A federal court set the briefing schedule for Neustar's challenge to an FCC order that gave Telcordia the conditional rights to the next local number portability administrator (LNPA) contract (Neustar v. FCC, No. 15-1080). Under an order issued Wednesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Neustar's brief is due Sept. 14; the FCC's is due Oct. 14; the brief of intervenors CTIA and USTelecom in support of the FCC is due Oct. 29; Neustar's reply is due Nov. 12 and final briefs incorporating a deferred appendix are due Dec. 3. The court issued a notice saying oral argument typically will be scheduled at least 45 days after briefing is completed. Neustar had no comment; it had filed a motion May 7 asking the court for an expedited briefing schedule that resembled the one the court issued Wednesday, albeit almost three months later. In the meantime, the FCC filed a motion May 21 asking the court to dismiss Neustar's challenge as premature, or alternatively hold it in abeyance pending further regulatory actions, because the agency considered its order an interim step in the LNPA selection process. A court motions panel July 21 issued an order that rejected the FCC request to hold the case in abeyance and referred its dismissal motion to the panel that will consider the case on its merits (see 1507210039).

Various groups petitioned the FCC to repeal a rule requiring telcos to retain toll-call data for 18 months. "The mandatory retention of call toll records under Section 42.6 violates the fundamental right to privacy," said the letter submitted by the Electronic Privacy Information Center's advisory board, joined by 26 consumer rights, human rights and civil liberties organizations. "It exposes consumers to data breaches, stifles innovation, and reduces market competition. It is outdated and ineffective. It is not necessary or proportionate for a democratic society." The letter said the FCC opened a rulemaking in 1985 aimed at removing the rule when it required the calling information to be retained only for six months, but in response, the Department of Justice asked and convinced the commission to extend the retention requirement to 18 months. "Many years later, it is abundantly clear that the 18-month data retention rule serves no purpose," said Tuesday's letter. The letter said the DOJ itself acknowledged in 2006 that "the efficacy of the Commission's current Section 42.6 requirement to meet law enforcement needs has been significantly eroded." The DOJ didn't comment. "Telephone service providers are in a much better position than the FCC to decide what call data is worth storing and for how long. By imposing a one-size-fits-all retention model on telcos, the FCC has eliminated any incentive for these companies to compete on privacy and develop more cost-efficient recordkeeping systems," said Berin Szoka, president of Tech Freedom, one of the groups signing the letter, in a release. "It's long past time the Commission repeal this mandate."

The Rural Utilities Service is seeking comment by Sept. 28 on an interim rule incorporating 2014 Agricultural Act ("Farm Bill") changes to its rural broadband loan and loan guarantee program. The comments are to help guide RUS in writing final rules implementing the statutory changes, the agency said, publishing the interim rule in Thursday's Federal Register. RUS was required to incorporate the Farm Bill changes before accepting new applications. In a companion notice, the agency said it was accepting applications through Sept. 30 for the broadband program for FY 2015. The interim rule changes include: (A) setting the minimum level of broadband service initially at 4/1 Mbps; (B) new RUS efforts to determine if an incumbent broadband service provider is present in proposed funding area, which "is critical to whether a loan is eligible for the program"; (C) removing the definition of "underserved" and defining "unserved" as a household or area that isn't offered broadband service, with all proposed funded service areas required to have at least 15 percent unserved households; (D) lending term modifications intended to help loan applications aimed at serving areas with at least 50 percent unserved households; and (E) a requirement that applications be evaluated and prioritized at least twice a year.

The FCC Technological Advisory Council will meet Sept. 24 at agency headquarters, the commission said in last Tuesday's Federal Register. The meeting in the Commission Meeting Room is to start at 1 p.m. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler chaired the TAC before he was named to the commission.

The California PUC asked the FCC for a 30-day extension to file comments on Lifeline USF overhaul proposals, adding to the joint call by three telco trade associations on Friday for such an extension (see 1507310061). The current deadlines are Aug. 17 for initial comments and Sept. 17 for replies, the CPUC said. The CPUC said in a filing posted Monday to docket 11-42 that it needed more time because it runs a Lifeline program that's more comprehensive than the FCC's, "and is accordingly, more complicated to manage." The CPUC also said it needed more time to write comments on the potential interplay between the federal and California Lifeline programs. CTIA, ITTA and USTelecom said an extension was warranted because of the complexity of the FCC proposals to cover broadband and restructure the program's administration, and because the initial comment deadline fell in the middle of the traditional summer vacation period.

USTelecom, CTIA and the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance asked the FCC to extend the comment deadlines by 30 days in the rulemaking to revamp Lifeline USF subsidies to cover broadband and make administration of the program more efficient. Instead of initial comments being due Aug. 17 and replies Sept. 15, they would be due Sept. 16 and Oct. 15, the telco associations said Friday in their request. The groups said the extension was warranted because the reform proposal was "unusually complex" and the current initial deadline fell during the traditional summer holiday period.

The FCC gave 911 service providers flexibility to comply with certification rules intended to ensure emergency communications reliability, provided they explain how they're still reducing the risk of network failure. The FCC order issued Thursday was in response to a request from Intrado that the commission clarify or partially reconsider a 2013 decision requiring 911 communications providers to certify annually they're taking reasonable measures to provide reliable service through "911 circuit diversity, central office backup power, and diverse network monitoring." That order was intended to address 911 failures during the 2012 derecho storm in the east. In clarifying its rules Thursday, the commission said ensuring 911 reliability is a critical statutory public-safety mandate but implementation may vary by service provider or location. "Specifically, we clarify that ... Covered 911 Service Providers may implement and certify an alternative measure for any of the specific certification elements, as long as they provide an explanation of how such alternative measures are reasonably sufficient to mitigate the risk of failure," the order said. "We believe that this should include an explanation of how the alternative will mitigate such risk at least to a comparable extent as the measures specified in our rules." Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said he recognized the importance of reliable emergency communications but added the FCC must do better at getting things right the first time. "The philosophy seems to be act now, fix later," he said in a statement, noting he had dissented from the 2013 order and a follow-up NPRM in April that he said seeks "to expand the needlessly burdensome requirements." While the FCC should act swiftly, he said, it shouldn't do so by writing rules that aren't "fully cooked," which burdens providers that pass costs along to consumers: "For industry to comply, these rules must be relatively stable, not stuck in a continuous cycle of being reconsidered or altered." He said he nevertheless supported the current clarification because it provides "necessary flexibility" to certifying compliance.

The Association for Telecommunications Industry Solutions released task force findings on the challenges facing public safety applications as communications systems migrate to IP-based networks, an ATIS release said Tuesday. "Today, there are a broad range of critical public safety-related applications provisioned on legacy copper networks," ATIS said. "These include alarm circuits to local fire and police departments, circuits to airport towers and alarms, circuits monitoring railroad crossings, as well as those for sensors at gas and power company locations. The ATIS findings offer insight into the solutions needed to advance the all-IP transition for these technologies." A PowerPoint presentation detailing the task force's findings is available here.

Verizon will begin offering the Internet-only HBO Now to its broadband and Verizon Wireless customers, the companies said Tuesday. The service is free for 30 days to Verizon broadband and FiOS Internet customers, they said. HBO content also will be available through Verizon's upcoming over-the-top video service. Verizon is the latest digital distributor of the streaming service, with others including Amazon and Google (see 1507160047).

The FCC wants comment on AT&T's push for regulatory actions to facilitate real-time text (RTT) as a replacement for text telephony (TTY) services that traditionally provide the deaf and others with access to voice communications. Initial comments are due Aug. 24 and replies Sept. 8 on a public notice issued Friday by four FCC bureaus in docket 15-178. The notice seeks comment on AT&T's petition asking the FCC to open a rulemaking aimed at writing rules to shift the text market serving the hearing- and speech-impaired from TTY to RTT solutions in an IP-based environment. It also asks about the telco's petition to temporarily waive rules requiring covered service providers to support TTY services until the new rulemaking is done or AT&T deploys RTT (expected in 2017), whichever comes later. AT&T believes RTT provides service superior to "obsolete" TTY (see 1506150036). AT&T recently asked the FCC for expedited review of its waiver petition so it could compete with rivals that are rapidly deploying IP-based Wi-Fi calling services. AT&T said it needs the waiver to provide its own Wi-Fi calling service. "The failure to grant a waiver on an expedited basis risks placing AT&T at a long-term competitive advantage," the telco said. The FCC public notice seeks comment on whether it should waive the rules for AT&T individually or for all covered entities.