AT&T reiterated its position in a dispute with four Alabama 911 districts over what constitutes interconnected VoIP and whether the FCC should prohibit state and local governments from requiring interconnected VoIP customers pay more in total 911 fees than comparable non-VoIP customers (see 1903290030). That came in a meeting with FCC Wireline Bureau staff. “Declare that where a voice service is transmitted over the last mile in a format other than IP (such as Time Division Multiplexing [TDM]), it cannot qualify as interconnected VoIP,” AT&T asked in Tuesday posting in docket 19-44. “While the Alabama Districts have abandoned their previous position that certain TDM voice services are actually interconnected VoIP, Phone Recovery Services and other plaintiffs in 911 charge litigation have maintained that position.” The FCC should “preempt state and local 911 charge statutes and ordinances that adopt discriminatory rules for billing 911 charges to customers of interconnected VoIP service and non-VoIP telephone services,” the carrier said.

House Communications Subcommittee Democrats' widely expected airing of grievances against FCC Chairman Ajit Pai at a Wednesday oversight hearing is likely to be tempered by their interest in a range of telecom policy priorities and subcommittee Republicans' bid to deflect some of their colleagues' ire, officials and lobbyists told us. The hearing, which also includes the other four commissioners, will be the subcommittee's first on oversight of the agency since Democrats gained a majority in the chamber after the November elections. The hearing begins at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.

ClearCaptions offers an application using geolocation technology available within an iPhone to “accurately identify a user’s geographic location for the purpose of quickly routing an emergency call,” becoming the first IP captioned telephone service to do so, it told the FCC Monday in a notice of substantive change in docket 03-123. The app includes Bluetooth connectivity and “improved location tracking for 911 support,” it said.

Prospects again seem iffy for Rhode Island lawmakers to stop 911 fee diversion this session. Advocates told us they’re trying to build momentum outside the State House. The House Finance Committee plans Wednesday to hear testimony on H-5933 by Rep. John Lyle and four other Republicans. House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello (D) told us the matter should be taken up in the budget process, and only if Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) edits her proposed budget that doesn't end the practice. Similar Republican bills failed in previous sessions under a Democratic political trifecta.

If there's to be a national three-digit suicide hotline number, expanding use of 211 -- already employed for community service referrals including crisis- and mental health-related calls in parts of the U.S. -- is the best route, with a 211 administrator to oversee that work, said the FCC North American Number Council. NANC on Wednesday unanimously adopted a report from its Numbering Administration Oversight Working Group.

International Association of Fire Chiefs President Dan Eggleston discussed the T-band with Chief Lisa Fowlkes and others from the FCC Public Safety Bureau, said a filing in docket 07-114. A provision in the 2012 spectrum law mandates public safety agencies move off the 470-512 MHz T band by 2021 (see 1808020051). The meeting covered “the challenges posed by an auction of the T-Band, particularly the lack of alternative spectrum options for public safety incumbents,” IAFC said: “Also mentioned were the many benefits that the T-Band provides to public safety as a reliable communications resource.” Eggleston supported tougher standards for locating the vertical access of wireless calls to 911 but suggested the FCC “explore narrowing the margin of error over a reasonable timeframe as technology develops.”

California lawmakers moved a cavalcade of privacy bills, including several tweaking last year’s California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), in hearings this week. The Assembly Appropriations panel Wednesday unanimously cleared three without discussion. No members voted against five privacy bills, or two other bills on wireless data throttling of public safety users and e-commerce marketplace transparency, at a Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee hearing Tuesday.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) signed a next-generation 911 bill Tuesday. HB-397 aims to upgrade the state to NG-911 by increasing the current $1 fee on each phone bill to $1.25 monthly per phone line. “Marylanders should never have to wonder if they will be able to reach 911 in an emergency,” a Hogan spokesperson said. National Emergency Number Association CEO Brian Fontes called the new law “excellent news for the citizens of Maryland and those that travel through the state."

DOJ has made no decision on T-Mobile buying Sprint, antitrust chief Makan Delrahim told CNBC Monday, in perhaps his most complete comments yet on the deal, which as of Monday is a year old. Delrahim said there’s no magic number of national carriers to guarantee wireless competition. T-Mobile and Sprint, meanwhile, postponed the deadline for completing the deal from Monday to July 29, said an SEC filing.

General Motors decided to ask the FCC to pull the company's waiver bid to not provide some real-time texting functions (see 1904250038) after deciding it wasn't necessary, GM confirmed Friday. The company's Cruise shared autonomous vehicles that continue being tested in three big cities lack some features that would have subjected them to the RTT rules, in this view.