rights to 11,300 of Verizon’s towers and sell 165 more. The telco also announced a $5 billion accelerated share-repurchasing program (see 1502050059).
Washington, D.C., safety officials and Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Interim General Manager Jack Requa said their agencies are working to increase testing of public safety radios in the wake of a Jan. 12 incident near WMATA’s L’Enfant Plaza Metrorail station in which first responders found their radios didn’t work properly during the rescue of passengers from a smoke-filled tunnel. D.C. Councilmen Jack Evans and Kenyan McDuffie, both Democrats, said during a D.C. Council hearing Thursday that they're seeking further answers on the incident, in which one passenger died and 84 others went to area hospitals. The incident has also attracted scrutiny from Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and other D.C. area members of Congress (see 1501230066 and 1502030055). All area public safety agencies have radio infrastructure throughout the Metrorail system independent of WMATA’s infrastructure and are responsible for testing their own equipment, Requa said. WMATA is working with local agencies and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments to “put in place formal protocols and procedures for regular radio testing with sharing of results and prompt action to correct deficiencies,” he said. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration also is taking immediate steps to improve radio communication connectivity, said Acting Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Kevin Donahue. Bowser has directed the city’s Office of Unified Communications, which is responsible for maintaining all of D.C.’s public safety radios, to conduct weekly radio tests in all Metrorail stations within city limits. Tests during the week of Jan. 19 found radios failed in nine Metrorail stations, while testing the following week found a failure in one station, Donahue said. The city’s Fire and Emergency Medical Services (FEMS) Department also issued improved protocols for communication between first responders when radios aren’t working properly, he said. Representatives for unions associated with WMATA and public safety agencies indicated that public safety radio connectivity is often intermittent in the Metrorail system, with D.C. Firefighters Association President Ed Smith saying it “remains to be seen” if FEMS’ recent encryption of its radio channels played a role in the communications failures at L’Enfant Plaza but noting the union has continually opposed encryption. First responders routinely encounter problems with radio connectivity in many large facilities in D.C., including federal buildings, Smith said. D.C. Councilwoman Mary Cheh, a Democrat, said she believes the radio problem in federal buildings “needs to be corrected” quickly.