A nationwide test of the emergency alert system will be Aug.11 at 2:20 p.m. EDT, said the Federal Emergency Management Agency in a letter to the FCC posted Tuesday in docket 15-94. The test will be originated using the legacy primary entry point system rather than the internet based common alerting protocol, a format similar to the last test, in 2019. “The public should be aware that full message text and multilingual messaging will not be available due to the over the air message delivery and relay used in this system of EAS message dissemination,” FEMA said. Along with the EAS test, FEMA will issue a wireless emergency alert test, “targeting only cell phones where the user has opted-in to receive WEA test messages.” The back-up date is Aug. 25.
Verizon said the FCC should take its time on a 2.5 GHz auction, the next expected 5G auction after 3.45 GHz, in comments posted Tuesday in docket 20-429. Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel says further action will be clear after comments. T-Mobile, viewed as the most likely bidder among major carriers (see 2009180029), seeks a 2021 airwaves sale. About 8,300 geographic overlay licenses will be on the block. “Oddities related to the existing licensing structure still need to be resolved before the Commission can hold a successful 2.5 GHz auction,” Verizon said: “The exact spectrum that will be made immediately available will vary from license to license. The Commission is overlaying licenses on top of approximately 2,000 existing licenses, almost all of which are subject to active spectrum leases -- the terms of which are not public.” Even still, the swath remains of interest to national carriers looking for 5G spectrum, the company said. “Meaningful licensing” here “has been suspended for nearly 30 years” with much of the frequencies “particularly in rural areas, lying fallow,” T-Mobile said. Then-Chairman Ajit Pai had proposed a single-round, sealed-bid auction design rather than the more traditional simultaneous multiple round (SMR) format. Commissioners OK’d 5-0 an NPRM in January seeking comment. “Employ familiar and time-tested auction procedures” T-Mobile urged: “Not only is an SMR auction well understood by the Commission and bidders alike, but it would also allow bidders to engage in price discovery, which is the hallmark of what makes an auction economically rational and the touchstone for sincere bidders.” T-Mobile wants SMR because it would gain an advantage, AT&T said. “T-Mobile has already leased large portions of the spectrum at issue from the underlying [educational broadband service] licensees, and thus all other potential bidders know that T-Mobile has a compelling interest in obtaining these overlay licenses to fill out its existing position,” AT&T said: SMR “would be fundamentally uncompetitive, and would essentially hand most of the spectrum to T-Mobile at rock-bottom prices.” It would take months to play out, meaning a prolonged quiet period, AT&T said. Verizon supports SMR, saying a single-round auction is “antithetical to the Commission’s longstanding goals of allocating spectrum based on fully transparent market principles." A single-round approach would “deter auction participation, including by the smaller bidders the Commission believes may benefit,” UScellular warned. SMR auction promotes “price discovery” as over rounds, the carrier said: “While bidders can garner some publicly-available valuation information prior to an auction, this limited information cannot serve as a reasonable substitute.” The Competitive Carriers Association urged a prompt auction and SMR design.
As the FCC considers tougher secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) and signature-based handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) rules (see 2104290082), major carriers said they’re protecting customers from unwanted calls, in filings mostly posted Monday in docket 17-59. Banking and other groups warned that rules should ensure calls customers want still get through, in response to the Governmental Affairs Bureau request for input for its second call blocking report. "Customers are harmed when their banks’ outbound calling numbers are mislabeled, or calls from those numbers are blocked, because they may not receive lawful calls affecting their financial health,” the American Banking Association said: “It is critical for customers that these calls be completed without delay.” Incompas heard reports that call blocking is being used “on a more regular basis to block or divert legitimate traffic,” and said it “repeatedly raised concerns that call blocking could be used to erect barriers to competition and discriminate against competitive providers and their legitimate use cases.” Industry is “making great progress protecting consumers from unwanted robocalls” but “robocallers continuously deploy new tactics,” Verizon said: The company is seeing “a concerning increase in a new ‘dual seizure’ technique that bad actors use to efficiently insert millions of messages daily into nonconsenting consumers’ voice mailboxes without the calls ever causing the consumers’ devices to ring.” T-Mobile had a drop in robocalls a year ago, possibly because the pandemic closed some call centers. “Once calls resumed, new scams targeting subscribers purporting to relate to COVID-19 testing, vaccinations, unemployment insurance and stimulus checks arose,” T-Mobile said, noting its call blocking tools help. FCC efforts “have empowered AT&T to better protect its network and customers from illegal and unwanted robocalls,” the company said: “AT&T blocks illegal robocalls consistent with the Commission’s orders and has integrated the STIR/SHAKEN verification results into its call blocking analysis.” NCTA noted major cable operators adopted Stir/Shaken. “Policy advancements, industry investments in call authentication, blocking and labeling, and traceback, and aggressive law enforcement collectively are impacting the landscape,” said USTelecom: “No single initiative alone will solve the problem of illegal and unwanted robocalls, but each step makes an incremental difference.”
Vice President Kamala Harris and acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel compared the push by President Joe Biden’s administration for universal broadband connectivity to the 1936 Rural Electrification Act. Biden tasked Harris Wednesday with leading the push for the $100 billion broadband spending component of the administration’s infrastructure proposal (see 2104290076). White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Thursday “this is something that was important to [Harris], that she wanted to take on specifically.” Rural electrification “was one of the great examples of the role of responsibility of the federal government to meet the needs of the people where they are and to invest in America in a way that we will be competitive,” Harris told reporters after a Friday event in Cincinnati. “Broadband is the next example.” Regardless "of who they vote for, with which party they registered, that's what [people] want,” Harris said. “That's what they want to see their government focus on.” Lawmakers “in the 1930’s decided that instead of waiting for the electricity divide between urban and rural areas to fix itself, they would do something about it, and they passed the Rural Electrification Act,” Rosenworcel wrote Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., on April 12 and published Friday. “This history is also a reminder that we can help build infrastructure and make change with the right policies in place. We did this with rural electrification, and we can do it again with bold action to connect all to broadband.” Policymakers “need to consider new policies to get 100 percent of us connected to broadband nationwide,” as the FCC opens up the $3.2 billion emergency broadband benefit (see 2104290085), Rosenworcel said.
Citing "extraordinary circumstances," FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel on Friday released a draft order for the $7.17 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund. The draft would adopt several proposals sought by education advocates and trade groups but excludes wireless providers' bid to include smartphones (see 2104060042). Rosenworcel thanked Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr's "encouragement to share a draft with the public." Ex parte presentations on ECF are prohibited after Wednesday at 6 p.m. EDT, said a public notice in docket 21-93. Rosenworcel says commissioners will likely vote on the rules by mid-May (see 2104140041). The program would mirror existing E-rate rules for eligibility and includes tribal libraries. Schools and libraries aren't required to be existing E-rate participants to apply, but entities not eligible for E-rate support won't be eligible for ECF. The draft puts Universal Service Administrative Co. in charge of administering funds. USAC will issue funding decision commitment letters for 50% of workable applications within 60 days after the first application window closes, 70% of workable applications within 100 days. Schools that bought services and equipment during the pandemic will be given priority in the first window, with any remaining funds awarded during a second one. USAC would make public pricing data for eligible services and equipment to put applicants in a "better bargaining position." Participating providers wouldn't be required to have eligible telecom carrier designation to contract with a school or library. The draft doesn't exclude providers participating in the emergency broadband benefit program from providing services through ECF. The draft lists Wi-Fi hot spots, modems, routers, combined modem-router devices and connected devices as eligible equipment. The commission defined connected devices as "laptop computers and tablet computers that are capable of connecting to advanced telecommunications and information services." Smartphones were excluded because they "lack the full functionality students, school staff, and library patrons need." There's limited exception for network construction because "in some instances, there is simply no commercially available service for purchase available to reach students, school staff, and library patrons in their homes." The document doesn't set minimum service standards. Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition Executive Director John Windhausen, while backing the quick turnaround in a statement, was "disappointed that the draft order does not provide schools and libraries more flexibility" and doesn't "grant SHLB's request to waive a rule to let schools and libraries extend service from their buildings to surrounding households."
The FCC announced that the emergency broadband benefit program starts May 12 (see 2102250066). “Help is around the corner” for families that have been “struggling to get online throughout this pandemic,” said acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel Thursday. EBB got "off the ground in record time.”
Increasing diversity is good for business, said acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and others told the FCC Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment. The virtual event Wednesday was to educate diverse business owners and provide networking opportunities in the communications industry. Diversity also is “a moral imperative,” Rosenworcel said. “Inclusion isn’t expensive, exclusion is,” said Internet Association CEO Dane Snowden. Doing business with minorities is “good for business, good for the economy, and promotes global stability," said Edith McCloud, acting national director of the Commerce Department's Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA). New entrants, minority-owned businesses and smaller businesses face barriers for large government contracts, speakers said. There’s an “upswing” toward consolidation in procurement contracts, said Tony Crescenzo, president of government contractor Intelligent Waves. Smaller companies should align themselves with bigger companies, he said. Increasingly stringent cybersecurity requirements could freeze out smaller businesses, said Major Clark, acting chief counsel at the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy. More contracts went to small businesses from companies than from the federal government, said Angela Washington, an MBDA business development specialist. AT&T requires suppliers include diverse businesses in their subcontracting, said Executive Director-Supplier Diversity Jalayna Bolden. Legislation stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and focused on broadband infrastructure could provide an avenue for training, “upskilling” and more money to flow to diverse businesses, said Jonathan Adelstein, president of the Wireless Infrastructure Association: “The industry needs to include diversity as part and parcel of what they do.” Grant programs are available to minority-owned businesses involved in building broadband networks, but they must demonstrate their businesses will remain viable when grant money dries up, said Scott Woods, senior broadband specialist at NTIA’s BroadbandUSA program. The FCC and other federal agencies should "examine existing engagement strategies for including minority business enterprises in current and future procurement opportunities," Washington said in the event chat window.
Parties disagreed on terrain-based models, such as the Longley-Rice irregular terrain model (ITM), to determine available TV channels for white space devices, in replies on an October Further NPRM (see 2010290051), due Monday in FCC docket 20-36. The Wireless ISP Association sought the change. “By now, the Commission should feel confident that it can permit white space database administrators to utilize the point-to-point Longley-Rice irregular terrain model for determining white space channel availability for fixed white space devices without increasing the risk to incumbent operations,” Microsoft said. NAB still disagrees (see 2103290052). Don’t “adopt additional changes that threaten television reception, particularly considering this unlicensed technology has produced few tangible results in the thirteen years since the Commission first authorized [white spaces] operations,” NAB said. BitPath agreed further revisions are “wholly inappropriate” now. The FCC just made “sweeping changes” to the rules, including a 60% increase in power levels and a doubling of antenna height for some fixed devices, “as well as substantial power increases for mobile devices, and authorized a new class of narrowband IoT” devices, BitPath said: “Making further changes to the … rules without the benefit of knowing the real world impact of the recent changes would be imprudent.” But NAB’s initial comments “overstate the potential for harmful interference to protected TV broadcast stations, understate the public interest benefits of using the ITM, and are outweighed by the record,” WISPA said: “The Commission should require the TV white space administrator to add the ITM as an option for TV white space users following Commission testing to confirm the ability of the database to implement the ITM without causing harmful interference to protected TV station facilities.”
Free Press urged the FCC to “comprehensively reexamine the sufficiency” of the wireless resiliency cooperative framework and whether it should remain voluntary, in comments posted Tuesday in docket 11-60. Wireless commenters defended the framework. The FCC has the opportunity to better understand communications failures after disasters by asking questions now, Free Press said: “The agency must fill in the massive gaps in its knowledge of the impact of the hurricanes and the underlying causes of outages in Puerto Rico in 2017, and trace those same kinds of failures through several devastating California wildfire seasons and other disasters." A "flexible, voluntary approach remains the best paradigm for advancing wireless network resiliency,” CTIA countered: “There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution to resiliency, and there should be no one-size-fits-all mandate or metric to assess the efficacy of efforts.” Voluntary efforts are working, said the ATIS. American Tower said: “Improving network resiliency requires evaluation of individual communications sites and collaboration between industry stakeholders and policymakers.” That networks performed well during the pandemic shows their resilience, AT&T said, citing its "substantial investments in network resiliency” and work with stakeholders. Each disaster “is unique in terms of cause, geography, consumer and network impact, and severity,” Verizon said: “Providers’ networks themselves vary based on geography, technology choice, and available resources.” T-Mobile commented: “Although wireless networks are not immune from the destructive effects” of natural disasters, “wireless carriers continuously are taking steps to prevent outages and ensure ... reliability and resiliency.”
Education advocates and industry groups disagreed whether the FCC should allow retroactive reimbursements and set technology standards for schools and libraries in the $7.1 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund (see 2104140041). Replies were due Friday in docket 21-93. Schools that "made the decision earlier on to invest in connectivity for remote learning" should be reimbursed for purchases since the pandemic's onset, said Incompas. AT&T said retroactive payments would put schools that couldn't afford that at the "back of the line," a view echoed by the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. Prioritizing retroactive reimbursements would help "most likely more well-off schools and libraries," said ACA Connects (see 2104120052): It "should only be allowed for eligible purchases that have not been funded by any other source." USTelecom and NTCA agreed. Reject calls to allow ECF funding for self-provisioning, said Verizon: "Because self-provisioning requires large upfront expenditures, the schools receiving" that support "would consume a disproportionate share of the ECF and leave too little support for other schools." WTA agreed: This would lead to "substantial delays in the availability of eligible services that are needed immediately." Self-provisioned networks are the "most cost-effective" for students without residential broadband, said groups including New America’s Open Technology Institute, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, Center for Rural Strategies and Public Knowledge. Avoid minimum service standards because "there is no consensus on the appropriate capacity needed for remote learning," said the Wireless ISP Association: "To narrow the fund’s scope to include only those services offering certain broadband speeds could have the unintended consequence of penalizing students who live in areas" with slower speeds. NCTA and GCI Communication agreed. CTIA said questions about "adequacy of mobile broadband for remote learning are unsupported by the record and flatly contrary to the experience of millions of students during the pandemic." The Competitive Carriers Association, T-Mobile and UScellular said similar. Defining "connected device" should be done in a "flexible, technologically neutral way," said Apple.