The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs and Public Safety bureaus' joint workshop Aug. 27 on promoting wider accessibility and increased use of the emergency alert system (EAS) (see 1508040030) will have three sessions, hear from Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and Public Safety Bureau Chief David Simpson, and include state and local officials, the FCC said in a public notice. The workshop will include a panel on ways to improve alert accessibility, such as synchronizing EAS audio and visual crawls, with Christian Vogler, director of Gallaudet University's Technology Access Program; Lillian McDonald, managing director of Twin Cities Public Television/Echo Minnesota Partnership; Charles McCobb, a program manager of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS); and Zainab Alkebsi, policy counsel at the National Association of the Deaf. A panel on promoting EAS use will be Jay English, APCO director-Comm Center & 9-1-1 services; Wade Witmer, IPAWS deputy director; Steve Souder, director of Fairfax County, Virginia's Department of Public Safety Communications; and Suzanne Goucher, Maine Association of Broadcasters CEO. The 1 to 4:30 p.m. workshop will be in the commission meeting room and streamed live at the FCC website. To register: John Evanoff, Public Safety Bureau attorney, at john.evanoff@fcc.gov or 202-418-0848.

The FCC issued its IP technology transition order and Further NPRM Friday, fleshing out specifics of what commissioners adopted 3-2 Thursday (see 1508060044). The 179-page text sets “rules of the road” for telecom carriers retiring copper-based networks and services. The commission often agreed with competitive LECs and their allies and disagreed with incumbent LECs on basic policies, though it declined to accept various proposals of both CLECs and ILECs.

House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., lauded the actions the FCC took at its meeting Thursday. “This week the FCC took a series of important steps to free up valuable spectrum for licensed and unlicensed use; ensure access to 9-1-1 during power outages; and advance our country’s transition to an all-IP world in which competition, public safety and consumer protection are preserved,” she said in a statement Friday. “In preparing for the world’s first voluntary incentive auction, I commend the Commission for strengthening wireless competition and expanding the nationwide availability of unlicensed spectrum. Ultimately, success of this auction should be measured not just by the revenue raised but by achieving these core policy goals embedded in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012.”

Telecom carriers support streamlining network outage reporting rules, while opposing some FCC-proposed changes, replies in docket 15-80 indicate. AT&T, CenturyLink and Verizon said the FCC should make the Part 4 rules simpler and/or more targeted to maximize the production of useful information while limiting industry costs and burdens. But some carriers and groups voiced concern that various commission proposals could do the opposite: impose undue new burdens without yielding much useful information.

APCO told the FCC that, now that comments are in, it should move forward with the agency's proposal to end a requirement that nonservice-initialized (NSI) handsets -- cellphones no longer connected to a carrier network -- still must be able to connect to 911. In reply comments, carriers and public safety advocates lined up in opposition to dropping the requirement, largely as they had in the initial comment round (see 1506080043).

Next-generation 911 was a major theme when more than 2,000 met in Denver last week for the National Emergency Number Association's annual meeting, NENA said in a news release. “NG9-1-1 not only provides the capability to accept 9-1-1 text and multimedia messaging, but also enhances call routing and handling,” the group said. “In addition, NG9-1-1 allows for communications and data transfers across county, state, and international borders, and provides for interconnection and seamless information sharing between 9-1-1 centers, first responders, poison control centers, trauma centers, and other emergency response entities.”

CTIA opposed calls from the public safety community to eliminate a requirement that “nonservice-initialized” (NSI) handsets -- cellphones no longer connected to a carrier network -- still must be able to connect to 911, said comments filed at the FCC. Public safety officials sought the change seven years ago, complaining about prank calls to public safety answering points (PSAPs), often from teenagers, that can't be traced to the caller (see 0803050126). In April the FCC sought comment (see 1504020047) and proposed to sunset the rule after a six-month transition. Comments were due Friday in docket 08-51.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission extended comment and reply comment dates and pushed back a public hearing on possible revisions to its 911 rules in response to recent legislation and in response to recent events that affected 9-1-1 network reliability in Colorado, including recent catastrophic fires and floods, said a notice from the PUC mailed on Wednesday. The deadline for comments is June 25, with replies July 17. The public hearing is June 26, the filing said.

Google and other digital industry players have increased European lobbying spending, according to our review of public records and interviews with industry lawyers. And U.S. telecom companies each spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on European lobbying last year. Though it coincided with the digital single market (DSM) and "connected continent" debates, lawyers said it's unclear whether those policy debates caused increased high-tech lobbying spending. Lobbying registrations also are up.

The FCC Wireless Bureau established a pleading cycle on AT&T’s proposed buy of two cellular A-block licenses in two cellular market areas (CMAs) in Illinois from Cellular Properties Inc. Petitions to deny are due June 19, oppositions June 29 and replies July 7. “Our preliminary review indicates that AT&T would be assigned 25 megahertz of cellular spectrum in eleven counties covering all of CMA 400 (Illinois 7-Vermilion) and part of CMA 402 (Illinois 9-Clay),” the bureau said of cellular market areas. “Post-transaction, AT&T would hold 101 to 173 megahertz of spectrum in total, and 31 to 68 megahertz of below-1-GHz spectrum, in these two CMAs in Illinois.” The bureau also sent letters to both companies asking additional questions on the deal.