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.
The biggest disagreement over how to prevent 911 outages centers on whether new FCC regulations, industry standards, best practices, state and local regulation or just better service contracts are the answer, APCO said in reply comments to an FCC NPRM released after an April 2014 multistate 911 outage. “To some extent, the answer is ‘all of the above,’” APCO said. Initial comments were filed at the agency in March (see 1503240049) on the November NPRM. In October, the FCC released a report on the outage. Reply comments were posted this week by the FCC.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau ordered China-based Shenzhen Tangreat Technology to show cause why certification shouldn't be revoked for a device it offers as a Part 15 Class B computing peripheral for preprocessing data. The device is also an illegal cell-signal jammer, the bureau alleged Tuesday. “We take this action based on evidence that Shenzhen apparently misrepresented to the Commission the equipment to be marketed and sold under the Disputed Authorization,” the bureau said. “Instead of the approved use, Shenzhen apparently marketed and sold jammer equipment, in violation of Sections 302(b) and 333 of the Communications Act of 1934.” In November 2010, agents from the bureau’s Atlanta Field Office examined a unit of the TxTStopper, manufactured under the certification, installed in a vehicle owned by Just Driver Training, a driver’s education training school in Canton, Georgia, the bureau said. “Tests conducted by the agents indicated that the TxTStopper was in fact a cellular/PCS jamming device and that, when installed in a vehicle, the TxTStopper was capable of blocking cellular communications initiated from both inside and outside of the vehicle, apparently including 9-1-1 and other emergency calls,” the bureau said.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau said Monday it reached a $16 million settlement with CenturyLink and a $1.4 million settlement with Intrado Communications over the companies’ roles in the April 2014 multistate 911 outage. The FCC found in October that the outage, which affected seven states and resulted in more than 6,600 emergency calls not reaching public safety answering points (PSAPs), stemmed from a software error at an Intrado 911 call processing center in Englewood, Colorado (see 1410170057). The bureau said it calculated the fines against CenturyLink and Intrado based on the number of PSAPs served by the companies.