OMB approved for three years information collection associated with the FCC's 2023 mandatory data collection for incarcerated people's communications services, said a notice for Thursday's Federal Register. Responses to the data collection are still due Oct. 31 (see 2309130056).
Sorenson is negotiating an agreement with GlobalVRS to transfer its remaining default video relay service customers as GlobalVRS exits the VRS market, the company told the FCC in a letter posted Wednesday in docket 03-123. Sorenson sought a waiver of the requirement that it provide a 30-day notice to customers still using GlobalVRS as their default provider, saying GlobalVRS "provided multiple notices to its remaining customers" and strict compliance with this rule could cause a gap in service for some users. The provider also noted it filed a second petition seeking a four-month waiver of the "first come, first served" rule so DeafBlind VRS users' calls can be routed to "the next available video interpreter who has the required equipment and is qualified and ready to offer DeafBlind VRS."
NTCA asked the FCC to reconsider parts of its July order establishing an enhanced alternative connect America cost model (ACAM) program, saying "greater clarity and resolution" would "help promote informed election of the offers by a greater number of potential recipients" (see 2307240064). The group asked in a petition for reconsideration Monday that the commission reconsider how it validates information in the broadband data collection and broadband availability map when "determining whether a given entity in fact qualifies as an unsubsidized competitor." It also asked that enhanced ACAM recipients be given a "limited opportunity to rescind its election" if its support amount "drops by a material amount due to subsequent findings" and to align deployment time frames with NTIA's broadband, equity, access and deployment program.
Iconectiv told the FCC it "remains neutral" since its parent company Ericsson acquired Vonage last year. The company, which is currently the local number portability administrator (LNPA), said it was also "prepared to discuss enhanced requirements that could be put in place" should the commission determine "additional reassurance" was necessary in a meeting with Wireline Bureau and Office of General Counsel staff, per an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 95-116. Somos asked the FCC to refer iconectiv's request to confirm it still meets LNPA neutrality requirements last year (see 2202080085).
The FCC Wireline Bureau on Wednesday denied a petition from a coalition of providers seeking a waiver of rules requiring facilities-based small voice service to fully implement Stir/Shaken in the IP portions of their networks. The providers sought various extensions from 30 to 60 days. All IP-based providers were required to comply with the rule by June 30 (see 2306300041). Petitioners didn't show there were "insufficient periods of time to complete the necessary tasks or that the reasons they cite for failing to timely comply were unique or unforeseeable," the bureau said in an order in docket 17-97.
Responses to the FCC's mandatory data collection for incarcerated people's communications services are due Oct. 31, said a Wireline Bureau public notice in docket 23-62 (see 2307270056).
Frontier will relocate its headquarters to Dallas, the company announced Wednesday. The company projected the move will "boost the local and state economy by $3.8 billion" and it will spend about $1 million weekly to "upgrade and improve its fiber-optic network in the Dallas metropolitan area." The move "makes good business sense given the city is already home to hundreds of our corporate employees and sits in the middle of one of our most important fiber markets," said CEO Nick Jeffery. Frontier noted it will still "maintain a strong presence" in Connecticut following its relocation.
A coalition of FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction winners pushed back on WTA's opposition to an emergency petition for additional RDOF support, citing a "perfect storm and tidal waves of massive cost increases," in reply comments posted Friday in docket 19-126 (see 2307280064). "WTA is fundamentally and profoundly wrong that the massive broadband construction cost-increases now faced by the RDOF winners were somehow foreseeable at the time bids were submitted in the RDOF Phase I auctions," the coalition said. The group argued additional support should be allowed for winners where "there was an extraordinary and unprecedented event that results in exponential price increases," such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau awarded more than $1.2 million Wednesday in its final round of funding through the affordable connectivity program's tribal competitive outreach program (see 2303150058). The new funding will support five tribal organizations, said a public notice in docket 21-450. The funding was limited to governmental and nongovernmental tribal entities that will do outreach and enrollment assistance to eligible households on qualifying tribal lands.
The FCC Wireline Bureau temporarily waived its number aging rule for residential customers in states affected by Hurricane Idalia, in an order Tuesday in docket 99-200 (see 2309010070). The partial waiver applies to companies that provide service in affected areas within Florida and South Carolina and expires June 3.