Some of the radio communications worked during the Jan. 20 Washington Metrorail smoke incident inside L’Enfant Plaza station, but emergency responders from outside of the Washington Metro Area Transportation Authority had trouble with communications, said witnesses during a National Transportation Safety Board investigative hearing Tuesday. From the early stages of the incident, one of the rescue squads experienced radio problems, said Derron Hawkins, deputy chief of D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services. Once the first arriving unit entered the station from the mezzanine level, responders started experiencing more problems, he said. The commander had problems with his radio on the day of the incident, he said. When the system failed to operate, the commander used his BlackBerry phone to communicate with the officials on the scene, Hawkins said. “The process may not have run smooth as we would like it to become, but we are doing things to improve that.” The underground public safety radio system works but is delicate and requires a high level of maintenance, said Scott Goldstein, acting fire chief for Montgomery County (Maryland) Fire and Rescue Service. There were no reported issues on WMATA's communications channel, said Ronald Bodmer, director of Metro Transit Police Department's Office of Emergency Management. In the station, some officers reported some blocking of the radio during the incident. Before the incident, ongoing testing was an informal process, said Marshall Epler, deputy chief of COM and NET systems for WMATA's Department of Transit Infrastructure and Engineering Services. If one of the local jurisdictions found fault with its system, it would contact the WMATA maintenance radio manager who would put in a work ticket and the department would rectify the problem, he said. Now, the first thing WMATA is doing is testing local jurisdictions weekly, Epler said. “We animated a map,” he said. “On this map, you can now tell carriers that have poor radio coverage based on maximum work tickets.” It's extremely difficult to maintain a radio system, Epler said. WMATA’s current radio system was designed to provide radio coverage in 95 percent of the public areas in a station 95 percent of the time, he said. April 17, WMATA announced early action items, which included a radio maintenance program. Last week, a Federal Transit Administration report raised some issues with the quality of the rail system's radio communications (see 1506170053).

The New York State Public Service Commission seeks comment on an assessment of the state of telecom there, said PSC news release. The assessment considers technologies used, availability and trends, consumption adoption patterns and regulatory interests associated with each segment. Over the next several months, the PSC will conduct six public forums across the state as it charts a future course for telecom policy and regulatory oversight, it said. The commission is performing the evaluation because evolution of technology spurred by the development of the Internet and broadband is profoundly changing the fundamental concept of communication services in the state, it said. “The Internet and broadband have emerged as a powerful technology, and as a result, existing rules governing the mechanisms, business models and regulatory construct for overseeing voice, cable and broadband communications, some of which were put in place decades ago, need to be examined to ensure that they are adequate to meet today’s consumer needs,” said Commission Chair Audrey Zibelman. In response to growing competition in voice services, the commission and the legislature previously opted to streamline the regulatory process to allow more flexibility and reduce regulatory burdens to ensure traditional carriers remain competitive, the PSC said. The PSC said the regulatory interests include the maintenance of public safety communications, including the provision of advanced next-generation E-911 to all New Yorkers; reliable, resilient and open network architecture; affordable rates; service quality standards; universal service; and consumer protections. It must also consider new priorities that include the promotion and availability of world-class advanced voice, video and broadband services to all New Yorkers regardless of their location or economic status, the agency said.

Washington County, Tennessee, was certified as a connected community by Connected Tennessee Tuesday, said a news release from Connected Nation. The county also introduced a Technology Action Plan, to build on Washington County’s digital foundation, the release said. Washington County is the fourth certified connected community in Tennessee and 54th in the U.S.

Clickbooth spammed more than 100,000 XMission email addresses, said a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City asking for more than $60 million in damages. Clickbooth is an Internet marketing company based in Florida and XMission is Utah’s first ISP. The lawsuit accuses Clickbooth of violating the federal Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act by sending unwanted emails to XMission customers.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad signed the Connect Every Acre high-speed broadband bill Monday, said a news release from the Republican governor’s office. It said the bill, House File 655, encourages expansion of high-speed broadband to the entire state, helping to foster growth for modern agriculture, increase access for rural communities and school districts, and connect small business to the global market. The bill passed the Iowa Senate 48-2 June 4 (see 1506050053) and the House 82-12 that day.

The National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates supports the FCC's effort to expand Lifeline service to include broadband Internet access, it said in a news release Thursday. That day, the agency adopted along party lines Lifeline changes so that it doesn't subsidize just phone service for the poor (see 1506180029). NASUCA has supported the effort to ensure that all Americans can receive affordable access to essential communications services, including expanding the Lifeline program to include broadband, it said.

Members of the Communications Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers who work for FairPoint Communications did informational picketing at company headquarters in Portland, Maine, Thursday to protest the company’s unwillingness to compromise on significant issues during talks about the recently announced layoff of more than 10 percent of FairPoint's northern New England workforce (see 1505150013), said a news release from Fairness@FairPoint, which is made up of CWA and IBEW members. Since FairPoint announced in May it would lay off employees, leaders of the unions have met with company representatives to discuss the layoff process in an effort to reduce the number of workers who will lose their jobs, it said. Union leaders said the company has refused to cooperate on several issues of importance, and the unnecessary cuts will further erode already severely compromised service quality for the region’s telecommunications customers. “There is absolutely no shortage of work out there,” said Peter McLaughlin, business manager of IBEW Local 2327 in Maine. “The company is forcing hundreds of workers to work overtime and many are on permanent standby at locations where the company is planning to cut positions.” Customer service and satisfaction is the company's top priority, and it's confident it has the workforce to deliver quality service, emailed a FairPoint spokeswoman. "Telecom is a highly competitive industry and have seen our voice lines decline by over 15 percent in the past two years," she said. "We need to align the size of our workforce to meet the needs of the business. The size of our workforce is based upon the ongoing needs of the business. Like any prudent business, we are going to manage spikes in demand rather than staff to the highest point. We have the ability to use overtime and recall employees on lay off if needed." Leaders of Fairness@FairPoint cite widespread rumors of an imminent sale.

Industry members should educate New York State policymakers and community leaders about the economic, societal and cultural benefits that wireless broadband technologies offer throughout the state, PCIA President Jonathan Adelstein told the New York State Wireless Association’s Wireless Forum 2015 Wednesday, said a PCIA release. It said he lauded NYSWA's ongoing municipal and state advocacy efforts on behalf of the wireless industry. Among NYSWA's advocacy initiatives is the first-ever independent assessment of the commercial mobile sector's benefit to New York State's employment, tax base and economic growth prospects, said PCIA.

Among many other problems, the quality of the Washington, D.C., area's Metrorail radio system and radio communications significantly affect the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's ability to schedule and do maintenance work, to manage abnormal and emergency events, and to ensure the safety of trains and personnel on the right-of-way, said a report released Wednesday by the Federal Transit Administration. WMATA’s communications system includes the comprehensive radio communications system, conventional mobile radio systems, Metro transit police mobile data terminals, public safety radio system interfaces, public safety system distributed antenna system, fire and intrusion alarm systems and a yard security system, as well the Metrorail station digital video recorder system and parking garage closed circuit TV, the report said. WMATA views the report as a road map for continuous safety improvements, it said in a statement. "We will strengthen our operations, customer service and safety culture through training, staffing and ensuring compliance of safety policies and procedures," WMATA said. "We remain committed to creating an even safer system."

Jonathan Adelstein, PCIA president; James Young, Crown Castle International chief operating officer; and Jessica Zufolo, FirstNet director-federal grants strategy, will keynote Wednesday at the New York State Wireless Association's Wireless Forum, a release from NYSWA said. Adelstein will speak at 8 a.m. on the business, deployment and regulatory trends driving the wireless infrastructure industry, it said. Young will outline the wireless infrastructure industry’s growth and transformation, at 11:30 a.m. Zufolo will highlight the strides being made in strengthening emergency first response through wireless technologies and federal funding, at 3 p.m. The forum is at Chelsea Piers, NYSWA said.