FCC Chmn. Martin will propose a new Public Safety/Homeland Security Bureau to “coordinate public safety, national security and disaster management activities within the FCC,” he said at the FCC meeting in Atlanta. “The Bureau will develop policies and rules to promote effective and reliable communications for public safety, national security and disaster management,” he said.
Broadband video services would be federally regulated but local authorities authorized to assess franchise fees up to 5% of gross revenue, under a draft of the House Commerce Committee telecom update bill released Thurs. The bill would put VoIP services, broadband video services and “broadband Internet transmission services” (BITS) under federal regulatory authority. House leaders who worked on the legislation -- Committee Chmn. Barton (R- Tex.), ranking member Dingell (D-Mich.) Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Upton, ranking Subcommittee member Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Pickering (R-Miss.) -- agreed on the discussion draft Wed. and began distributing copies to members Thurs., House sources said.
Negotiations failed between the wireless industry and public safety on E-911 wireless location accuracy rules, a public safety group told the FCC. The issue has sparked a huge fight, with public safety advocating application of the requirements at a local community level, and industry pushing for statewide application. After months of negotiations, “an impasse has been reached and the parties appear to agree that further negotiations are unlikely to reach an agreement,” said Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials International (APCO).
With 3 months left in the first session of the 109th Congress, public safety groups urged the govt. to make first responder communications a priority. “The Katrina disaster demonstrates once again the critical need for robust, interoperable radio communications for public safety personnel,” said Assn. for Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) in a letter to members of Congress obtained by Communications Daily. “Don’t let another session end without a clear resolution to help improve first responder interoperable communications.”
VoIP providers say more customers have acknowledged they understand the limits of VoIP-provided E-911 service but the Sept. 28 deadline probably won’t see 100% customer response, as the FCC ordered. The Commission’s VoIP E-911 order (CD May 20 p1) required providers to educate consumers on the lack of full E-911 capability and to get formal acknowledgments from customers that they understand. Late last week, more than 80 providers filed progress reports, with some reporting 90% or higher compliance.
The FCC conditionally granted a TracFone Wireless petition seeking forbearance from a rule barring firms that don’t own facilities from participating in the agency’s “Lifeline” low-income support program. TracFone has said it needs the forbearance to be designated an ETC to get Lifeline support, since it provides service entirely on a resale basis. Tues. was the deadline for the FCC to act.
The FCC’s E-911 order was an important step in regulating E-911 services for VoIP providers, but legislation is needed to ensure public access to emergency services, witnesses said Thurs. in prepared statements at a Senate Commerce Committee field hearing in Great Falls, Mont. “It is important that we move quickly,” said Sen. Burns (R-Mont.). “This is a problem which we need to fix very soon.” Burns, who presided over the hearing, is sponsor of a bipartisan bill (S-1063) introduced in May (CD May 19 p1) that would mandate E-911 access for VoIP providers. The bill, which would provide liability relief for emergency call-takers, would require a national plan for implementing next generation E-911 systems.
ATIS said it completed local service migration guidelines for wireline-wireless number porting. This month, an ATIS working group will start looking at another tricky matter: Porting numbers to and from VoIP phones. The ATIS number porting guidelines followed almost a year of weekly meetings: “It has been a tremendous problem. There weren’t any rules,” said Joe Scolaro, an ATIS mgr. who chaired the working group: “We tried to simplify the entire process, put it in an easy to understand document… It allows companies to have one process that they follow, and they all understand the other person’s process. Everybody agreed that if we follow this process we'll have the smooth transition of customers from the losing company to the winning company.” Scolaro said ATIS started examining porting issues when CLECs complained about problems porting numbers back and forth with ILECs. The guidelines were developed by a group representing ILECs, CLECs, wireless carriers and vendors, ATIS said: “The resulting guidelines provide clear step-by-step direction for various local service migration scenarios, including directory listings, local number portability, emergency services such as 911… basic data services and a variety of bundled and unbundled service arrangements.”
A Senate Commerce Committee field hearing on E-911 and VoIP issues is set for today (Thurs.) in Great Falls, Mont. Witnesses include National Emergency Number Assn. Pres. David Jones, Vonage CEO Jeffrey Citron, Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials’ Wanda McCarley, 911 Institute Exec. Dir. Greg Rohde, Intrado Chmn. George Heinrichs, CenturyTel Gen. Mgr. Jeremy Ferkin, Mont. Dept. of Administration Dir. Janet Kelly, Blackfoot Telecom Gen. Counsel Bill Squires and Mont. PSC Chmn. Greg Jergeson.
BellSouth and rural LECs faced power losses, flooding and possible structural damages Mon. from hurricane Katrina. Telephone companies said efforts to assess damages in hardest hit La. and Miss. were hampered by the strength of the slow-moving storm. Meanwhile, outages were reported throughout the 2 states.