The FCC Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau will tackle issues in the video relay service (VRS) industry, wireless accessibility for the disabled and consumer billing protections, speakers said a Wednesday meeting of the agency’s Consumer Advisory Committee. “We have a constant stream of relay issues,” said Karen Peltz Strauss, deputy bureau chief. “It’s just an enormous number of issues that have been pending that we're going to be trying to resolve … specifically improving services for groups that have not really been as much on the radar, like speech-to-speech relay services and the deaf-blind.” A current inquiry “is designed to take a fresh look at relay services,” including the compensation methodology (CD June 29 p4), she said. It will be followed by a rulemaking and an order, which will stretch into a lot of the year, she said. “We're kind of on a fast track on this because we need to get everything resolved in time for the relay providers to submit their cost data.” A wireless accessibility workshop in May gave disabled consumers the opportunity to express the problems they were having in accessing wireless phones, Peltz Strauss said. “The goal is to make sure that Section 255 rules, which require wireless phones to be accessible to people with disabilities, is implemented to a greater extent than it has been in the past.” An update of Section 255 is aimed at extending its “application to Internet-based services and equipment,” and it’s “ a little bit mired in the commission’s efforts to extend rules to certain Title II provisions,” she said. To address consumer needs and protections, the bureau has issued a public notice to combat bill shock (CD May 12 p8) and is reviewing comments submitted in response to a rulemaking notice on rule changes for robocalls (CD June 22 p6), said Deputy Bureau Chief Yul Kwon. An Office of Native Affairs and Policy and a Native Broadband Task Force will be created this year to further the effort to expand broadband access on tribal lands, he said. Consumer choice and robust competition is the best way to protect consumer interest, said Commissioner Robert McDowell. In the market, “consumers have actually more choices in the last mile now more than ever before,” especially in the wireless market, he said. The FCC needs to press forward with the unlicensed use of TV white spaces to increase the amount of last-mile consumer choice, McDowell said. This will “help resolve a lot of policy disputes and challenges.” He said Title III of the Communications Act “allows broadcasters to lease portions of their spectrum today.” To optimize the benefit of the Universal Service Fund for low-income consumers, the Federal State Joint Board is reviewing issues surrounding the Lifeline and Link-up programs (CD May 5 p10) , said Irene Flannery, a Wireline Bureau deputy chief. The issues were referred to the joint board by the FCC due to changes in the marketplace and technology, she said. The issues involve mainly eligibility, like electronic verification and duplicate claims, she said. “With the advent of new technology, there is the possibility that a consumer … could be using the discounts on more than one line.”
The FCC Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau will tackle issues in the video relay service (VRS) industry, wireless accessibility for the disabled and consumer billing protections, speakers said a Wednesday meeting of the agency’s Consumer Advisory Committee. “We have a constant stream of relay issues,” said Karen Peltz Strauss, deputy bureau chief. “It’s just an enormous number of issues that have been pending that we're going to be trying to resolve … specifically improving services for groups that have not really been as much on the radar, like speech-to-speech relay services and the deaf-blind.” A current inquiry “is designed to take a fresh look at relay services,” including the compensation methodology, she said. It will be followed by a rulemaking and an order, which will stretch into a lot of the year, she said. “We're kind of on a fast track on this because we need to get everything resolved in time for the relay providers to submit their cost data.” A wireless accessibility workshop in May gave disabled consumers the opportunity to express the problems they were having in accessing wireless phones, Peltz Strauss said. “The goal is to make sure that Section 255 rules, which require wireless phones to be accessible to people with disabilities, is implemented to a greater extent than it has been in the past.” An update of Section 255 is aimed at extending its “application to Internet-based services and equipment,” and it’s “ a little bit mired in the commission’s efforts to extend rules to certain Title II provisions,” she said. To address consumer needs and protections, the bureau has issued a public notice to combat bill shock and is reviewing comments submitted in response to a rulemaking notice on rule changes for robocalls, said Deputy Bureau Chief Yul Kwon. An Office of Native Affairs and Policy and a Native Broadband Task Force will be created this year to further the effort to expand broadband access on tribal lands, he said. Consumer choice and robust competition is the best way to protect consumer interest, said Commissioner Robert McDowell. In the market, “consumers have actually more choices in the last mile now more than ever before,” especially in the wireless market, he said. The FCC needs to press forward with the unlicensed use of TV white spaces to increase the amount of last-mile consumer choice, McDowell said. This will “help resolve a lot of policy disputes and challenges.” He said Title III of the Communications Act “allows broadcasters to lease portions of their spectrum today.” To optimize the benefit of the Universal Service Fund for low-income consumers, the Federal State Joint Board is reviewing issues surrounding the Lifeline and Link-up programs, said Irene Flannery, a Wireline Bureau deputy chief. The issues were referred to the joint board by the FCC due to changes in the marketplace and technology, she said. The issues involve mainly eligibility, like electronic verification and duplicate claims, she said. “With the advent of new technology, there is the possibility that a consumer … could be using the discounts on more than one line.”
On June 28, 2010, Representative Owens (D) introduced1 H.R. 5619, which would amend the SAFE Port Act to provide for the eligibility of certain non-asset based third party logistics providers (3PLs) to participate in the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program.
The Foreign Agriculture Service issued the following GAIN reports:
The FCC, as expected, approved the transfer of spectrum licenses covering 79 markets in 18 states from Verizon Wireless to AT&T, fulfilling a condition imposed on Verizon by regulators when it acquired Alltel in 2008. Commissioner Michael Copps said the order highlights the “continuing unacceptable state” of telecom service in most of Indian country.
GTA Telecom urged the FCC to extend Lifeline Link-up support to all insular areas, including Guam, the telco said in a filing. “GTA’s cost of providing services is greater than other mainland or tribal lands.” A tropical climate “with frequent typhoons and mountainous and rocky topography further creates higher than average construction costs for its customers,” the telco said.
As Paul’s TV expands a store-within-a-store format with furniture retailers, it has run into a roadblock in Michigan. The dealer launched the concept in 2008 at five-store Living Spaces Furniture in the Los Angeles area and added four-store Jordan’s Furniture in Massachusetts last year. But a similar agreement with 30-store Art Van Furniture brought conflict with ABC Warehouse, which shares many strip malls with the furniture dealer.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau looks to be on a “fishing expedition” in asking all of Fox’s 200-plus affiliates for information on a January episode of American Dad that drew indecency complaints, a lawyer with broadcast clients said late Thursday. “Apparently determined to make the already murky area of indecency regulation even murkier” in sending letters of inquiry (LOI) to so many, the bureau set “many hooks in the water” and “the FCC is obviously hoping to land a couple of big ones,” Howard Weiss wrote on the blog of Fletcher Heald. The LOIs didn’t document that the agency got any complaints about any station other than KDFW Dallas, cited in an earlier letter to Fox Television Stations, he said. Industry executives have expressed concern about that, saying it’s not usual bureau practice (CD July 18 p9).
The idea of mapping telephone numbers to Internet Protocol addresses on the public Internet flopped but e-numbering (ENUM) technology is evolving into a key -- and lower cost -- way for mobile and fixed telecom carriers to route calls, sources said. The plan to have telephone numbers resolve in e.164.arpa faltered for several reasons, but carriers increasingly use ENUM telephone number translation to send calls within their own networks or to other providers’ networks, they said.
The idea of mapping telephone numbers to Internet Protocol addresses on the public Internet flopped but e-numbering (ENUM) technology is evolving into a key -- and lower cost -- way for mobile and fixed telecom carriers to route calls, sources said. The plan to have telephone numbers resolve in e.164.arpa faltered for several reasons, but carriers increasingly use ENUM telephone number translation to send calls within their own networks or to other providers’ networks, they said.