The House and Senate passed long-awaited spectrum legislation on Friday as a “pay-for” in the payroll tax cut extension bill. President Barack Obama praised the bill and was expected to sign it into law. The spectrum law (CD Feb 17 p1) authorizes the FCC to conduct voluntary incentive auctions, a recommendation from 2010’s National Broadband Plan. It also sets up national public safety wireless broadband network ten years after one was recommended by the 9/11 Commission.

The FCC’s VoIP outage reporting order will impose rules fairly analogous to the obligations facing traditional TDM voice services, industry and agency officials said Tuesday. The order, scheduled for a vote at Wednesday’s FCC meeting, will limit VoIP outage reporting requirements to hard outages of a company’s own interconnected VoIP services, the officials said. A “hard outage” refers to calls that, once originated, cannot be terminated.

The FCC is seeking comment on the costs of its proposal to extend the Disaster Information Reporting System to include interconnected VoIP providers and broadband ISPs, said a notice set to appear in Tuesday’s Federal Register. DIRS is a voluntary, Web-based system that carriers can use to report infrastructure status during a crisis. “In recent years, communications have evolved from a circuit-switched network infrastructure to broadband networks,” the notice said. “Increasing numbers of consumers, businesses, and government agencies rely on broadband and interconnected VoIP services for everyday and emergency communications needs, including vital 9-1-1 services. It is therefore imperative that the Disaster Information Reporting System be expanded to include these new technologies in order for the Commission to gain an accurate picture of communications landscape during disasters.” The FCC is slated to vote on an order extending outage reporting to interconnected VoIP service providers at its meeting Wednesday.

Congress should help upgrade 911 call centers in payroll tax cut extension legislation, said the four House and Senate co-chairs of the Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus. They sent a letter Monday to chairmen of the House-Senate conference working on the extension. Call center language was included in the House spectrum bill and subsequently the House payroll tax cut bill (HR-3630). “In fulfilling the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation for a nationwide, interoperable broadband network for first responders, it only makes sense that we equip 9-1-1 call centers with the same modern tools needed to improve the quality and speed of emergency response,” the 911 caucus co-chairs said.

Research In Motion promotes Thorsten Heins to president-CEO and board member; Former co-Chair and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis becomes vice chair of RIM’s board and chair of the board’s new Innovation Committee; Former co-Chair and co-CEO Jim Balsillie remains a member of the board … Motricity names Richard Stalzer, ex-Education Dynamics, president-mobile marketing and advertising … CBS sportscaster James Brown adds responsibility as senior adviser to Black Heritage Network … New board members at Next Generation 9-1-1 Institute: John Chiaramonte, Booz Allen; Jerry Eisner, RedSky Technologies; Woody Glover, St. Tammany Parish, La.; Todd Piett, Rave Mobile Safety; Art Prest, consultant; Alisa Simmons, Tarrant County, Texas … Maura Cope promoted to vice president, Me-TV Network … Megan Pollock departs CEA to join DKC Public Relations in Washington as vice president, policy communications … Donny Osmond to keynote NAB Show radio luncheon April 17 in Las Vegas.

Small cable operators sought limits on reporting VoIP service outages (CD Nov 23 p6). The American Cable Association discussed how the FCC should apply a threshold that commission staff have floated to require disclosing outages of at least 30 minutes affecting 900,000 user minutes. An ACA executive met with officials in the Public Safety Bureau about a rulemaking notice on broadband service interruptions. A “general VoIP subscriber outage that prevents subscribers from making any outbound calls, including to 9-1-1 calls, that lasts at least 30 minutes and affects 900,000 user minutes” should not need to be reported in as short a period of time as if special 911 facilities were involved, the ACA said. The group said it understood commission staff to say that distinguishing between such general and 911 facility outages isn’t necessary under current Part 4 rules. It said staff suggested that the agency must “ensure that it did not adopt a reporting requirement which did not clearly delineate when VoIP providers must report outages within 4 hours of discovery and when they would be afforded 24 hours after discovery to file their report.” The association’s filing was posted Friday in docket 11-82 (http://xrl.us/bmozib).

House Democrats will likely offer an amendment to reallocate the 700 MHz D-block when the House Communications Subcommittee marks up spectrum legislation, said Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. Eshoo and Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., co-chairs of the Congressional E-911 Caucus, also advocated their next-generation 911 bill (HR-2629) during a visit Friday morning to Washington’s 911 call center. The legislators hope their bill to fund NG911 will be included in the comprehensive spectrum bill, Eshoo said.

House Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo will seek reelection in 2012, the California Democrat said Monday. First elected to Congress in 1992, she'll run in the recently redrawn 18th district. Eshoo said in a statement that she'll “fight for affordable, reliable broadband and preserving a free and open Internet” and is “committed to providing our first responders with a nationwide, interoperable communications network and improving our 9-1-1 call centers."

There’s no reason to expand telecom outage reporting mandates from traditional phone service to VoIP, broadband and backbone service providers, said all corporate filings to the FCC. There are major differences between outages on public switched telephone networks (PSTN) and on broadband and other newer networks, associations and companies said. But states said such outage reporting is needed, given increasing reliance on VoIP to make calls instead of circuit-switched phone networks, and because Internet networks carry calls to 911. The FCC proposed (http://goo.gl/09KYY), amid concerns of Commissioner Robert McDowell, to extend Part 4 rules to ISPs, backbone services and VoIP for outages of at least a half-hour (CD May 13 p9). Comments were posted Monday and Tuesday in docket 11-82 (http://goo.gl/boqUK).

Next-generation 911 legislation was reintroduced in the House last week by Congressional E-911 Caucus Co-Chairs John Shimkus, R-Ill., and Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. The bill, only slightly different from HR-4829 in the previous Congress, would upgrade 911 call centers nationwide and toughen penalties for states that divert 911 funds for other purposes. The bill (HR-2629) was referred to the House Commerce Committee. Shimkus said he will work with Commerce Committee and Communications Subcommittee leaders to make “sure our 911 call centers have the necessary technology to offer services the American people expect.” Eshoo said, “As Congress prepares to invest in a nationwide, interoperable broadband network for first responders, it makes sense that we equip 9-1-1 call centers with modern tools … to improve the quality and speed of emergency response."