Today's Regulatory Mix:  CTIA Announces Abandonment of National Emergency Address Database, US Congress First Responder Act, USDA Reconnect Program Workshop, FCC Updates From 499

CTIA Announces Abandonment of National Emergency Address Database 

CTIA, through its subsidiary NEAD LLC, announced that the National Emergency Address Database (NEAD) Platform has ceased operation and is no longer available to support wireless providers’ provision of dispatchable location information.  It said that while the NEAD-based dispatchable location solution achieved the functional capabilities the FCC described in its 2015 Report, the FCC’s more recent orders recognized that the NEAD faced certain challenges.  Inteserra Briefing Service subscribers see Briefings dated 2/24/15 and 1/7/20. CTIA said that databases’ vendor certification the destruction of the database consistent with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) Guidelines for Media Sanitization (NIST Special Publication 800-88 Revision 1 (2014)).  

In response to the filing, the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International APCO International issued a statement saying in part: “The NEAD was established to help 9-1-1 professionals and other emergency responders locate wireless 9-1-1 callers indoors by supporting the delivery of dispatchable location information (meaning the street address plus apartment, office number or other information needed to find a caller). Given that the industry has not announced testing of other methods for delivering dispatchable locations for 9-1-1 calls, this announcement represents a setback for 9-1-1 location accuracy”  

US Congress First Responder Act 

House Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Greg Walden (R-OR) introduced the First Responder Act. This bill is intended to make sure that first responders have the resources needed to respond to 9-1-1 calls and that funding and technologies allocated for 9-1-1 infrastructure are used for that purpose.  Specifically, it would require the FCC to adopt rules to prevent states from using 911 fees for purposes other than supporting and implementing 9-1-1 services.   The bill would also repeal the statutory requirement that the FCCC auction public safety spectrum in the T-band by 2021 and relocate incumbents by 2023.   

After introducing the bill, Rep. Walden issued a statement saying, in part: “Our first responders deserve to have the tools they need to respond effectively when called for help, including a reliable emergency communications infrastructure. That is why Congress, in 2012, gave public safety valuable spectrum and billions of dollars to the public safety community to launch FirstNet, the national public safety broadband network. While that network is being built out and operated today, it will not be living up to its full potential without a reliable 9-1-1 infrastructure to deliver those calls for help. 

“Americans pay fees every month on their phone bills to support 9-1-1 infrastructure, but in many cases their state politicians divert these resources to spend the money on pet projects unrelated to public safety. This leads to outdated and failing public safety communications networks that put the safety of Americans at risk.” 

USDA Reconnect Program Workshop 

The USDA announced a new technical assistance workshop for those interested in the Rural Development Broadband ReConnect Program.  The event will take place in Arlington, Virginia on February 26-27, 2020 and it is intended for those interested in applying for ReConnect Program funding to facilitate broadband deployment in areas of rural America without sufficient access to broadband.  The two-day workshop will provide attendees with an understanding of the program and application requirements. Topics include:  

• Program eligibility and evaluation criteria  
• Overview of the application system  
• Overview of the financial, network, environmental, and mapping requirements  
• Compliance and post-award reporting 

FCC Updates Form 499  

The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau announced the release of the 2020 version of the FCC’s annual and quarterly Telecommunications Reporting Worksheet (Forms 499-A and 499-Q) and associated instructions.   Among other things, the documents were revised to reflect updated circularity factors based on the quarterly contribution factors for 2019, the FCC’s decision to reclassify SMS and MMS messaging services as information services, and that providers are no longer required to file quarterly the traffic studies relied on to report interstate revenues on Form 499-Q. 

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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.