Extending truth-in-billing (TIB) rules to cover interconnected VoIP and requiring voice providers separate government-mandated charges from other charges on bills is needless and potentially confusing to consumers, telecom interests said in docket 98-170 comments posted through Thursday. Not everyone agreed. Replies on the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs public notice are due March 13. USTelecom argued against a "'one size fits all' requirement on how voice service providers display ... line-item fees" since the market is ensuring providers bill "in a transparent and customer-friendly way." It said TIB rules being extended to iVoIP would be justified only if there were evidence of consumer concerns with bills. Verizon said rules let providers provide clear and useful information even in different ways. Incompas said the market hasn't changed over the past 16 years to now warrant such iVoIP TIB rules, as did Voice on the Net Coalition (see here). Cable interests argued for a broader approach. NCTA said few providers offer only voice, and the agency should focus on setting up "high-level principles for all voice services" that line up with the principles applicable to other services it oversees. If the agency does voice-specific iVoIP billing rules, applying existing rules would be "a poor fit," it said. It suggested changes, such as only requiring identification of line-item fees to make clear what the total price of a package of services is, instead of requiring a specific form of separation of fees. First doing a comprehensive review of the voice services market would help ensure any steps result in fewer consumer complaints while avoiding imposition of new costs on providers, America’s Communications Association said. It said members generally don't bill separately for local and long-distance service iVoIP, so breaking out such charges on customer bills as wireline common carriers do would serve no purpose. Backing the line-item billing suggested rule, NTCA said it would allow consumers to equally compare different providers. It backed TIB rules applied to iVoIP providers as "a natural extension of [FCC] rules." Kansas Corporation Commission said the TIB expansion would ensure all consumers have the same basic bill information. It said wireless and iVoIP service features are similar so it's reasonable to apply TIB rules to both.

The North American Numbering Council approved recommendations from its Numbering Administration Oversight Working Group on mechanisms to set the development cost and user pricing of its reassigned numbers database (RND), at a meeting Thursday. NAOWG found fundamental differences between the database and a federal do not call registry that make the latter an insufficient model for set-up costs and fee structures for the new database, said WG co-chair Robert McCausland, Intrado vice president-regulatory and government affairs. He said NAOWG won't estimate development costs associated with the RND until it completes a vendor bidding process. The WG recommended distinct contribution factors to cover RND startup costs and annual operating costs, to be determined once costs are known. If excess funds are collected from RND users, they should be refunded on an annual basis, McCausland said. One fee model could be based on a tiered, flat-rate payment structure, giving users the option of selecting the next tier up if they reach their usage limit, he added. NAOWG wanted to leave some flexibility in the approach to the winning vendor with oversight from NANC, he said. The FCC is taking comments through Feb. 24 on a technical document on the database (see 2001240056). NANC also announced meetings for the rest of 2020: May 5, July 15, July 28, Sept. 24 and Dec. 3.

Reps. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., and Morgan Griffith, R-Va., urged the FCC Wednesday to act on allowing sharing of the 6 GHz band for unlicensed Wi-Fi use. Top tech-sector companies -- including Amazon, Facebook and Google -- also jointly urged the FCC to designate 1,200 MHz of spectrum on the band for unlicensed use. The companies cautioned against allocating the band's upper part for exclusive-use licenses, as CTIA and others have proposed (see 1902190005). Ericsson lobbied lawmakers last year to file and pass legislation that would require the FCC to adopt such a plan (see 1910090051). The FCC should make the 6 GHz available for unlicensed use “in a way that protects incumbent users operating in the band from harmful interference,” McNerney and Griffith wrote Chairman Ajit Pai. “The 6 GHz band’s greatest potential would be realized by unlocking all 1200 MHz of the band for unlicensed use -- this would foster innovation and greatly benefit American consumers and our nation’s economy.” Licensing “a portion of this band would undermine, not support, our next-generation wireless future,” Amazon and others wrote Pai, posted Wednesday. “Opening the 6 GHz band for unlicensed use is also the fastest way to get additional spectrum suitable for next-generation wireless into the hands of American consumers. In contrast, relocating 6 GHz incumbents to a federal band that has not yet been studied for sharing and then proceeding to auction ... will take years and significantly disrupt incumbents.” The group of pro-sharing entities also includes the American Library Association, Benton Foundation, Boingo, Broadcom, Charter Communications, Cisco, Comcast, HP, Juniper Networks, Microsoft, NCTA, New America’s Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge and the Wi-Fi Alliance. Boeing separately supported unlicensed use of the 6 GHz band above a 10,000-foot altitude, saying interference with other aircraft systems “would be negligible.” No “reason exists to prohibit the operation of unlicensed 6 GHz devices on aircraft or to require such devices to employ” automated frequency coordination technologies, the manufacturer filed in docket 18-295.

T-Mobile and Sprint urged the California Public Utilities Commission Tuesday to complete its review of their proposed deal and issue a recommended decision by Feb. 25 so the commission can vote on the transaction at its March 26 meeting. The carriers emailed assigned Commissioner Cliff Rechtschaffen and Administrative Law Judge Karl Bemesderfer a copy of Judge Victor Marrero's decision approving the combination in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (see 2002110026). “The applications have now been pending before this Commission for more than 18 months, and the second round of hearings and associated briefing were completed nearly two months ago,” wrote carriers’ attorney Suzanne Toller of Davis Wright in CPUC docket A.18-07-011. “Continued delay in completing the Commission’s review in this already-lengthy proceeding would be highly prejudicial to Joint Applicants.” The SDNY decision increases pressure on Rechtschaffen and Bemesderfer to propose a decision soon, former CPUC and FCC Commissioner Rachelle Chong told us Wednesday at the NARUC Winter Summit in Washington. She works with the California Emerging Technology Fund, which signed a pact last April with the carriers to support the deal (see 1904080041). Chong doubts California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, one of the Democratic AGs who unsuccessfully challenged the transaction at SDNY, can still weigh in at CPUC because the record is closed, she said. There's momentum from federal reviews and the court decision for approving T-Mobile/Sprint, but Chong expects CPUC to follow its historical practice of applying many conditions, she said. The Utility Reform Network and other consumer advocates disagreed Wednesday that the court decision means the CPUC must speed up. "This Commission must use the record before it, developed through significant discovery, thousands of pages of testimony, and hours of hearings, to come to its conclusions," TURN Managing Director-San Diego Christine Mailloux wrote the ALJ and commissioner. "While the Commission should not bow to external pressure to hasten the pace of its review, Joint Advocates believe that the Commission could quickly come to a finding that this merger is not in the public interest."

House Science Research and Technology Subcommittee members eyed beefing up the U.S. cybersecurity workforce, during a Tuesday hearing. Science Committee Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, noted interest in moving additional cybersecurity-focused legislation “this year.” She said the National Institute of Standards and Technology remains “the right agency to continue to lead efforts" here. “Technology alone will not mitigate the many" cyber risks, Johnson said. “Educate and train individuals in cybersecurity at all levels, and it requires not just degrees but different types of certifications as well as continuing education." The public should "be well-educated about cyber hygiene, starting in our elementary schools.” Research and Technology Chairwoman Haley Stevens, D-Mich., cited a NIST National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) finding that “nearly one in three cybersecurity jobs go unfilled.” That's partly due to lack of even basic cybersecurity skills training in schools, though there are “multiple pathways to careers in cybersecurity,” Stevens said. The field “lacks diversity” and “we cannot address our current and future cybersecurity workforce needs without recruiting and retaining more women and minorities.” Subcommittee ranking member Jim Baird, R-Ind., touted the recently filed Securing American Leadership in Science and Technology Act. He said HR-5685 “makes strategic investments in cybersecurity research and development across federal science agencies.” NICE Director Rodney Petersen said the program is noticing a “need to enhance cybersecurity career discovery for learners of all ages, transform the learning process to emphasize the multidisciplinary nature of cybersecurity and the multiple career pathways." He noted the National Council for the American Worker is creating the “first ever national workforce strategy.” The strategy “is promoting the importance of multiple pathways to careers (not just a 4-year university education), the essential role of employers as part of our national education and workforce system, the need for companies to employ skill-based hiring and the need for greater transparency in the skills that companies need and the return on investment of different educational pathways,” Petersen said. IBM Enterprise and Technology Security division Human Resources Director Sonya Miller urged Congress to pass the Harvesting American Cybersecurity Knowledge through Education Act. S-2775 would create a White House Office of Science and Technology Policy working group to coordinate federal cybersecurity workforce training. It would direct NIST to develop “standards and guidelines for improving the cybersecurity workforce for an agency” (see 1911050061). Tennessee Tech University Cybersecurity Education, Research and Outreach Center Director Ambareen Siraj urged more funding for several federal scholarship and workforce development programs, and supporting “nontraditional pathways” into the industry. Merit Network CEO Joseph Sawasky said federal and state governments should develop “the talent pipeline” early, and government should encourage cyberskills development “for under-represented groups.”

Artificial intelligence, a vastly larger amount of knowledge online and incorporation of holograms and 3D video into communications will bring huge benefits to humanity in coming years, but technological progress also will bring a variety of problems, FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said in a Silicon Flatirons speech Monday, according to prepared remarks. He said areas of concern include naïveté by the tech community about how its products might raise concerns, and the tendency of government agencies to want to expand their authority.

MVPD interests back the FCC's proposed change of a rule that subscribers get 30-day notice of a possible service change in a nonrenewed carriage agreement's last 30 days. Local franchise authorities (LFA) raised red flags, in docket 19-347 comments posted Friday. Commissioners approved the NPRM 5-0 in December (see 1912120063). NCTA supported FCC proposals for "ASAP" notifications of a blackout due to failing carriage negotiations and for streamlined notices to LFAs, and urged going further. It said the FCC should end requirements to notify LFAs about rate and service changes, or send subscribers advance notices of any big change in the information reported in annual notices and notices of the deletion or repositioning of a broadcast channel. It sought clarification that rules require advance notice to stations only when the change is within the MVPD's control. America's Communications Association backed ending notification of an annual notice change. Altice suggested that atop the NPRM revisions, look for notice obligation changes. The operator said there's no need to define ASAP because operators "have every incentive" to explain to subscribers a breakdown in negotiations to avoid confusion and minimize customer dissatisfaction. The notice requirement doesn't "empower consumers; it harms them" since they face false alarms from MVPDs, Verizon said. It said the best route for ASAP notifications are emails or “channel slates" notices replacing a televised feed. Boston; Los Angeles; Portland, Oregon; Montgomery and Howard counties in Maryland; and the Texas Coalition of Cities for Utilities Issues oppose ending the requirement of notifying about potentially dropped programming. They support a proposed amendment to require subscribers be notified as soon as possible, if it's in addition to 30-day notice. They urged the agency drop the 90-day notice requirement LFAs provide cable operators for being included in notice distributions. NATOA said the NPRM lacks justification or authority to ax the requirement operators provide LFAs 30-day written notice before rate or service changes. The group rejected cable arguments of potential consumer confusion: "We have every confidence that cable operators can clearly communicate to their subscribers that a channel lineup change is a possibility that will come to pass only if negotiations fail to result in an agreement."

A U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit panel denied en banc petitions in cases challenging the FCC's 2017 net neutrality order (see 1912130020) in a pair of orders Thursday (see here and here, in Pacer, docket 18-1051). The court upheld much of the agency's net neutrality partial rollback last fall (see 1910010018). Free Press General Counsel Matt Wood said the D.C. Circuit's "boilerplate orders" denying the rehearing requests were disappointing but "not that surprising" since courts routinely deny such rehearing requests. He said the petitioners will "keep weighing our legal options" and arguing the need for internet nondiscrimination laws before federal and state lawmakers. FCC Press Secretary Tina Pelkey said "the Internet has remained free and open, consumers have been protected, speeds have increased, and more and more Americans have gotten access to broadband," tweeting in response to our tweet about the court actions. "It's clear that a light-touch framework, not heavy-handed government intervention, is the right approach."

Major trade associations, led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, asked the FCC to provide clarity on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s definition of automatic telephone dialing system. The groups noted a split in the different federal circuits on the definition of ATDS. “Swift action on the Petition will help facilitate the important, and often time-sensitive, calls that customers receive from healthcare providers, pharmacies, grocers, retailers, utility companies, banks, credit unions, and other financial service providers, among others. Action also will help stem the tide of abusive TCPA litigation, which has been fueled by uncertainty regarding the definition of ATDS,” the groups said in docket 02-278, posted Thursday. The American Bankers Association, American Financial Services Association, Consumer Bankers Association, Credit Union National Association, Edison Electric Institute, Electronic Transactions Association, Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions, National Retail Federation and Student Loan Servicing Alliance were among signers.

While T-Mobile waits to see if it can complete its buy of Sprint, the bigger, would-be buying carrier Thursday reported 1.3 million branded postpaid net additions in Q4 and 4.5 million in 2019. The companies await a ruling from U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero for the Southern District of New York on the challenge of 14 states to block the transaction (see 2001150077). “The state AG trial has concluded and our team did an incredible job making our case and backing it up with the facts,” CEO John Legere said on a call with analysts: “We are 100 percent convinced that this merger will result in a more competitive market, with lower prices and a better network for customers.” T-Mobile remains “confident in a positive outcome,” Legere said: “The facts are on our side.” Legere sat in the front row of Marrero's courtroom Jan. 15 during four hours of closing argument. The California Public Utilities Commission won’t vote until at least March (see 2001290029). T-Mobile is interested in citizens broadband radio service licenses but doesn’t view them as “transformative,” Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray said: “We know a lot about CBRS already. We see it as primarily as small-cell spectrum layer” limited by power levels. T-Mobile reported record service revenue of $8.7 billion, up 6 percent over the year-ago quarter, total revenue of $11.9 billion, up 4 percent. Profit was $751 million, up 61 percent. T-Mobile has postpaid churn of 1.01 percent. Legere will step down May 1, to be replaced by Mike Sievert, currently president-chief operating officer (see 1911180038). “We gained [customer] share and were the only one to beat expectations for service revenues and adjusted EBITDA during Q4,” Sievert told analysts. T-Mobile expects Q1 deal-related costs of as much as $300 million.