Today:  FCC Remains Open, Colorado Allows County to Raise Monthly 911 Fee, Northern Mariana Islands Opt-In to FirstNet  

FCC Remains Open

The FCC released a statement saying; “In the event of a partial government shutdown, because of available funding, the Federal Communications Commission plans to remain open and pay staff at least through the close of business on Friday, January 26.”

Colorado Allows County to Raise Monthly 911 Fee

The PUC in Colorado has granted an application filed by the Powers County Emergency Telephone Authority to increase its emergency telephone charge from $0.70 to $1.40 per month per service user.  In Colorado, a governing body is statutorily authorized to collect up to 70 cents per month for each exchange access facility, wireless communications access, or interconnected VoIP service to cover 911 service costs within its jurisdiction.  Any charge in excess of the 70 cents must be approved by the PUC and necessary to provide adequate emergency telephone service. 

Northern Mariana Islands Opt-In to FirstNet Completes Process

The commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands has opted into FirstNet completing the process of all 56 states and territories opting in.  Governor Ralph Deleon Guerrero Torres officially accepted the FirstNet and AT&T plan to deliver public safety wireless broadband to the commonwealth.  “Today, Governor Torres made history.  “With his decision to join FirstNet, we are proud to have every U.S. state and territory on the nationwide public safety broadband network,” said FirstNet CEO Mike Poth.  One of the selling points for the Governor was the extension of support and coverage to rural areas and where island topology currently creates gaps. 

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The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’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 an Inteserra Briefing.

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