Today: FCC Communications Status Report for Hurricane Florence, FCC Intermediate Provider Registry, FTC Returns more than $10 Million to NetSpend Customers 

FCC Communications Status Report for Hurricane Florence

The FCC  has been releasing daily status reports for the areas impacted by Hurricane Florence.  The most recent report incorporates network outage data submitted by communications providers to the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) as of 11:00 a.m. EDT on September 17, 2018.  DIRS currently covers 99 counties in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.  The report said that 6.0% of the cell sites in the affected areas are out of service.  The percentage of cell sites that down in each state are: 0.0% in Virginia; 11.8% in North Carolina; 0.8% in South Carolina; and 0.1% in Georgia.  Based on the report, three Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) have 911 calls rerouted to another PSAP.  Additionally, there are over 187,885 subscribers in North Carolina and 5,073 subscribers in South Carolina currently without cable and wireline service. 

FCC Intermediate Provider Registry

The FCC has begun the process obtaining Office of Management and Budget approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) for its new rule that will require intermediate providers to register with the FCC  before offering to transmit covered voice communications.  Registration will be accomplished via an online portal to be developed by the FCC.  Inteserra Briefing Service subscribers see Briefing dated 8/23/18

PRA comments may be submitted on or before November 19, 2018 and should address:

• whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the FCC, including whether the information shall have practical utility;
• the accuracy of the FCC’s burden estimate;
• ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected;
• ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on the respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and
• ways to further reduce the information collection burden on small business concerns with fewer than 25 employees.

The FCC estimates there will be 168 respondents and the average response time will be 1 hour.

Intermediate providers will be required to register with the FCC within 30 days after the FCC announces that the OMB approval was obtained.

FTC Returns more than $10 Million to NetSpend Customers

The Federal Trade Commission announced it is mailing more than 430,000 checks totaling more than $10 million to people who could nit access money deposited to their NetSpend reloadable prepaid debit cards.  In March 2017, NetSpend agreed to settle FTC allegations that the prepaid card company deceived people about access to their funds deposited on NetSpend debit cards.  In its complaint, the FCC alleged that many NetSpend customers were unable to access their funds, either because NetSpend denied or delayed activation of their card or because NetSpend blocked them from using it. 

To settle the FTC’s charges, NetSpend Corporation agreed to notify and provide refunds to eligible customers who requested them before October 7, 2017. NetSpend also agreed to remit to the FTC any fees collected from NetSpend debit cards that were eligible for refund, but were not paid out during the consumer redress period.  The FTC is using this money to send checks to customers who did not receive a refund previously in this case.  Recipients should deposit or cash checks within 60 days, as indicated on the check.  The FTC never requires people to pay money or provide account information to cash a refund check.

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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.