ATIS PSAP Outage Contact Information

The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) announced publication of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for Updating Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) Outage Contact Information (ATIS-0100068), which provides information on how Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) contact information is to be collected and documented. This new process addresses the challenges associated with identifying PSAP and 9-1-1 authority recipients of outage notifications and the mechanisms for collecting and standardizing contact information.

“This ATIS resource will serve to strengthen situational awareness during 9-1-1 outages,” said ATIS President and CEO Susan Miller. “It is another of the many industry resources ATIS has delivered to advance communications during times of emergency.”

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The Regulatory Mix Today:  ATIS PSAP Outage Contact Information, US Senate 5G Development Bill, US Senate Industries of the Future Act

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US Senate 5G Development Bill

A bipartisan group of leading national security Senators introduced S.3189, the Utilizing Strategic Allied (USA) Telecommunications Act, legislation to encourage and support U.S. innovation in the race for 5G, providing over $1 billion to invest in Western-based alternatives to Chinese equipment providers Huawei and ZTE. The Act would reassert U.S. and Western leadership by encouraging competition with Huawei that capitalizes on U.S. software advantages, accelerating development of an open-architecture model (known as O-RAN) that would allow for alternative vendors to enter the market for specific network components, rather than having to compete with Huawei end-to-end.

Among other things, the Act would:

• Require the FCC to direct at least $750 million, or up to 5% of annual auction proceeds, from new auctioned spectrum licenses to create an O-RAN R&D Fund to spur movement towards open-architecture, software-based wireless technologies, funding innovative, leap-ahead’ technologies in the U.S. mobile broadband market.
• Create a $500 million Multilateral Telecommunications Security Fund, working with our foreign partners, available for 10 years to accelerate the adoption of trusted and secure equipment globally and to encourage multilateral participation, and require reports for Congress on use of proceeds and progress against goals to ensure ample oversight;
• Create a transition plan for the purchase of new equipment by carriers that will be forward-compatible with forthcoming O-RAN equipment so small and rural carriers are not left behind;
• Expand market opportunities for suppliers and promote economies of scale for equipment and devices by encouraging the FCC to harmonize new commercial spectrum allocations with partners where possible, thus promoting greater alignment with allies and driving down the cost of Huawei alternatives.

The bill was sponsored by Senators Mark Warner (D-VA), Richard Burr (R-NC), Marco Rubio (R-FL) Robert Menendez (D-NJ), John Cornyn (R-TX) and Michael Bennet (D-CO). The Senator’s statements are available here.

US Senate Industries of the Future Act

U.S. Senators Cory Gardner (R-CO), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Gary Peters (D-MI) introduced S. 3191, the Industries of the Future Act of 2020. The legislation would advance U.S. global leadership in artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, quantum information science, synthetic biology, and next generation wireless networks and infrastructure.

The Act would:

• Require the Trump Administration to develop a report on the research and development programs of the federal government that focus on Industries of the Future.
• Require a plan for doubling the baseline investments in such industries by 2022 and a plan for increasing civilian spending on Industries of the Future to $10 billion by fiscal year 2025. The bill would also require the Administration to propose legislation to implement such spending plans.
• Require a Coordination Council that would better focus existing entities and require those entities to focus on advancing Industries of the Future.

The senators’ statements are available here.

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The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s 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.