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.

Front Range Internet completed a fully redundant, 10 GB fiber network upgrade, it said in a news release. FRII is one of northern Colorado’s longest-standing Internet and commercial data services providers and has been principally serving regional businesses and municipalities with a 1 GB fiber network since 2002, it said. The network is part of a series of infrastructure investments, including a $2.3 million data center that was completed by FRII early this year, it said. The network’s fiber ring utilizes the existing underground cable of the Platte River Power Authority and has redundant fiber connections to ensure uninterrupted connectivity, it said.

The Connecticut Siting Council rejected Tower Holding’s application for a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need for a cell tower and training facility in Farmington, Connecticut, during a meeting last week, said an attorney for the council. The tower has been a point of contention in the community, getting opposition from neighborhood residents since the beginning of the application process. The council found that the effects associated with the construction, maintenance and operation of a telecommunications/training facility at the proposed site aren't possible to weigh when compared with need, and, as such, can't be determined to be in harmony with policies of the state concerning such effects, thus presenting cause to deny this application, said a draft of the decision in docket No. 454. The council staff is incorporating into the draft documents the revisions and recommendations that council members expressed during the meeting, the attorney said.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office wrote eBay and PayPal Tuesday about the companies' amended user agreements and their potential to allow "robo-messaging." The letters point to particular sections of the updated agreements that Schneiderman's office said allow PayPal and eBay to contact "customers using 'autodialed or prerecorded calls and text messages' for a wide range of purposes, including to 'collect a debt, poll opinions through surveys or questionnaires' and 'contact [users] with offers and promotions.'" The FCC sent its own letter to PayPal Thursday, saying it's "concerned that these amendments [to the user agreements] may violate federal laws governing the use of autodialed, prerecorded, and artificial voice calls, including text messages." The FCC also repeated its rules for collecting written consent from customers before beginning robocalls, and warned that the current language of the user agreement might violate regulations. The commission said it prohibits a company from "requiring a consumer to consent to receive autodialed or prerecorded telemarketing or advertising calls as a condition of purchasing any property, good, or service, and the company must give consumers notice of their right to refuse to give such consent." Schneiderman's office requested answers to questions in its letters to both companies be submitted by June 19. "We have received a letter from the FCC and the New York State Attorney General's office, and look forward to responding," a PayPal spokesperson said Thursday. "We strive to be as clear as possible with our customers and clarified our policies and practices las[t] week on the PayPal blog. Our customers can choose not to receive autodialed or prerecorded message calls."

Nevada’s definition of personal information in data security law expands July 1. It will include: a username, unique identifier or email address in combination with a password, access code, or security question and answer that would permit access to an online account; medical identification or health insurance identification number; and a driver authorization card number, said a Hunton & Williams blog post Tuesday. Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval signed AB-179 into law in May, his office has said. “Although Nevada’s data security law previously excluded ‘publicly available information ... lawfully made available to the general public’ from the definition of personal information," the law firm said, the bill "narrows the scope of that exclusion, limiting it to information available ‘from federal, state or local governmental records.’”

Residents in Vermont can now get 10 Gbps Internet service to their homes for $400 a month from VTel, said a news release from the company. VTel’s 10 Gbps residential Internet is being funded by an $85 million VTel phone network award from the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service, it said. The project is expected to be complete by June 30, it said Thursday.