Today's Regulatory Mix: US Congress PHONE Act, FCC Adopts New Robocall Rules to Promote STIR/SHAKEN Implementation, FCC To Examine 911 Fee Diversion
US Congress PHONE Act
The House of Representatives passed, by voice vote, H.R. 1289, the "Preserving Home and Office Numbers in Emergencies Act of 2020" or "PHONE Act of 2020": The Act prohibits providers of voice service from reassigning phone numbers of residential subscribers in areas subject to a major disaster declaration, for up to two years after the declaration. The bill also prohibits providers of voice service from assessing early termination fees to cancel service, or connection fees to re-subscribe at a new address, for subscribers whose residence is rendered inaccessible or uninhabitable due to a major disaster.
In response to the bill’s passage, Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA) released the following joint statement:
“This important legislation is necessary to provide some stability for consumers left homeless by natural disasters – which is, tragically, a growing problem as climate change continues to produce an unprecedented number of wildfires, hurricanes and flooding,” said Pallone and Doyle. “Families who lose their homes in a natural disaster should not have to worry about their phone company giving their phone numbers away to someone else. We are proud of the work that went into this legislation and thank all our colleagues for working with us to get it passed today.”
Also in response to the bill’s passage, Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Greg Walden (R-OR) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Republican Leader Bob Latta (R-OH) released the following statement:
“From wildfires in the West to hurricanes in the South, natural disasters have impacted the lives of many Americans. The last thing families should worry about when displaced from their leveled homes is whether they need to get a new landline phone number. The PHONE Act builds on the FCC’s existing process to give families suffering from natural disasters this certainty,” said Walden and Latta. “We thank our House colleagues for working with us to make improvements to this legislation, and we look forward to working with Senate colleagues to further improve the bill.”
FCC Adopts New Robocall Rules to Promote STIR/SHAKEN Implementation
The FCC announced that it has adopted new rules to further promote implementation of the STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication framework to protect against malicious caller ID spoofing. The new rules make clear the obligations and deadlines for voice service providers regarding caller ID authentication, advance the use of caller ID authentication across the nation’s phone networks, and prohibit voice service providers from adding any line item charges to the bills of consumer or small business customer subscribers for caller ID authentication technology.
Among other things, the Order requires intermediate providers to implement STIR/SHAKEN so that IP calls retain caller ID authentication throughout the call path and grants limited extensions of the STIR/SHAKEN implementation deadline to: small voice providers; voice service providers that are currently incapable of obtaining a “certificate” necessary to implement STIR/SHAKEN; services scheduled for discontinuance; and non-IP networks. The new rules stipulate that providers receiving an extension must implement robocall mitigation programs. By requiring robocall mitigation by providers that have not yet implemented caller ID authentication, the rules combat robocalls even from networks that are not yet capable of participating in STIR/SHAKEN.
Inteserra Briefing Service subscribers stay tuned for the upcoming Briefing once the full text is released.
FCC To Examine 911 Fee Diversion
At its Open Meeting, the FCC voted to open a proceeding to examine ways to combat 911 fee diversion—the practice by some states and other jurisdictions of using the 911 fees that consumers pay on their phone bills for non-911 purposes. The FCC will seek comment on the effect that 911 fee diversion has had on the provision of 911 services and the transition to Next Generation 911. It also asks for input on ways that it or other entities could discourage 911 fee diversion, such as restricting federal grant funding for diverting states. The Commission also seeks comment on regulatory steps that it could take to deter fee diversion, such as limiting the availability of FCC licenses and other benefits based on fee diversion or using the FCC's truth-in-billing authority to increase consumer awareness of fee diversion where it. In addition, the FCC asks whether it could improve its annual 911 fee reporting process to further discourage fee diversion.
Recent Briefing Headlines from Inteserra:
District of Columbia Approves Relief Plan For 202 NPA
FCC Announces Effective Date Of Call Blocking Safe Harbor And Single Point of Contact Rules
FCC RDOF Information Collections Become Effective
FCC Requests Comment on Rural Call Completion Report
Nevada Seeks Comment On Late Fees Rule
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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.
