Staffing is a growing problem at emergency call centers, with 36% of those surveyed having fewer positions filled in 2022 than in 2019, said the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch Monday. Citing a joint study it did with the National Association of State 911 Administrators, IAED said its survey found 13 centers with 70% or more positions unfilled, 92 with a vacancy rate of 50%-69% and 166 with vacancy rates of 30%-49%. It said nearly every respondent reported losing employees in 2022 -- a total of 3,952 staff departures across the 774 surveyed centers.

NTIA awarded more than $175 million in additional Connecting Minority Communities pilot program support Monday. The final round of funding will go to 61 colleges and universities in 29 states and four territories, said a news release. The Commerce Department "has made significant investment into minority-serving colleges and universities," said Secretary Gina Raimondo: "I am proud to say that all funding from the Connecting Minority Communities program has been distributed to help make internet connectivity a reality for tens of thousands of students."

Commenting on proposed FCC data breach rules (see 2302230038), groups representing the deaf and hard of hearing urged a focus on telecommunications relay service providers. “Overall, rules concerning TRS should account for the unique privacy concerns faced by TRS users, including the possibility that call transcripts could be accessed in a data breach,” the advocates said: “These rules should not include harm-based trigger notification requirements and should not treat cost as a barrier to implementation.” The filing was signed by Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Hearing Loss Association of America, National Association of the Deaf and the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing at Gallaudet University. TRS provider Sorenson Communications said it and other providers should have to report “inadvertent disclosures” of customer proprietary network information. But the FCC should recognize “the legitimate dangers of over-reporting,” Sorenson said: “Many inadvertent ‘breaches’ pose no serious risk to consumers, such as when an employee of a TRS provider inadvertently receives access to CPNI but does not misuse the information. Requiring providers to report such de minimis ‘breaches’ -- essentially false positives -- would serve no helpful purpose.” Provider Hamilton Relay said the commission should keep in mind “how TRS providers are different from common carriers with regard to the services they provide and the information they collect from their customers.” The FCC should also consider “how its proposed rules will align, or potentially conflict, with existing state and federal privacy regimes,” Hamilton said. Comments were posted last week in docket 22-21.

WTA asked the FCC to grant the Alaska Telecom Association's petition to update and extend the Alaska Plan. The proposed revisions are "wholly reasonable and necessary to continue progress in providing reasonably comparable and affordable broadband service in some of the nation’s most difficult and expensive environments," WTA said in comments posted Thursday in docket 16-271 (see 2301060045). Alaska Communications agreed, saying there will be a "continuing need for high-cost universal service support to operate, maintain, and upgrade deployed networks" once broadband deployment across Alaska is achieved. Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) also backed the petition. The FCC should "move expeditiously to adopt the proposed changes," Dunleavy said, noting the program has been "foundational" to telecom service in the state.

California Public Utilities Commission President Alice Busching Reynolds and member Genevieve Shiroma met with FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel on broadband data collection concerns, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 19-195. Reynolds discussed the availability challenge process and “the FCC’s concerns with California’s bulk availability challenge,” CPUC said: “Given California’s size and the short amount of time to analyze the data, the CPUC was not able to fully validate the provider submissions.” CPUC said most of its bulk availability challenge records are for fixed-wireless ISPs “that did not have commensurate subscriber data to validate their deployment claims.” The state is concerned it could lose “significant” broadband, equity, access and deployment program funds due to coverage overstatements, the filing said: “Reynolds requested Chairwoman Rosenworcel’s guidance on how to alleviate these concerns, whether it could be resolved through the challenge process, and whether a rule change would be necessary or whether the CPUC could explore some other procedural avenue.”

Stratics Networks "enabled its clients to route and transmit millions of robocalls using VoIP technology," the FTC said Friday. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, alleged Stratics violated the Telemarketing Sales Rule and initiated "illegal pre-recorded telemarketing messages" on debt relief services. Kasm, one of the defendants involved in the alleged scheme, agreed to a proposed consent order that would prohibit the company from making any misrepresentations identified in the complaint (docket 3:23-cv-00313). The proposed consent order also includes a $3.38 million that would be partially suspended "based on their inability to pay, after they pay the FTC $7,500 to be used for consumer redress." “This case targets the ecosystem of companies who perpetrate illegal telemarketing to cheat American consumers who are struggling financially,” said FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Samuel Levine.

The Communications Workers of America said Thursday it's working with Avaya employees after the telecom equipment and software company filed for bankruptcy. Avaya said Tuesday it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and secured $780 million financing as it restructures. “The company expects to complete this process in 60 to 90 days and has made certain assurances including keeping the business intact by not selling or splitting any of its parts; not making any changes to employees’ pay or benefits; as well as a commitment to maintaining the pension and benefits for retirees,” the union said: CWA “which represents close to 300 active members at Avaya and thousands of retirees, plans to take an active role in the bankruptcy process to protect the interests of workers and retirees.” Similar to Avaya’s last bankruptcy filing “we are seeking a seat on the Unsecured Creditors Committee to ensure that the Company implements the provisions included in its restructuring plan and lives up to its commitment to workers,” CWA said.

The FCC committed more than $24 million in additional Emergency Connectivity Fund support Wednesday. The new funding will support more than 140 schools, eight libraries and three consortiums from the third application filing window. Nearly $6.6 billion in funding has been approved to date, said a news release.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau sent a cease and desist order to alleged robocaller One Eye Wednesday, saying the company was the successor to PZ/Illum, which the agency had already targeted. One Eye’s owner, Prince Anand, “explained that he shut down PZ/Illum” because of a letter from the FCC, but "he then launched One Eye LLC to originate calls, leaving his name off the paperwork while remaining the only owner,” said an FCC news release. “Illegal robocallers cannot hide,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel: “So we’re cutting them off at the source. We have an all hands-on-deck approach to combatting this problem with teams across the agency and partnerships in states across the country.” The bureau also issued a notice warning all U.S.-based voice service providers “about substantial amounts of apparently unlawful robocalls transmitted by One Eye.” The company didn’t comment.

Consumer groups opposed a petition by DentalPlans.com seeking a declaratory ruling by the FCC that renewal notifications don’t constitute a violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and that the language in the company’s online enrollment forms and also used by its customer service representatives satisfies TCPA disclosure requirements. “The determination the Petition asks the Commission to make is highly fact-dependent, but the necessary facts are not in the record, and it is quite likely that if the Petitioner placed its version of the facts in the record those facts would be disputed,” consumer groups said in a filing posted Monday in docket 02-278: “Contrary to the assertions made in the Petition, the text of the prerecorded calls in question … show that they are ‘advertising’ and ‘telemarketing,’ as defined by the Commission’s regulations, necessitating prior express written consent.” The filing was made by the National Consumer Law Center, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the National Association of Consumer Advocates, Public Knowledge and U.S. PIRG. “DentalPlans’ renewal ‘notifications’ are clearly telemarketing,” said Deborah Bradley, a Maryland consumer who sued the company alleging TCPA violations in federal court in Maryland. “DentalPlans quite tellingly omitted the text of its prerecorded message robocalls from its Petition; the messages themselves easily illustrate that they are designed to encourage the purchase of property, goods or services,” Bradley commented. The Professional Associations for Customer Engagement (PACE) supported DentalPlans’ arguments. Congress and the FCC have recognized that not every call made using an automatic dialer or prerecorded voice “should be presumptively unlawful,” PACE said. “If the purpose of the TCPA was to curb unsolicited telemarketing calls, it is sensible that non-marketing calls be excluded from the TCPA’s restrictions,” the group said.