Industry disagreed on allowing use of session initiation protocol 603 as a permanent notification option for blocked calls, in comments posted Monday in docket 17-59 (see 2201040034). The code allows call recipients to block a call without identifying a reason. The FCC Wireline Bureau previously partially granted USTelecom’s request for reconsideration and clarification that SIP code 603 could be used during the transition to SIP codes 607 and 608 (see 2112150039).
The Florida Public Service Commission delayed adopting staff-recommended changes to draft pole attachment dispute rules Tuesday after AT&T suggested edits Monday. At a livestreamed PSC meeting, staff and electric companies objected to some parts of the carrier’s eleventh-hour filing to modify a staff agreement reached last week with the cable industry.
Senate Appropriations Commerce Subcommittee members pressed Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on how NTIA will administer the $48 billion under its control through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, during a hearing Tuesday (see 2201210083). "We need the FCC to produce its maps before we can even run the formula to figure out how much money each state has," Raimondo told members.
Low earth orbit (LEO) altitudes are becoming problematic or carry sizable risks due to orbital debris, experts told us. Increased attention and research is focusing on LEO carrying capacity. Viasat CEO Mark Dankberg said those orbital issues will become a major factor in where operators decide to put constellations. It could mean operators wanting the competitive advantage from those orbital altitudes will use cheap satellites with a relatively low consequence for failure, he said. "It's a race to the bottom."
Senate Commerce Committee leaders were hoping to meet with Senate leadership Tuesday or Wednesday to establish chips legislation negotiations, ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told us Tuesday. Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., addressed the possibility of moving to informal conference negotiations to speed up the process.
The Senate Commerce Committee will “probably” postpone planned Wednesday votes on Democratic FCC nominee Gigi Sohn and FTC nominee Alvaro Bedoya amid expectations that Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., would be unable to appear at the meeting after having a stroke, Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told reporters Tuesday afternoon. Also see our news bulletin. Sohn’s prospects of making it through the committee were already uncertain as a handful of uncommitted panel members kept mum about their intentions.
The FCC is “aware obviously of the need for telehealth” and “on the lookout” for what it can do to “more effectively assist with the development of telehealth” beyond the pandemic, said Nathan Eagan, acting deputy chief-Wireline Bureau Telecom Access Policy Division, during an FCBA webinar Monday. The agency’s order for round 2 of the COVID-19 telehealth program reflected the “input and discussions” from all commissioners on the “specific parameters,” Eagan said, noting audit procedures for round 2 are “still being discussed.”
Consumer and prison inmate advocates urged the California Public Utilities Commission to regulate video calling and other non-voice services used by incarcerated people to communicate with their families. But big inmate calling service (ICS) providers said Friday the CPUC can’t regulate those products because they're Title I information services under the 1996 Telecom Act.
The House Rules Committee will consider several telecom- and tech-focused amendments to the America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength Act (HR-4521) Tuesday, for a potential floor vote on the measure later this week. The measure mirrors some elements of the Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260), including $52 billion in subsidies to encourage U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturing (see 2201260062). Many proposed amendments aim to make changes to the chips language.
American Doreen Bogdan-Martin likely faces a tough election to become ITU secretary-general, facing a formidable challenger in Russian nominee Rashid Ismailov, a former Russian deputy telecommunications minister and former Huawei executive. ITU watchers told us Bogdan-Martin is in a strong position and has been consolidating support from around the world, but Ismailov is also mounting a robust campaign. Gerald Gross was the last American to hold that job, from 1960 to 1965. Bogdan-Martin would be first woman to be elected to the top spot at the ITU.