A fiber cut at one of Comcast's backbone network providers led to video, broadband and voice outages, Comcast tweeted Friday. It believes the cut also affected other providers. The cable ISP didn't comment on questions seeking more details. CenturyLink's Level3 tweeted its network was "operating normally." Online outage tracker Outage Report showed widespread Comcast outages Friday afternoon across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic.

The FCC Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council approved working group reports on the "Transition Path to NG911" (here) and "Re-imagining of Emergency Alerting" (here) at a meeting Friday. Working Group 1's next-generation transition report includes analysis and recommendations of best practices for enhancing the migration from legacy 911 systems, said Budge Currier, branch manager of the California Governor Office of Emergency Services, presenting highlights. He said the report also deals with cybersecurity issues. "Read the report -- there's a lot of good information in there," he said. Working Group 1 received FCC approval to continue to review best practices and identify gaps that could be filled, with a target of reporting back by December, and no later than spring 2019, he said. Dorothy Spears-Dean, public safety communications coordinator of the Virginia Information Technology Agency, said the group is developing a report on the small carrier NG-911 transition for the Sept. 28 CSRIC meeting. Working Group 2's report made a series of recommendations for emergency alerting mechanisms, including on technical enhancements, improved geographic targeting to devices, and improving alert usefulness for people with hearing or vision disabilities, said Farrokh Khatibi, Qualcomm director-engineering, showing highlights. "It's really important we take care of everyone." Drew Morin, T-Mobile director-federal cyber security technology and engineering programs, presented an update on Working Group 3's efforts to deliver in September best practices and recommendations to secure wireless 5G networks.

The FCC adopted new telecom relay service provider compensation rates for the funding year beginning July 1 and set a $1.5 billion budget for the TRS fund with an industry contribution factor of 2.8 percent of applicable telecom revenue. The new per-minute provider compensation rates "for interstate TRS,1 shall be: (1) for traditional TRS, $3.2592; (2) for speech-to-speech relay service (STS), $4.3902; and (3) for captioned telephone service (CTS), $2.0007," said a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau order Friday in docket 03-123. It said the rates were based on the recommendations of the fund administrator RolkaLoube Associates and the agency's review of the relevant data. The per-minute compensation rate for internet-based TRS will be "for Internet protocol (IP) CTS, $1.75" and "for IP Relay, $1.40," the order said. The per-minute rates for video relay service providers are divided into tiers based on minutes of use: Emergent (1st 500,000 monthly minutes) for VRS providers with 500,000 or fewer minutes in a month, $5.29; Tier I (1st 1,000,000 monthly minutes) for VRS providers with more than 500,000 minutes in a month, $4.82; Tier II (1,000,001 to 2,500,000 monthly minutes), $3.97; and Tier III (monthly minutes exceeding 2,500,000), $2.83."

A Norwalk, California, man was arrested Friday in Los Angeles for allegedly threatening via email in December to kill FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s family, according an affidavit (in Pacer) filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and a DOJ release. Markara Man was said to have told police he was angry over the net neutrality rollback order when he sent the emails, one of which included the addresses of Arlington, Virginia, area preschools and the words "I will find your children and I will kill them.” Man is charged with “threatening to murder a member of the immediate family of a U.S. official with the intent to intimidate or interfere with such official while engaged in the performance of official duties,” DOJ said. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, DOJ said. Man sent three emails total to Pai, on Dec. 19 and 20, DOJ alleged. The first accused Pai of being responsible for children that committed suicide over repeal of Communications Act Title II broadband regulation. “Their blood is forever on your hands,” the email said. The second was the list of preschools, and the third contained no text but a photo of Pai that included a framed photograph of his children in the shot, the affidavit said. Man allegedly later told police he found this image on Google,. The emails were traced by the FBI to an email address used by Man and his home. When the FBI executed a search warrant there in May, he admitted to sending the emails, using his phone and the email handle “stubblemanliness” to conceal his name and sound “tougher” the affidavit contended. Man told the FBI he was angry about the net neutrality move because "'they pretty much ignored, like, 80 percent of comments ... they ignored 'us,' and just didn't care," the affidavit said. When asked if he was trying to scare Pai to change his mind, Man said "pretty much," the affidavit said. Man was said to have told the FBI he "was not really thinking" and was "just angry and frustrated." Man wrote an apology letter to Pai admitting that threatening his children was “crossing the line,” adding he hoped Pai would change his mind on net neutrality, but doubted he would. The FCC declined to comment.

AT&T Mobility must pay a $5.25 million fine and make internal process changes after suffering 911 outages in March and May last year on the carrier’s Voice over LTE service (see 1703230075), the FCC said Thursday. “Such preventable outages are unacceptable,” the agency said as the Enforcement Bureau settled its investigation about possible legal violations in a consent decree. AT&T agreed to “implement proactive system changes to reduce the likelihood and impact of future 911 outages, improve processes for notifying 911 call centers of any future outages, ensure reliable 911 call completion, and regularly file compliance reports with the FCC,” the FCC said. The investigation found AT&T’s planned network changes “inadvertently interfered” with 911 call routing, resulting in failed calls by 12,600 people on March 8 last year and 2,600 failed calls on May 1, 2017, the agency said. During the March outage, AT&T failed to “quickly, clearly, and fully notify all affected 911 call centers,” it said. AT&T acted to prevent a repeat incident, a spokesperson said: “Providing access to emergency 911 services is critically important, and to that end we cooperated with the FCC.”

Time isn't a luxury broadcasters have on ATSC 3.0, FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said in remarks to broadcasters at the Midwest Next-Gen TV Summit in Ohio. “If you are a broadcaster sitting on the fence on whether to implement ATSC 3.0, you should be worried that the fence may no longer exist if you take too long to decide,” he said Wednesday, adding that tech companies also are competing for advertisers and consumers. O’Rielly made a similar point at ATSC’s conference last month (see 1805240056). He praised 3.0 capabilities such as targeted ad insertion and mobile television, and the work of broadcasters. “Saying this will only fuel my Internet and Twitter trolls, who suggest that I epitomize regulatory capture, but you have earned the right to be thanked,” he said. O’Rielly praised T-Mobile efforts to aid some broadcasters in the post-incentive auction repacking process. “They have been doing some heavy lifting that has taken problems off the commission’s plate,” O’Rielly said. “Hopefully, others will follow their lead.” O’Rielly said lack of tower crews and other repacking resources could create big problems for the repacking starting in phase three. O’Rielly also touted the draft kidvid NPRM, the result of an effort he's leading (see 1806260067). “As an attempt to bring a balanced, thoughtful reform approach forward, the commission recently made public an effort to breathe additional flexibility into our rules,” O’Rielly said. He understands a small portion of youth lack access to options other than broadcasting, he said. Broadcasters need to weigh in, he said. “My plea to you and to every interested party is to file substantive comments.”

Satellite carriers and government regulators should protect broadcast services’ access to the upper part of the C-Band, said the World Broadcasting Unions’ position, approved by the WBU’s secretaries and directors general. “The potential allocation of C-Band FSS [fixed satellite services] spectrum to Mobile Services will create chaos to the economics of broadcasting by satellite, potentially interrupting services to audiences around the world,” the WBU said in the paper posted Wednesday. “C-Band is critical for satellite services in tropical regions as it suffers less from the attenuation effects of heavy rainfall than higher frequency bands.” WBU members experienced “serious interference” where this spectrum was opened up to other users, the paper said. The availability of the C-Band should be protected “where the band has been allocated to satellite services and is currently used to provide many broadcasting services,” WBU said.

Top U.S. priorities at the ITU plenipotentiary meeting this fall in Dubai include improved ITU transparency and management, and avoiding a global regulatory framework for emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and IoT, said FCC International Bureau Multilateral and Regional Affairs Branch Chief Kelly O’Keefe at an FCBA event Wednesday. Roxanne McElvane Webber, bureau deputy chief-global strategy and negotiation division, said the U.S. has waged "a big campaign [with] big people behind it" for Doreen Bogdan-Martin, chief of ITU’s Strategic Planning and Membership Department, to be elected ITU telecommunication development sector secretary. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and NTIA Administrator David Redl have endorsed her (see 1803130029). McElvane Webber said broadband investment globally outside the U.S. is principally mobile, with "a very, very pronounced disparity" by gender in uptake. She said the division wants and is trying to promote more formal talks with industry about what companies are finding in different countries and international regions. O'Keefe said that, like the U.S., numerous countries are trying to extend broadband networks to remote and rural areas, though methods of doing so vary. She said other countries also are following how the U.S. approaches 5G deployment issues such as spectrum availability and infrastructure. She said the division also fields a lot of questions from other countries about over-the-top regulation, though the FCC doesn't do that.

VoIP and text messaging should be classified as "interstate, information services, freeing them from unnecessary federal and state requirements," FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly told the Cloud Communications Alliance Tuesday night, according to remarks posted Wednesday. "Both services are extremely popular with consumers and businesses, and there is abundant competition both from legacy providers and new over-the-top players to meet the market’s needs. Nonetheless, both services continue to be the target of what I’ve called regulation by analogy." FCC failure to classify VoIP as an information service while subjecting it to some telecom regulation "only served to encourage mission creep by prior Commissions and regulatory ambitious states," some of which are trying to regulate VoIP, he said. A Minnesota case "is being litigated in the courts, and I appreciate that the Chairman and Office of General Counsel were willing to work with me on an amicus filing explaining the legal and practical problems with Minnesota’s approach," he said, lamenting that the agency "must divert staff resources to stamp out efforts that are contrary to the law and common sense." Charter Communications is squaring off with the Minnesota regulator (see 1806120026). O'Rielly said more deregulatory efforts are needed, including in a biennial review of telecom rules to be launched later this year. He said there are areas where the FCC needs to be proactive, including freeing up spectrum for commercial use in high-band and mid-band frequencies. "My focus has not only been on concluding the so-called Citizens Band Radio Service at 3.5 GHz, but also reallocating the C-Band spectrum for additional wireless uses," he said. "This will provide large slices of spectrum for licensed services at 3.7 to 4.2 GHz, while permitting us to allow unlicensed services at 6 GHz. After some initial resistance internally and externally, it is great to see everyone come around to this line of thinking."

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's effective retirement could alter court leanings, given his frequent swing votes, but the impact on communications law is unclear, attorneys told us Wednesday. The court said Kennedy will shift from active to senior status July 31. "This is a momentous development for the nation, but I don't think this has significance for communications law in the near term," emailed Andrew Schwartzman, senior counselor at Georgetown Law’s Institute for Public Representation. Others called Kennedy a strong defender of free speech rights and noted he authored indecency and other media rulings. Citing recent 5-4 decisions and new Justice Neil Gorsuch, National Religious Broadcasters CEO Jerry Johnson urged President Donald Trump to once again nominate "a Constitution-honoring individual in the mold of" late Justice Antonin Scalia. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., also sought a nominee similar to Gorsuch. But Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member, called Kennedy a "pivotal and important" justice, and said no consideration of a replacement should be considered until after the November election. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., respected Kennedy's "independence," even when they disagreed, and urged Trump to "abandon his 'short-list' of far-right" nominees. Among those issuing statements commending Kennedy were Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa (here); Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a former Judiciary chairman (here); Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio (here); and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. (here).