Verizon agreed to pay $1.4 million to the U.S. Treasury to settle an FCC inquiry into the quality of its network outage reporting. The FCC said wireline communications providers are supposed to notify the agency electronically within 120 minutes of discovering an outage of at least 30 minutes that could affect at least 900,000 minutes of service or impact other important services such as 911 facilities. Verizon also agreed to set up a compliance training program for employees and create a warning system to alert employees if they enter incomplete information into the company database “in a way that may interfere with Verizon’s ability to identify and report a… network outage.” Verizon had neglected “in a limited number of instances, as a result of human error,” to file outage reports on time, a Verizon spokesman said. The company said it since has set up the compliance program that includes a “rigorous training program.” The FCC initiated the investigation in May 2006.

Broadband loan programs for rural communities would be refocused to serve areas less populous than they now cover, according to draft legislation reauthorizing the five-year farm bill. Many House Agriculture Committee members praised the bipartisan draft bill as debate began Tuesday on the massive measure covering renewal of dozens of food programs. The broadband provisions are new; they have bipartisan support, it appears from members’ opening statements.

State regulators at their summer meeting advanced four more telecom policy resolutions, on numbering, broadband data collection, IP relay fraud and broadband over power line cost accounting. The Telecom Committee of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) decided against resurrecting a fifth policy matter, a controversial resolution narrowly defeated by its staff subcommittee that would have urged that federal Universal Service Fund reforms be neutral regarding providers and technologies.

Congress should build 911 awareness nationwide with a “National 9-1-1 Education Month,” said Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D- Calif.). Congressional E-911 Caucus co-chairs Eshoo and Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) Thursday unveiled H.R. 537, which would designate one month each year to educating Americans about 911 services through events, ad campaigns, school presentations and parent and teacher training. The bill aims especially at children, seniors, the hearing-impaired, those with limited English and other “vulnerable populations,” said Eshoo. Its passage would reduce inappropriate 911 use and stress on the 911 system from technological change, said Gregory Rohde, executive director of the E-911 Institute. The bill is a “silver bullet” in a comprehensive E-911 approach, Eshoo said. Along with 16 House cosponsors, the bill has backing by the E-911 Institute, National Emergency Number Association, National Association of State 9-1-1 Administrators, Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, CTIA, 9-11 for Kids and Comcare. Those groups have adopted resolutions designating April for the 911 campaign.

Spacenet introduced a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, Connexstar Digital Phone, as part of its Connexstar satellite video and broadband service, it said. Connexstar Digital Phone is designed for backing up landline phone service and for remote locations and mobile command centers, said Spacenet. Local phone number assignment and number portability are available, as are mobile 911 services, it said. Connexstar’s digital phone service is available full-time or on-demand, with a monthly fee and per-minute charges for calls terminating outside the Connexstar network, Spacenet said. Digital phone can be combined with either the SkyEdge Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) or with the Cisco Internet Protocol Satellite Network Module. Digital phone differs from standard VoIP by not using the public Internet, said Spacenet. Instead, it uses Spacenet’s private satellite infrastructure, it said. Special “voice-only channels” are set aside for the digital phone service, Spacenet said. Connexstar services are based on technology developed by Gilat Satellite Networks, it said.

Wireless carriers warned the FCC it is pushing too hard for stricter standards for E-911 location accuracy. Carriers said they would not be able to meet identification requirements using current technology if measured by public safety answering point (PSAP), as requested by the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO). The CTIA, the Rural Cellular Association, and AT&T called for a special committee to examine the feasibility of stricter E-911 location standards, in responses to a rulemaking the agency approved at its May meeting (CD June 1 p2).

New Jersey and Pennsylvania saw action on VoIP preemption bills. The New Jersey legislature passed a bill to prohibit the Board of Public Utilities or any other state agency from regulating VoIP or any other IP-enabled telephone service, except in 4 very limited areas. If enacted, HB-4339 would limit state VoIP jurisdiction to 911 fees, telecom relay service fees, universal service fund contributions and intercarrier compensation. The bill makes clear that VoIP preemption wouldn’t affect the state’s authority over cable TV franchises. A similar VoIP preemption bill was introduced in the Pennsylvania Senate. SB-1000 would prohibit the Public Utility Commission or any other state agency from regulating VoIP except with respect to 911 fees, telecom relay service fees, universal service fees and intercarrier compensation. Supporters said VoIP needs a free playing field to encourage investment and promote growth. The FCC preempted state regulation of VoIP-to-VoIP calls but hasn’t yet ruled on VoIP-to-wireline calls.

The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) denied a request by AT&T and Cox Telecom for oral hearings on a revised decision imposing $40,000 fines on each carrier for unlawful ex parte communications last year during a complaint case related to the carriers’ obligation to keep 911 alive on disconnected phone lines. The companies (Case 05-11-011) said January revisions to the original June 2006 order effectively rewrote the ex parte ban, expanding it to include generic discussions of issues raised in particular complaint cases. The PUC disagreed with the carriers’ interpretation of the language and said nothing new is likely to emerge from oral hearings.

A New Jersey Senate committee advanced a bill (SB-2777) that would bar state control of VoIP services except in very limited areas. The bill would deny state agencies regulatory jurisdiction over VoIP service except for 911 fees, telecom relay service fees, universal service fund assessments and intercarrier compensation.

State consumer advocates urged state regulators to form a database to track telecom carriers engaged in scams. The National Assn. of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA), meeting this week in Denver, said it will form a task force to help states set up the database, needed to identify scammers’ ever-changing names and ties to other carriers. “States are often unable to collect fines or penalties, or compel refunds or other restitution, because the offending telecommunications carrier simply ceases its operations,” said a NASUCA resolution approved at the meeting. Carriers engaged in wrongdoing often have links to other carriers that have been the subjects of enforcement actions. Knowing the corporate links can help states enforce consumer protection laws, NASUCA said. The NASUCA task force would advise state PUCs on database development, including: (1) The database’s contents and the agencies that should have access to them. (2) The extent of ownership or control triggering accountability for an affiliated company’s actions. NASUCA also resolved to: (1) Lobby Congress to bar phone companies from raising basic phone rates to subsidize new video services. (2) Push the FCC to investigate “wireless industries’ justification for early termination fees” (ETFs), including what costs the fees are meant to cover. “Consumers using wireless telephones continue to face significant penalties, typically amounting to $150 to $240 per customer, for deciding to drop a service during a contract term,” NASUCA said. Since the FCC approved ETFs in 1992, “the wireless market has changed radically, expanding to over 219 million subscribers,” the group said. (3) Seek a national requirement for access to 911 service from any home wireline phone, including those belonging to consumers who don’t subscribe to local service. “While all wireless companies are required to provide 911 service to inactive customers, the ability to access this critically important feature from any traditional home telephone rests in the hands of individual states,” NASUCA said. (4) Demand that PUCs investigate phone companies under their jurisdiction “to determine whether customer records and calls are being unlawfully monitored and disclosed.”