The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission sought to retain telecom authority while agreeing Thursday to propose changes to some state rules to reflect changing competition. “We can improve our regulatory construct while continuing to exercise our jurisdiction responsibly,” said Vice Chairman David Sweet before commissioners voted 4-0 for an amended NPRM at the PUC’s teleconferenced meeting. Later in Wyoming, CenturyLink said it’s complying with a 2019 agreement to get landline deregulation in rural areas of that state. California and Texas commissions also mulled telecom matters at Thursday meetings.

The California Public Utilities Commission rejected AT&T’s appeal of a $3.75 million fine for not providing next-generation 911 in the state (see 2005050042). “None of the errors alleged by AT&T in its Appeal is meritorious and no material change in the Presiding Officer’s decision is warranted in response to them,” said a modified decision Wednesday in docket R.18-03-011. AT&T will review the decision and respond, a spokesperson said.

The FCC is set to publish updated rules for finding the vertical location of wireless callers to 911 wireless in the Federal Register Thursday, and parts are to be effective Sept. 28. Commissioners approved the rules in July over a dissent by Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel (see 2007160055). The FCC must still announce a compliance date for parts of the rules.

The FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council will meet virtually Sept. 16, starting at 2 p.m. EDT, the FCC said Wednesday. CSRIC is expected to vote on three reports: on standard operating procedures for emergency alerting communications, on the risks from 3rd Generation Partnership Project releases 15 and 16, and on security risks and best practices for mitigation in legacy, transitional and next-generation 911 deployments, the FCC said.

There are 19,687 cable and wireline subscribers out of service and 911 calls are being rerouted from one public service answering point in areas affected by Tropical Storm Marco and Hurricane Laura, said Wednesday’s FCC’s disaster information reporting system report. Both numbers are increases from Tuesday, when 11,539 subscribers were without service and no PSAPs affected. The number of cellsites down in the affected area -- which includes all of Arkansas and counties in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi near the Arkansas border -- remains 0.4 percent. One FM station in the area is down, the report said.

Speakers supported next-generation 911 funding from Congress, in a discussion at the virtual IWCE conference. Other speakers said the COVID-19 pandemic continues to present huge challenges for 911 call centers. And 911 remains “woefully behind in technology,” said Jeff Cohen, APCO chief counsel during a Monday panel: “In many ways, we’re not going down the right path.” APCO supports a “massive grant program” to fund NG-911. “We’ve got a really good opportunity,” he said.

“Something has got to change” at the District of Columbia’s Office of Unified Communications, D.C. Advisory Neighborhood Commission 4B06 Commissioner Tiffani Johnson tweeted Sunday, citing a report on Twitter by Dave Statter, a former journalist, alleging OUC 911 dispatching mistakes. Statter cited OpenMHz audio of a radio transmission that day in which a dispatcher appeared initially to direct an ambulance to an incorrect highway exit to find a person down. ANC 4B01 Commissioner Evan Yeats also has raised concerns about OUC errors, prompting the Office of D.C. Auditor to consider a probe next year. OUC didn’t comment Monday.

CTIA told the FCC the next round of testing of 911 vertical location technologies in the industry test bed will be delayed due to the impact of COVID-19. “The response to the COVID-19 pandemic is restricting building access and affecting the ability to safely and effectively test Z-axis technologies,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 07-114: “The Test Bed intends to resume Stage Zb when testing can be safely accomplished and property managers agree to provide access to buildings in the test cities.”

Two big issues dominated discussions at the virtual International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE) on its first day Monday: the promise from 5G and the continuing threat from the COVID-19 pandemic. Both still have many unknowns, speakers said.

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) dismissed 911 dispatching concerns raised by former journalist Dave Statter and others. “I’m not going to go down that rabbit hole with Dave Statter,” said Bowser in a Monday news conference. She said she’s “absolutely” confident in the Office of Unified Communications. The Office of D.C. Auditor might probe OUC next year after many reports of dispatching issues, including sending first responders to the wrong address or multiple responders to the same place (see 2008110050 and 2008070042). Statter tweeted later Monday about a Friday incident in which OUC apparently failed to immediately dispatch an ambulance to an injured person. The dispatcher asked an ambulance to respond at 3:08 a.m. and had to make another request about 30 minutes later, showed OpenMHZ audio referenced by Statter. Bowser and OUC didn’t comment Tuesday.