CTA names Jamie Susskind, ex-FCC, (see this section, July 12) vice president-policy and regulatory affairs ... Aspen Institute adds to Communications and Society Program Managing Director Tricia Kelly responsibility for new Communications, Technology and Innovation Program, combining Communications and Society Program, Cybersecurity and Technology Program and the Center for Urban Innovation; names Lucas Welch, from Pluribus Project, head of new Attention and Democracy Initiative; promotes Dominique Harrison to project director-Communications and Society Program, and Kristine Gloria to associate director for artificial intelligence, for in-formation Emergent and Intelligent Technologies Initiative; and announces Cybersecurity Director Garrett Graff transitioning to run @CyberJournalism project and Dialogue on Public Libraries Director Amy Garmer, taking a leave of absence for sabbatical.

The FCC Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council started Friday at its first public meeting in this iteration. The focus was on promoting security for 5G and 911 networks, broadcaster resiliency and strengthening emergency alerting. The agency plans a notice asking for volunteers for the six working groups, agency officials said.

It would be “extremely difficult” to back additional USF money to the U.S. Virgin Islands without “a firm commitment and a timeline” on ending the territory’s diversion of 911 fees, FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly wrote Gov. Albert Bryan (D), released Thursday. “Your guarantees and demonstrated compliance plan could go a long way toward alleviating Commission concerns, which if left unaddressed could put precious USF support at risk.” The USF money could go toward restoring the territory’s communications infrastructure, O’Rielly said. It diverted over $1.2 million in 911 fees, according to data from 2017, with 30 percent going to the Health Department and 30 percent to the fire service, O’Rielly said. He noted Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and Chairman Ajit Pai are also concerned about such moves. The governor’s office didn’t comment.

The FCC continues to look at the possibility of routing 911 calls to public safety answering points based on where the call originates, as location-based routing becomes more technologically feasible, but it’s “not there yet,” said David Furth, Public Safety Bureau deputy chief, at a GPS Innovation Alliance briefing Wednesday. The agency began a notice of inquiry in 2018 (see 18032200027). Citing traffic fatalities in rural Nebraska where victims couldn't be found until days later, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., co-chair of the GPS Caucus, said GPS-linked 911 is a lifesaving synergy between two capabilities that speeds up response. In some jurisdictions, 80 percent of 911 calls annually come via smartphones, he said. Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., a member of the NextGen 911 Caucus, said most 911 dispatchers have a story about being unable to get location of a caller in an emergency. "The technology is getting there,” but geolocation needs federal support, said Torres, a former 911 dispatcher. She backed the 911 Supporting Accurate Views of Emergency Services (Saves) Act (see 1904050054) and hopes it gets Senate support. Stormy Martin, U.S. National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing director, said ongoing GPS modernization efforts like the Air Force's ground infrastructure upgrades and the next-generation GPS III satellites will lead to increased accuracy and availability of GPS signals, which in turn will mean better accuracy of 911 geolocation. The first GPS III satellite, launched in December, should be operational next year, and the second GPS III satellite is set for launch later this summer, he said. Martin said mapping software rather than the constellation is typically the source of GPS problems such as wrong locations.

The House voted 220-197 Friday to pass its version of the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-2500), which includes three amendments addressing concerns about Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers Huawei and ZTE (see 1907110037). One, led by Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., would impose conditions for the Department of Commerce to lift Bureau of Industry and Security addition of Huawei to its entity list (see 1906190054). A second Gallagher-led proposal would direct the president to submit a report to Congress on ZTE's compliance with a 2018 agreement that lifted Commerce's ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE (see 1807130048). “There are many shortcomings in this year's NDAA, but one positive” is inclusion of the anti-Huawei/ZTE amendments, he tweeted Thursday. Commerce officials said at a BIS conference the department plans to issue multiple guidance documents on its blacklisting of Huawei due to the large number of questions from U.S. exporters. Language from Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., would restrict use of telecom equipment made by companies originating in countries that are U.S. adversaries at DOD installations in U.S. territories in the Pacific Ocean. The Senate passed its 2020 NDAA version (S-1790) in June without language from proposed anti-Huawei amendments (see 1906270051). HR-2500 also includes an amendment led by Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., that would attach language from the 911 Supporting Accurate Views of Emergency Services (Saves) Act (HR-1629/S-1015). It would change the federal government's classification of public safety call-takers and dispatchers to “protective service occupations" (see 1904050054).

The House passed on voice votes Thursday four telecom-related amendments to its version of the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-2500), including three addressing concerns about Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers Huawei and ZTE (see 1907020060). The Senate passed its 2020 NDAA version (S-1790) in June without language from any of the three proposed anti-Huawei amendments (see 1906270051). The House also approved an amendment led by Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., that would attach language from the 911 Supporting Accurate Views of Emergency Services (Saves) Act (HR-1629/S-1015). It would change the federal government's classification of public safety call-takers and dispatchers to “protective service occupations" rather than administrative or clerical occupations (see 1904050054). AT&T “enthusiastically supports” the HR-1629 language, Executive Vice President-Federal Relations Tim McKone said. House Rules Committee cleared the Torres and anti-Huawei/ZTE amendments Tuesday. One, led by Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., would impose conditions for the Department of Commerce to lift Bureau of Industry and Security addition of Huawei to its entity list that would impose export restrictions on the company, including a finding that Huawei and its executives haven't violated U.S. or UN sanctions and haven't engaged in theft of U.S. intellectual property during the preceding five years (see 1906190054). Undersecretary-Industry and Security Nazak Nikakhtar said Tuesday the department is reviewing export license applications to sell to Huawei to “mitigate as much of the negative impacts of the entity listing as possible” and hopes to have decisions “soon” (see 1907100013). A second Gallagher-led proposal would direct the president to submit a report to Congress on ZTE's compliance with a 2018 agreement that lifted Commerce's ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE (see 1807130048). Language from Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., would restrict the use of telecom equipment made by companies originating in countries that are U.S. adversaries at Department of Defense installations in U.S. territories in the Pacific Ocean. Commerce plans multiple guidances on its blacklisting of Huawei due to the large number of questions from U.S. exporters, officials told a BIS conference Thursday, to address the most common questions from U.S. industries. “We've gotten a lot of questions and we’ve been funneling them up the chain for clearance,” said Hillary Hess, director of Commerce’s regulatory policy division. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., meanwhile, criticized Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Thursday after a report Mnuchin is encouraging Huawei's U.S. suppliers to seek licenses that would resume their sales to the company. “I strongly 'discourage' any American company from seeking licenses to deal with Huawei,” Cotton tweeted. The company “is a threat to Americans’ security, privacy, & prosperity. Don’t be the proverbial capitalist who sells the rope the communists will hang us with.”

The FCC’s Aug. 1 commissioners’ meeting will be headlined by proposed rulemakings on robocalls and the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, per the tentative agenda and drafts released Thursday late afternoon. Members will vote on an NPRM on low-power FM technical rules, orders on 911 location and small satellites, plus items on a toll-free number auction and local franchising authority over cable.

The Aug. 1 FCC meeting will see voting on creation of a Rural Digital Opportunity Fund that, Chairman Ajit Pai blogged Wednesday, would represent the agency's "single biggest step yet to close the rural digital divide," connecting millions to broadband networks. Also up is a new route to broadband mapping and revisions to local franchise authority rules, the latter as expected (see 1907090030). Pai said the fund would provide $20.4 billion over the next 10 years supporting rural networks, operating in two phases using a multi-round, descending-clock reverse auction to ensure maximum coverage at the lowest possible cost. He said the first phase would target areas already unserved while the second focus on areas not won in the first phase and areas that are partially served. He said his proposal also would set a minimum speed of 25/3 Mbps for the auction and favor services with lower latency, and open the auction to ISPs ranging from small cable companies and rural telephone companies to electric co-ops and fixed wireless companies. Pai said the digital opportunity data collection broadband mapping approach would collect granular broadband availability maps from service providers using shapefiles, with those maps verified through crowdsourcing. Pai said the LFA order "would prevent local authorities from unlawfully evading the five percent statutory cap on franchise fees" and make clear franchising authorities can't regulate non-cable services offered by cable operators over their cable systems. Such fees and regulations chill broadband deployment, he said. Also on the agenda will be changes to the Rural Health Care program, which provides financial support to help rural healthcare providers obtain communications services at discounted rates for telehealth services, including a new route for calculating the rates that healthcare providers pay. The agenda will feature 833 toll-free auction procedures, with the auction to be conducted in December; updated technical rules for low-power FM stations to allow greater use of directional antennas and of FM booster stations; new licensing rules for small satellites (see 1907090030); caller ID spoofing rules (see 1907080063); and rules allowing for calling 911 directly on multiline telephone systems.

A California Senate panel cleared a VoIP deregulation bill at a Wednesday hearing after sponsor Assembly Appropriations Committee Chair Lorena Gonzalez (D) accepted several committee amendments to scale back the controversial measure that's opposed by the California Public Utilities Commission. Two senators voted no. Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee members also supported an amended bill responding to Verizon's throttling traffic of Santa Clara County firefighters during the Mendocino Complex Fire last year.

Commissioners will vote at their Aug. 1 meeting on rules to help ensure first responders can locate more quickly callers who contact 911 from multiline telephone systems, the agency said Tuesday. Chairman Ajit Pai circulated draft rules to implement Kari's Law Act of 2017 and the Ray Baum's Act of 2018 to extend 911 location requirements to new telecom platforms (see 1812110025). Multiline systems are commonly used by hotels, college campuses and office buildings, and often require users to dial 9 before dialing 911. The new rules for docket 18-261 would establish new location requirements for VoIP and telecom relay services (see 1905280018).