The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to consult with the city attorney Dec. 13​ in closed session on a proposed ordinance prohibiting landlords of multi-dwelling units from interfering with tenants’ choice of communications service providers. The board voted 9-1 Tuesday in favor of the motion for closed session on item 161110, said meeting minutes posted Wednesday evening. The Electronic Frontier Foundation supported the proposed ordinance in a Sunday blog post. “San Francisco is one of the few places in the United States with significant broadband competition, but many renters are barred from taking advantage of alternatives to large Internet service providers like Comcast and AT&T,” EFF wrote. “Many landlords agree to restrict tenants’ choice of ISP in exchange for kickbacks from the favored provider.”

Small LECs and a rural California country hit by outages supported a draft order on rural call completion issues under consideration by the California Public Utilities Commission. Cable companies urged the CPUC to do nothing and close the proceeding. Commissioner Catherine Sandoval wrote the proposed decision (PD) in docket I1405012, which may be considered at the Dec. 15 commissioners' meeting. In comments Monday, Mendocino County said evidence of service problems presented at a July hearing and seen since by rural customers "justify the PD making even stronger requirements for the Commission to adopt as they show a long-term pattern of service issues that lead to loss of dial-tone and 9-1-1 access." But the current PD is "an important step in the right direction" and a second phase of the proceeding will provide more time to address other issues, the county said. Calaveras Telecom and other rural LECs mostly supported the PD, saying it would address rural call completion issues raised by the small LECs. But they bristled at a proposal requiring carriers of last resort to report within 120 minutes of an outage of 300,000 user minutes that lasts at least 30 minutes -- a plan that Sandoval asked the FCC to consider (see 1612050050). The small RLECs urged the CPUC to reject the requirement, or at least modify time frames. For example, it’s not reasonable to require small carriers serving rural areas to quickly report outages that happen outside business hours, they said. The CPUC should qualify that, in that circumstance, carriers may report the outage 120 minutes after the start of the next business day, the small LECs said. Cox Communications and the California Cable & Telecommunications Association said the agency need not adopt new reporting requirements or keep the proceeding open to address other outage reporting issues. "The PD correctly finds that rural call completions issues have abated and in light of this finding, the PD should be modified to close this proceeding,” the cable companies commented.

A large majority of Americans remain unable to text 911 for help in emergency situations, but some local authorities continue to question calls to support SMS at public safety answering points (PSAPs), 911 officials said in interviews. The National Emergency Number Association is frustrated the rollout isn’t going faster, said NENA Director-Government Affairs Trey Forgety. “If everyone made a decision that text-to-911 had to be implemented before the end of the year 2017, it could be done easily.” Localities are sympathetic to the need for text-to-911 but worry there's not a sufficient business model to move forward, said Fire Chief Don Crowson of Arlington, Texas. “We’re not resistant. We’re concerned.”

Contenders for the House Commerce Committee chairmanship are making their cases to colleagues ahead of the GOP Steering Committee consideration later this month. Reps. Greg Walden, R-Ore., and John Shimkus, R-Ill., have long been seen as two leading candidates. Shimkus took another step Sunday to alert his colleagues to his interest. They and other lawmakers interested in the role told us this summer they see rewrite of the 1996 Telecom Act as a 2017 priority (see 1607220053).

Sharp Corp. adds to duties of Doug Albregts, who is named president-CEO, Sharp Electronics Corp., which manages Americas business; he succeeds Toshiyuki Osawa, and Albregts remains president, Sharp Imaging and Information Co. of America, which manages business-to-business operations ... LifeLock opens its first Washington, D.C., office with Kimberly Allman, ex-Corporation for National and Community Service, as vice president-government affairs and corporate social responsibility, leading LifeLock government affairs, among other initiatives ... USConnect Holdings promotes Deborah Rand to permanent CEO, USConnect Services and its seven properties ... Mishcon de Reya law firm names Joe Hancock, cybersecurity expert, cybersecurity lead ... Infoblox hires Bill McCarthy, ex-Cisco, as executive vice president-worldwide field operations.

The FCC must be aware of limitations faced by 911 call centers if it imposes a requirement that industry move from text telephone (TTY) to real-time text (RTT) technology, APCO said. The National Emergency Number Association backed a phased transition when the FCC took comments over the summer (see 1607270022). APCO said in a filing in docket 16-145 that its representatives and representatives of the National Association of State 9-1-1 Administrators met with FCC officials to discuss concerns. “RTT has the potential to enable faster, more robust text communications with 9-1-1 than TTY or SMS, but its support for implementation of RTT is contingent upon compatibility with TTY and existing IP-based solutions, to the extent Public Safety Answering Points have adopted them,” APCO said. “APCO also re-emphasized the need to ensure interoperability to avoid the challenge of integrating different solutions and interfaces.”

Wireless and public safety officials updated the FCC Public Safety Bureau on their joint progress toward meeting new requirements for wireless 911 location accuracy reporting. The agency released its fourth report and order on the subject in February 2015. “Parties discussed the template the carriers intend to use when reporting live 9-1-1 call data on a quarterly basis or upon request of a Public Safety Answering Point, as required by the Order,” said a filing in docket 07-114. Representatives of AT&T Mobility, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, CTIA, APCO and the National Emergency Number Association attended.

CTIA is raising concerns about the FCC’s proposed new rules for wireless emergency alerts, saying the agency must give industry ample time to adapt to any rule change. Commissioners vote on revised WEA rules at their Sept. 29 meeting (see 1609080083). Industry objections are raising at least some concerns among the commissioners, though it's unclear how much the rules will be tweaked before next week’s vote, agency and industry officials told us.

The National Emergency Number Association said the transition from text telephone (TTY) to real-time text (RTT) technology is critical, but the FCC should take into account concerns of 911 call centers. NENA recommended a phased rollout to address public safety concerns. Industry'smajor concern has been that the FCC not micromanage how carriers deploy RTT, but NENA raised another matter (see 1607260020).

NASHVILLE -- A growing number of public safety answering points support text-to-911, but there’s more work to be done, an FCC official said Monday at the NARUC Summer Committee Meetings. On the same telecom committee panel, a 911 analyst for the Colorado Public Utilities Commission said he has had to bust myths to convince PSAPs to support emergency SMS. In 2014, the FCC required all carriers to support text-to-911 nationwide, but it was left up to PSAPs and local jurisdictions when to support the capability.