Public safety answering points (PSAPs) are getting their own Do Not Call list, as the FCC voted unanimously Wednesday to prohibit autodialing to 911 call centers. The move was directed by Congress in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012. The new rules will impose penalties of up to $100,000 per unwanted call, and up to $1 million for disclosing the numbers contained in the registry. Chairman Julius Genachowski said he expects the order will save lives. “Getting a busy signal when calling 911 is simply unacceptable, and some telemarketers make that happen,” he said. “In emergency situations, minutes -- even seconds -- matter."

The U.S. delegation to the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) includes representatives from top U.S. technology companies, including AT&T, Apple, Facebook and Verizon, according to a list of 95 members of the delegation released at delegation leader Terry Kramer’s request (http://xrl.us/bnup6h). Delegates to WCIT, which is set to begin Dec. 3 in Dubai, will decide how to revise the treaty-level International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs), which have not been updated since they were first adopted in 1988.

The FCC approved on a 5-0 vote a settlement between AT&T and Sirius XM that opens the door for the carrier to deploy LTE in 30 megahertz of spectrum in the 2.3 GHz wireless communications service band. Wednesday’s order ratifies an agreement worked out by the two companies and unveiled in June (CD June 19 p1), on the sharing of the band between WCS and the satellite digital audio radio service.

Career FCC staff, trying to finish media ownership rules, are set to release statistics on ownership of all U.S. radio and TV stations to include those results in the forthcoming draft order, agency officials said. They said the Media Bureau may release, as soon as Thursday, aggregate information on what Form 323 biennial ownership reports say about who holds various classes of broadcast licensees. That data from 2009 and 2011 -- to be presented in aggregate form for the first time and after delays releasing it -- would then update the record, agency officials said. Bureau staff appear to be nearing an end to drafting the quadrennial media ownership order that was due to have been finished in 2010, agency officials told us this week.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski largely claimed victory Wednesday on commission efforts to curb so-called “wireless bill shock” without imposing new rules, saying the top U.S. carriers are now offering alerts. But commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel said the FCC needs to keep regulation alive as a possibility.

The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau issued three waivers of new FCC accessibility rules, an order released by the bureau Monday said (http://xrl.us/bnui3c). The NCTA, CEA and Entertainment Software Association (ESA) each sought waivers of certain elements of the new advanced communications services (ACS) accessibility requirements that were set to become effective Oct. 8, 2013. The CGB order granted each waiver but set an earlier expiration date than the parties had sought.

The top FCC staffer dealing with satellite issues was frustrated with GPS companies’ complaints about interference LightSquared’s wholesale wireless broadband service would cause to their devices, an internal email released by the House Commerce Committee Tuesday said. The 70-plus pages cover 2009 to 2011, including emails among FCC staff. An email among Wireless Bureau Chief Ruth Milkman, International Bureau Chief Mindel De La Torre and other staff shows that the FCC was interested in drafting an order on LightSquared’s application Dec. 20, 2010, a day before the FCC voted on net neutrality rules.

An FCC briefing on industry progress in meeting the goals of a Oct. 17, 2011, agreement on curbing bill shock will say more work remains to be done on the part of industry, commission officials said Tuesday. They said the FCC will also find that the four major carriers have met an initial goal of offering alerts on two of four possible notifications: For data, voice, messaging and international roaming overage, by Wednesday’s deadline. Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff are to brief commissioners. The report was a last-minute addition Tuesday to the FCC’s Oct. 17 meeting agenda (http://xrl.us/bnujah).

So-called patent trolls and the patent wars are high-profile indicators of problems in the way the U.S. handles its own technology patent process and resulting litigation, industry experts said Tuesday. While the experts said at an Advisory Committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus event that such problems exist, they did not agree about how severe those problems are.

The former affiliate of a now-liquidated carrier brought lawsuits to a third state this week. Transcom Enhanced Services sued the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, AT&T Wisconsin, TDS Telecom and another 54 defendants. Transcom filed the complaints Monday in U.S. District Court in Madison. It’s brought similar complaints to courts in Tennessee, filed in July, and in Georgia, this month (CD Oct 15 p9).