The FCC wants comments by April 15, replies by April 29, on "whether and under what circumstances to provide compensation for other types of specialized services and on any rule changes needed to facilitate the provision of Video Text Service or other forms of specialized services," said a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau public notice Thursday in docket 03-123. Commissioners adopted the item in September (see 2309280076).
ClearCaptions received conditional certification Thursday to provide IP captioned telephone service after its acquisition by CC Opportunities. An FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau public notice in docket 03-123 said ClearCaptions will "remain eligible for compensation from the TRS Fund after the change in ownership, pending commission action on an application for full certification of the post-merger entity."
FCC commissioners voted 3-2 Thursday, over dissents by Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington, to approve the agency's Telecom Act Section 706 report to Congress. The report concluded that broadband isn't deployed in a "reasonable and timely fashion," with about 24 million Americans lacking access to speeds of at least 100/20 Mbps. The two Republicans also dissented at the commissioners' open meeting on a proposed requirement that cable and satellite TV multichannel programming distributors display prominently the aggregate cost of video programming in ads and customer bills.
FCC commissioners approved 5-0 a voluntary cyber trust mark program based on National Institute of Standards and Technology criteria during their open meeting Thursday. As expected, commissioners noted changes in the item since a draft circulated three weeks ago (see 2403130047). Also, as expected, the FCC will ask additional questions in a further notice about software and hardware from countries of national security concern and whether data from U.S. citizens will be stored abroad. The FCC was under pressure to make changes.
Proposed conclusions in the draft of the FCC's annual report to Congress about the state of broadband deployment and competition raised eyebrows among industry groups, with some calling for the commission to consider additional data. The FCC also defended proposing higher broadband speed goals in the draft report. Commissioners will consider the item, required by Section 706 of the Telecom Act, Thursday during their open meeting (see 2402220059).
The FCC Wireless Bureau cleared Trace-Tek’s application to provide contraband interdiction system services in correctional facilities. The bureau noted it sought comment on the application and none was filed (see 401120041). The company may now begin phase two on-site testing of its system at individual correctional facilities, a notice posted Tuesday in docket 13-111 said.
The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comments, due April 10, on requests from subsidiaries of utility company Exelon for a waiver of rules to grant two additional 800 MHz channel pairs allowing use of mobile-to-mobile communications on the subsidiaries’ 800 MHz land mobile radio systems. Replies are due April 25, said a Monday notice. The subsidiaries “assert that the mobile-to-mobile communications would be utilized at the same power levels currently permitted for mobile units to ensure there is no increased risk of ‘interference to adjacent channel licensees or co-channel licensees,’” the bureau said.
The FCC Wireless Bureau, at the request of the DOD, deleted the Norfolk, Virginia, cooperative planning area (CPA) and periodic use area (PUA) from the list of areas to be protected under 3.45 GHz rules and combined them with the larger Newport News, Virginia, CPA/PUA. The bureau said the combined entity was renamed the Newport News-Norfolk CPA/PUA, said a notice in Tuesday’s Daily Digest.
The FCC Wireline Bureau denied two petitions from Colo Telephone and South Canaan Telephone seeking waivers to revise their Connect America Fund broadband loop support filings. Both companies sought a waiver of the Dec. 31 deadline to file data needed to calculate a carrier's CAF BLS amount. The order, posted Tuesday in docket 10-90, said both companies "failed to demonstrate good cause." The bureau found that the telcos' arguments on the "significance of the support amount" to their broadband operations compared with the "insignificance of the amount to the total amount of BLS payments" were "equally unpersuasive."
The major questions doctrine "is not applicable" to reclassifying broadband as a Communications Act Title II service, Public Knowledge told FCC Wireline Bureau, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, and Office of General Counsel staff. The group said in an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-320 that the commission "would need to claim a new power or reverse a long-standing interpretation of a statute" for the doctrine to be considered. The FCC "does not need evidence of new harms to justify its reversal" to "the status quo ante," the group said, adding the commission "only needs to assert that the 2018 reversal does not comport with the FCC’s mandate to ensure universal service and promote public safety." Public Knowledge also asked the FCC not to forbear providers from Section 254(d) rules governing USF contributions, noting any contribution requirements would require the commission to first establish a specific mechanism (see 2403080055).