Today:  US House Hearing on Rural Broadband, US Senate Seeks Information on Google Data Privacy Policies, FCC Consolidation of NANPA and Pooling Administrator 

US House Hearing on Rural Broadband

The House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, chaired by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), announced it will hold a hearing on July 17, 2018 entitled, “Realizing the Benefits of Rural Broadband: Challenges and Solutions.”  The hearing will allow members to receive a status update on broadband infrastructure solutions as well as the progress being made by the administration and the private sector.  “In many rural communities across the country, including in my home state, broadband access continues to lag.  Bridging this gap is a top priority for me and many members of the subcommittee.  I’m pleased we have already taken steps to remove federal barriers to deployment, improve spectrum availability, and provide critical funding for unserved areas.  With our sights set on NTIA reauthorization, our work doesn’t stop here, but this hearing is an important opportunity to check in on the progress made so far this Congress,” said Chairman Blackburn.

US Senate Seeks Information on Google Data Privacy Policies

U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) sent a letter to Alphabet Inc. CEO Larry Page, requesting information about the privacy policy and practices associated with popular Gmail email service offered through the company’s Google subsidiary company Google.  The committee’s information request cites a report in the Wall Street Journal that third party application developers, granted access to Gmail accounts by consumers, have used both human employees and automated systems to read user e-mails for a variety of purposes.  The letter requests a response by July 24, 2018.  Among other things, the letter asks whether Google requires developers of apps requesting access to Gmail data to conform to any privacy or data protection policies; whether it manually reviews developers and apps requesting access to Gmail data to ensure that the developers and apps accurately represent themselves and only request relevant data; whether it reviews apps' compliance with Google's policies and suspends them if they fall out of compliance; and whether it  allows its own employees to access the content of Gmail users' personal emails.

FCC Consolidation of NANPA and Pooling Administrator

The FCC has directed the North American Numbering Council (NANC) to advise it on consolidating the contracts of two numbering administrators—the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA) and the Pooling Administrator (PA)—to bring about more cost-efficient and effective operations by a combined entity (NANPA/PA).  The FCC determined that the benefits of consolidation are greater than any risks and that, therefore, “the time has come to develop a consolidation plan.”

As an initial step towards consolidating the two contracts, the FCC directed NANC, working through its Numbering Administration Oversight Working Group (NAOWG), to develop a Technical Requirements Document (TRD) for its review.  The TRD must contain a single, unified set of functional and interface requirements for the new NANPA/PA entity and must consider and address any concerns identified by the NAOWG.  The NAOWG will then present its proposed TRD to the NANC for its evaluation and approval.  After the NANC approves a draft TRD, the FCC will issue a Public Notice soliciting comments from interested parties.  NANC was directed to submit a draft TRD by September 24, 2018.

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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.