The Regulatory Mix, TMI’s daily blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of a TMI Briefing.
FCC CMRS E911 Location Accuracy Reports
The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (Bureau) released a Public Notice containing guidance for CMRS providers to file periodic E911 location accuracy live call data reports as required by FCC rules. TMI Briefing Service subscribers see Briefing dated 2/24/15. The guidance includes instructions and a standard form for CMRS providers to use in filing such reports. CMRS providers must file their initial live 911 call data reports by February 3, 2017. CMRS providers may request confidential treatment of their live 911 call data reports pursuant to rules established FCC by submitting a request with the first report filed. Unless otherwise specified by the filing party, the FCC will presume that a CMRS provider’s initial request for confidential treatment is intended to request the same confidential treatment for all subsequent reports filed by that provider.
FCC White Paper on Cybersecurity Risk Reduction
The FCC’s Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau released a White Paper describing the risk reduction portfolio of the current FCC and suggesting actions that would continue to affirmatively reduce cyber risk in a manner that incents competition, protects consumers, and reduces significant national security risks. Among the actions highlighted in the paper are: (1) promoting best practices for cyber risk management; (2) making cybersecurity a forethought not an afterthought by promoting security by design efforts to incorporate cybersecurity during the development phase of new products and services and requiring licensees for 5G wireless networks to submit a cybersecurity plan; (3) increasing situational awareness by strengthening network outage and data breach reporting requirements; (4) improving information sharing of real-time cyber threat information; and (5) establishing cybersecurity as integral to the Public Interest in connection with merger reviews.
California PUC Grants Funding
The PUC granted funding in the amount of $933,488 from the California Advanced Service Fund-Rural and Regional Urban Consortia Account for the grant application of Eastern Sierra Connect Regional Broadband Consortium ($126,700), Broadband Consortium Pacific Coast ($250,000), Northern California Connects Consortium ($289,343), and Upstate California Connects Consortium ($267,445). These projects are expected to enhance public safety in the Eastern Sierra, the Pacific Coast Tri-County Area and the Northeastern regions of California in the event of fire, flooding, and earthquakes.
New York Proposed Reform Act of 2017
Proposed Bill No. A01958 would enact the "omnibus telecommunications reform act of 2017"; reform competitive cable service; promote wide-spread development of high-capacity broadband internet access; and ensure the safety, reliability, and affordability of telecommunications services. A new broadband development authority would be established and would be governed by a 17-member board of directors, including a commissioner from the Public Service Commission and two members from the wireline and wireless telecommunications unions of New York. The legislation would also require the PSC to submit several reports including, among other things, detailed analysis: (1) of New York's existing E911 networks and the next generation technological solutions (2) of the actual retail availability of wireline, wireless cellular, and fixed-wireless broadband communications modalities across the state (organized by census tract), (3) all federal, state, local, et al funding mechanisms that can be applied for and used to fund broadband deployment in New York, (4)examining whether wireless telephone service providers' policies include adequate consumer protections.
