Public safety network interoperability is “an issue that we just have to solve, and we have to solve it quickly,” said Homeland Security Department Secretary Janet Napolitano. She spoke Thursday at the 2009 meeting of the president’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. Meanwhile, NSTAC approved reports on cybersecurity and identity management, and received an update on an upcoming report on satellites.
Adam Bender
Adam Bender, Senior Editor, is the state and local telecommunications reporter for Communications Daily, where he also has covered Congress and the Federal Communications Commission. He has won awards for his Warren Communications News reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists, Specialized Information Publishers Association and the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. Bender studied print journalism at American University and is the author of dystopian science-fiction novels. You can follow Bender at WatchAdam.blog and @WatchAdam on Twitter.
Relay provider Purple Communications may be violating the FCC’s interoperability mandates and national Do-Not-Call rules, said Sorenson Communications. In a letter to the FCC Disability Rights Office, Sorenson urged the commission to force Purple to explain. If Purple can’t show it’s complying with the rules, “the FCC should take appropriate action,” Sorenson said. Calls to Sorenson over Purple mobile-video- phone equipment are frequently dropped, the company said. Sorenson said it notified Purple about the problem April 8, but has received no response, even after two follow-up e- mails. Purple also has failed to answer Sorenson concerns about the lawfulness of a Purple offer to register and remove users’ phone numbers from the Do-Not-Call list, it said. “Sorenson allegations on interoperability are unsubstantiated,” replied Kelby Brick, regulatory vice president for Purple. “I and others in the company have personally tested the MVP interoperability with Sorenson’s services and have not experienced any connection problems.” The equipment has “gone through intensive interoperability testing,” including by Sorenson engineers, he said. “The letter seems to be an attempt … to distract the commission from well-documented complaints against Sorenson and their monopolistic and illegal practices,” he said. “It is ironic to see Sorenson claim the ethical high ground when they have refused the commission’s attempts to audit them.”
The FCC will soon tackle an overhaul of the forbearance process, acting Chairman Michael Copps told reporters at its meeting Wednesday. “I hope to be circulating something to my colleagues very soon to make this a better process than it currently is.” Verizon Tuesday withdrew forbearance petitions seeking unbundling relief in the Rhode Island and Virginia Beach, Va., markets (CD May 13 p6). Meanwhile, competitive local exchange carriers are asking the FCC to ignore Verizon’s request to withdraw.
The FCC Wednesday adopted 3-0 an order shortening to one business day the interval for simple wireline and intermodal number ports. But the change won’t take place immediately.
An FCC rule requiring equipment portability among video relay service providers “only creates unnecessary costs to providers,” said the National Association of the Deaf and six other consumer groups. In comments Monday, they endorsed a petition by Sprint Nextel, CSDVRS, Viable and Snap Telecom to kill the porting requirement. It was in the FCC’s June order on adopting 10-digit phone numbers for Internet-based telecom relay service. Relay provider American Network disagreed, saying the market will eventually work out the porting requirement’s kinks.
An FCC notice of inquiry about universal service high- cost support for non-rural carriers spurred old arguments for a USF overhaul, in comments at the commission last week. But the notice, which asks how the FCC should respond to a 2005 remand by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (CD April 9 p4), may address too narrow an issue to result in comprehensive reform, industry officials said. In 2005, the court called unlawful the FCC’s current non-rural rules, which address carriers like Qwest that serve high-cost areas with too many lines to be considered “rural” by the statutory definition.
A Washington coalition lining up rivals of AT&T and Verizon may soon reveal itself, industry sources close to the matter told us Friday. Coalition organizers are hoping to unite independent wireless companies, competitive local exchange carriers, Google, consumer groups and other historical foes of the big phone companies, sources said. A special-access revamp will be the group’s top priority, at least at first, they said.
The FCC is finishing up changes in an order reducing the time limit for wireline and intermodal ports to two business days, commission officials told us Thursday. The FCC is also considering a further-rulemaking notice asking whether to cut the interval further, officials said Thursday. But the commissioners seem to disagree about whether the FCC needs to issue a rulemaking notice or should just impose a 24-hour time limit. Another point of contention could be the handling of so-called simple ports, a term that some say hasn’t been defined. The commissioners are scheduled to vote on the porting item at Wednesday’s meeting.
The FCC must implement an explicit, competitively neutral cost recovery mechanism if it shortens the number porting interval for wireline and intermodal ports, said the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance. The commission is working out details of a porting order to be voted on at the May 13 meeting, including how many days to set the interval. Agency officials characterized current discussions among eighth-floor offices as collegial. In a Tuesday letter to the agency, the ITTA said a shortened interval, whether two business or calendar days, “would require burdensome, expensive upgrades” for the association’s mid-sized rural incumbent carriers. Historically, the regulator has permitted recovery of local number portability costs via a line-item charge, and it should continue to do so, the ITTA said. To avoid problems, the FCC should clarify that price-cap carrier may use an exogenous cost adjustment to achieve full recovery of costs, it said. The ITTA estimated its members will need at least 18 months to upgrade electronic systems and staffing.
The Rural Cellular Association didn’t rejoice on the one-year anniversary of the interim cap for the Universal Service Fund high-cost program. Instead, the association of small wireless carriers Friday sent a scathing white paper to acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps. RCA scolded the agency for delaying removal of the “interim” measure, and for imposing the cap in the first place.