Today:  FCC Issues Reminder of EAS Dates and Deadlines for 2018 Nationwide Test, FCC Releases 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season Report,  FCC Releases 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season Report, FTC Raises Fees for Telemarketers to Access its National Do Not Call Registry for 2019 

FCC Issues Reminder of EAS Dates and Deadlines for 2018 Nationwide Test

The Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (Bureau) of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a Public Notice reminding all Emergency Alert System (EAS) participants that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in coordination with the FCC, will conduct a nationwide combined test of the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) and EAS on September 20, 2018, with a back-up date of October 3, 2018.  The Bureau also reminds all EAS Participants that they must register with the EAS Test Reporting System (ETRS) and file certain forms. 

Additional information, including instructional videos and answers to frequently asked questions about entering data into the ETRS forms, can be found at https://www.fcc.gov/general/eas-test-reporting-system.

FEMA will send a WEA test message to WEA-capable wireless devices throughout the entire United States and territories.  All wireless providers that have elected to participate in WEA are required to participate in this nationwide test.  The WEA test message will state: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”

FCC Releases 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season Report

The FCC released a report on the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season and its impact on communications.   Among other things, the report covered the following topics:

Emergency call centers on the American mainland seem to have survived each storm relatively well; the FCC did not receive reports of widespread 911 call center outages in those areas affected by the storms.  In contrast, the 911 call centers serving Puerto Rico and the USVI were impacted and were either completely out of service for a period of time (as happened in the USVI) or could not receive the types of information (location, call back number, etc., as happened in both Puerto Rico and the USVI) that both they and the American public have come to expect.  Between them, Puerto Rico and the USVI have only four 911 call centers (two each) to serve 3.4 million people; for some time, none of those call centers were fully functional.

The report includes actions the FCC took during, and in response to, the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season; lessons learned and observations to assist the FCC, service providers, local and regional emergency response authorities, and other stakeholders when confronting hurricanes; and next steps that the FCC will take to improve its disaster response and recovery efforts.

FCC Commissioner Rosenworcel issued a statement about the release stating in part:

“As we are already seeing, Mother Nature’s wrath is sure to visit us again. I hope going forward we can make a greater effort to learn from disasters in a timely way, so we can do more to improve emergency response and infrastructure recovery.”

FTC Raises Fees for Telemarketers to Access its National Do Not Call Registry for 2019

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the FY 2019 fees for telemarketers accessing phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry. 

All telemarketers calling consumers in the United States are required to download the numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry to ensure they do not call consumers who have registered their phone numbers.  The first five area codes are free, and organizations that are exempt, such as some charitable organizations, may obtain the entire list for free.  Telemarketers must subscribe each year for access to the Registry numbers.

The FY 2019 Registry access fees will increase slightly based on a reevaluation, as required by the Do-Not-Call Registry Fee Extension Act of 2007.  Under the Act’s provisions, in FY 2019 telemarketers will pay $63 for yearly access to Registry phone numbers in a single area code (an increase of $1 from FY 2018), up to a maximum charge of $17,406 for all area codes nationwide (up from $17,021 in FY 2018). The fee for accessing an additional area code for a half year will increase to $32.

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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.