The “911 exception” to the FCC’s IP Relay Service rules has been eliminated, said the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau in an order Tuesday (http://bit.ly/S75J80). The FCC had required IP relay providers to let unverified users of its service place calls to 911 operators. 911 centers began seeing a growing trend of “spoofing 911 calls via IP Relay,” the bureau said. Sprint told the bureau last month that IP relay has been used to “trick Public Safety Answering Points” into “dispatching emergency services based on false reports of emergency situations,” the order said. Because these calls at times have required the dispatch of police special weapons and tactical teams, “this mischief has been referred to as ’swatting.'” Because those actions “have the potential to cause alarm and even danger for the targeted residents and emergency service personnel, in addition to wasting the limited resources of emergency responders,” the bureau granted a one-year waiver of the requirement that IP relay providers enable unverified IP relay registrants to place calls to 911 during a “guest period.” Allowing such use of the service for 911 calls “endangers the safety the public,” said the bureau. It said the agency will proceed with a rulemaking on this and other issues addressing the provision of IP Relay services.

Part of the FCC rural call completion order may need clarification, said the Wireline Bureau in a public notice Monday seeking comment on the need to “clarify Appendix C” (http://fcc.us/1jxp1KN). That appendix describes criteria for categorizing different types of call attempts. It’s possible that “the relevant criteria in Appendix C were inadvertently drafted in a way that fails to reflect the Commission’s clear intent” regarding the “answered” and “ring no answer” categories of call attempts, the bureau said. Level 3 and Verizon have met with commission staff recently to explain that one of the codes identified in the appendix to denote an answered call is also used to indicate that the calling party has hung up before the called party answered, the bureau said. “Level 3 contends that including calling-party hangups as answered calls would result in a ‘much higher’ reported call-completion rate than a provider would report if it excluded them,” the notice said. Verizon expressed concern about using call signaling data to identify “ring no answer” calls. Comments in docket 13-39 will be due seven days after publication in the Federal Register.

The FCC said it plans to give the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) information that E-rate applicants submitted in FCC Form 471 Item 21, along with funding request number (FRN)-level data from the Universal Service Administrative Co.’s (USAC) Program Integrity Assurance (PIA) review classifications, in response to an IMLS request. Form 471 Item 21 provides “a narrative description of products and services for which discounts are sought, as well as line item detail and the cost associated with the products and services,” the FCC said in a Friday public notice. USAC’s PIA reviewers determine each FRN based on the predominant service or requested product involved, such as voice services, the FCC said. The commission said it “recognizes that this disaggregated, filer-specific data” should generally be exempt from public disclosure, but said it can disclose such information to IMLS because it’s a federal agency. IMLS said in its request that it’s using the data for policy research, to identify national library and museums’ needs and to measure how federal programs affect both institutions. IMLS said it would maintain the data’s confidentiality by restricting access to a minimal number of staff members, and plans to refer any Freedom of Information Acts requests to the FCC. Affected parties have until April 28 to protest IMLS’s request. The FCC said if it does not receive any oppositions by that time, it will disclose the data to IMLS (http://bit.ly/RvIaoX).

After several extensions, Vonage is in compliance with the FCC’s rule banning fake ringing tones, it told the FCC in a letter Thursday (http://bit.ly/1l9er2f). Vonage “has undertaken significant efforts to come into compliance with the Rule on such a short deadline,” it said.

Neustar urged the full FCC to take responsibility for selection of a new Local Number Portability Administrator (LNPA), rather than delegating that authority to the Wireline Bureau. Selection of a neutral numbering administrator is a “Commission responsibility that is not within the authority of the Bureau,” Neustar said in a letter to the FCC Monday (http://bit.ly/RmOrDw). “Given the significance of the LNPA-selection decision, the Commission should not delegate that decision to the Wireline Competition Bureau but should instead address the issue in an order by the full Commission,” Neustar said. “The Commission has not, to date, made any such delegation of authority, and it should not do so.” The bureau has approved a “framework” to govern evaluation of proposals by North American Portability Management LLC and the North American Numbering Council (NANC), but “nothing in any prior Commission order has authorized the Bureau to act on the NANC’s recommendation,” Neustar said. Neustar previously asked the Wireline Bureau to mandate a new round of bids, which the bureau declined to do (CD Feb 12 p7).

Price cap ILECs are concerned that the FCC might recommend an increase in the broadband speed requirement for Connect America Fund Phase II buildout (CD April 8 p1), without recommending concurrent changes in other terms for areas where carriers can elect cost model-based support, USTelecom and member ILECs told agency officials last week (http://bit.ly/1nn3HKG). The commission should “postpone commencement of a challenge process” to determine Phase II eligible census blocks until it decides on the speed requirements, USTelecom said. Any increase in speed requirements should also come with a revised 10-year term of support, USTelecom said, which would be “consistent with the substantially increased costs of deploying a higher-speed network.” Currently, Phase II support would be distributed over a five-year period. To the extent the agency proposes to increase the broadband public interest obligations by requiring high-cost eligible telecom carriers to offer high-speed broadband to schools and libraries, “such obligations should apply only to CAF II recipients who knowingly accept or decline funding with the associated obligations,” USTelecom said. Applying new obligations to ETCs who get legacy frozen support is “totally arbitrary,” it said. USTelecom also expressed concern about the schedule for phasing in the local rate floor. “The proposed $3.00 increase to be implemented January 2, 2015, followed 18 months later by another increase in excess of $3.00 will create rate shock among consumers and exceeds the threshold established in several states for the level of local rate increases that can be implemented without time-consuming and expensive state rate cases,” it said.

Qualified interconnected VoIP providers should get direct access to phone numbers, Vonage told aides to every FCC commissioner Wednesday and Thursday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/1eqYSzK). The commission has developed an “extensive record” over the last three years, including “real-world data from the numbering trial,” that demonstrates the benefits of direct access, Vonage said. Direct access promotes IP interconnection, the VoIP provider said: During its numbering trials, it was able to reach IP interconnection agreements with multiple providers, including Verizon. “There is little doubt that Vonage would be able to greatly expand its IP interconnections if the Commission were to adopt its proposed rule allowing direct access by interconnected VoIP providers, as the value of an IP interconnection arrangement for a potential IP interconnection partner is directly related to the volume of customer telephone numbers that Vonage can provide access to under the IP interconnection arrangement,” the VoIP provider said. IP interconnection drives several consumer benefits, such as the provision of innovative products, lower costs and improved service quality, Vonage said: “Granting direct access to telephone numbers to qualified interconnected VoIP providers is a simple, concrete step, supported by an extensive record, that the Commission should take now to advance the IP transition."

The FCC needs to make continued Lifeline program overhaul a priority, the “Lifeline Reform 2.0 Coalition” told the agency in a letter Monday. The coalition is comprised of Telrite, Blue Jay Wireless, Global Connection of America and i-wireless. The Lifeline program would benefit from a rule change permitting eligible telecom carriers (ETCs) to retain proof of eligibility for audit purposes, and to “respond to negative media stories that claim an ETC did not require proof of eligibility, the coalition said. ETCs should be required to do a non-commission-based review and approval of all enrollments, the group said. Minimum standards for state eligibility databases would enable real-time enrollment and “guard against denying Lifeline service to eligible consumers,” the group said. The coalition also asked for a safe harbor from enforcement actions for alleged duplicate enrollments for Lifeline subscribers that have been submitted to the National Lifeline Accountability Database (NLAD) or a similar state database. Commission rules don’t define a “duplicate” for purposes of the one-per-household rule, the coalition said. “Despite the lack of clarity regarding duplicate accounts prior to NLAD implementation, the Commission has undertaken a misguided and harmful process of proposing multi-million dollar fines against ETCs for failing to eradicate 100 percent of end-user fraud allegedly perpetrated in the form of intra-company duplicate enrollments in the Lifeline program,” it wrote. “The Commission should establish a safe harbor reflecting a minimum level of due diligence that a Lifeline ETC should employ to screen for duplicates.” A Lifeline provider that has conducted appropriate due diligence to identify duplicates should not be liable for retroactive reimbursements to USF, the coalition said.

If the FCC plans to revise “core elements” of the Connect American Fund Phase II program -- such as the cost model or the challenge process -- it should reopen all core elements to eliminate aspects that are not competitively neutral, the American Cable Association said in meetings with aides to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn, Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel Thursday (http://bit.ly/1ijdiBs). For CAF Phase II competitive bidding to be successful, the maximum number of qualified providers need to participate, ACA said. Many of ACA’s small and mid-sized cable operators want to participate, but will only do so if “unreasonable barriers are eliminated,” ACA said. That’s why they're “heartened” to hear the commission is considering streamlining the eligible telecom carrier designation process, ACA said. ACA recommended several changes to CAF Phase II: non-ETCs should be able to apply to become an ETC after winning a bid, and groups that participate in the competitive bidding process should need only one ETC. ACA recommended a 60-90 day shot clock should be instituted for state decisions, and that states be prohibited from imposing requirements in addition to those adopted by the commission.

AT&T’s “advanced discussions” on deploying gigabit fiber broadband to six North Carolina cities shows incumbent providers “have moved a long way in their thinking” about next-generation network deployments, said Gig.U Executive Director Blair Levin Friday during a speech at the Connecticut Gigabit Summit. AT&T said Thursday it was entering final negotiations for the deployments with the North Carolina Next Generation Network (NCNGN), an initiative among six municipal governments and four research universities -- Duke, North Carolina State, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Wake Forest (CD April 11 p14). The AT&T negotiations don’t mean “we've hit a tipping point but we know a lot more about what any provider, including incumbents, need,” Levin, former manager of the National Broadband Plan, said in a prepared version of the speech. Although NCNGN’s “multi-community collaboration entailed upfront costs and a feeling of slogging that often accompanies multi-stakeholder coordination, it brought scale to the project,” Levin said. Since scale is important to providers, regional approaches “may be the only way some communities obtain an upgrade,” he said. NCNGN used a Request for Proposal (RFP) process to obtain feedback on the AT&T proposal from all community stakeholders, which “is a model that can be utilized by other communities throughout the country,” Levin said. The RFP process works only if local governments get flexibility, so “taking options off the table takes away the creativity and leverage local governments need to obtain new investments,” he said.