Consumers received nearly 5 billion unwanted robocalls in March, up 15% from February, said a YouMail report Friday (see 2303200005). "March's increase in robocall volume is disappointing, as we've been expecting the call volumes to start to decline, given the significant enforcement efforts and in-network call blocking now done by the carriers," said YouMail CEO Alex Quilici. The most common type of robocall campaign was a telemarketing call selling low-cost health insurance, the report said.
The FCC Public Safety Bureau said it’s now classifying its internet routing proceeding as an exempt proceeding, in which ex parte presentations may be made freely but don’t require subsequent notice. The FCC sought comment last year in a notice of inquiry (see 2202250062). “Accordingly, ex parte presentations to or from Commission decision-making personnel are permissible and need not be disclosed,” the bureau said Wednesday, noting it did that to “facilitate the free exchange of exploratory ideas among the staff of Federal agencies and interested stakeholders working toward the important goal of promoting secure Internet routing.”
The reconstituted FCC Disability Advisory Committee will hold its initial meeting April 26 at 1 p.m. EDT, said a notice in Tuesday’s Daily Digest. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel named as co-chairs Kim Charlson, executive director of Perkins Library at Perkins School for the Blind, and Kyle Dixon, NCTA deputy general counsel. The meeting will be virtual.
The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau granted ClearCaptions full certification for five years to provide IP captioned telephone service supported by the Telecom Relay Services Fund, said an order Tuesday in docket 03-123.
AT&T said Monday it will release Q1 results April 20 before the opening of the New York Stock Exchange. AT&T plans a financial call at 8:30 a.m. EDT that day to discuss the results.
Industry groups sought mild changes to clarifications made by the Rural Utilities Service regarding the ReConnect program in comments posted Monday in docket RUS-22-TELECOM-0056 (see 2301270069). Nonfederal entity recipients may need some flexibility in the Buy America provision, said NTCA, asking the agency to "not award scoring preferences to certain kinds of entities based merely upon organizational form." The change made to the Buy America rule is "a helpful clarification that harmonizes the potential inconsistency," said NCTA. Let ReConnect recipients use "consolidated financial statements of a parent" company to satisfy the program's post-award financial reporting requirement, NTCA added, noting the "prohibition on consolidated audited financial statements at the post-award stage limits the benefits of RUS’s decision to provide relief to applicants whose financials are consolidated into their parent company’s financial statements."
NTIA is seeking comment on a proposal to follow FirstNet’s National Environmental Policy Act procedures on an interim basis, and establish 33 categorical exclusions (CEs) in compliance with NEPA, the Council on Environmental Quality regulations and other related authorities, as it awards funds under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Comments are due May 1, said a notice for Thursday’s Federal Register. “To facilitate NTIA’s compliance with the IIJA and because of the critical need to expand and secure broadband access across the United States, NTIA must find opportunities to accelerate provision of its appropriated funding while ensuring it complies with all relevant authorities, including NEPA,” the notice said. A CE doesn’t exempt an action from NEPA review, NTIA said: “Rather, it is one form of environmental review under NEPA. An agency may apply a CE to a proposed action after the agency has carefully reviewed and determined that the action fits within the category of actions encompassed by the CE.” NTIA said it wants to use FirstNet procedures since “the missions, geographic scopes, environmental settings, characteristics and technologies of proposed projects, and, more importantly, outcomes for the application of the FirstNet Authority implementing procedures are expected to be similar when used for the NTIA’s expected programmatic activities and grant programs.”
The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals "erroneously upheld the USF revenue-raising mechanism" in its ruling against Consumers' Research petition on the FCC's Q1 2022 contribution factor, the group told the 11th Circuit (see 2303240049). The group challenged the Q4 2022 factor in the 11th Circuit. The court "never addressed" the group's argument about the nondelegation doctrine's intelligible principle "in the context of revenue-raising," Consumers' Research said in a letter posted Monday (docket 22-13315). The group also said the court "found no private nondelegation violation despite the FCC never bothering to issue a separate approval of [the Universal Service Administrative Co.'s] quarterly proposal and having only 'a small window' for review."
NTIA awarded more than $25.7 million in additional tribal broadband connectivity program support to two tribal nations Thursday. The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota received more than $11.4 million and the Pueblo of Acoma in New Mexico received more than $14.3 million, said a news release. The new funding will support "more than 1,500 tribal households, connecting them to economic and educational opportunities that many of us take for granted," said Administrator Alan Davidson.
The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition raised concerns about the FCC's broadband maps exclusion of anchor institutions. The group told an aide to Commissioner Brendan Carr (see 2302080053) that most anchor institutions are considered non-serviceable locations because they're treated as businesses, per an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 19-195. "If states base their funding decisions on the map, they will not be able to provide funding to ensure that anchor institutions receive gigabit level service as called for in the broadband equity access and deployment program," SHLB said.