The FCC released a Public Notice today announcing a June 10-12 exercise of the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS). Communications providers, including broadcast, wireless, satellite, broadband, and wireline providers, interested in participating must register by June 3. DIRS is the FCC online system through which providers report information on the operational status of communications assets … Continue Reading
On March 23, 2021, the Kansas Corporation Commission (“KCC”) issued a long-awaited Order resolving jurisdictional and other issues surrounding interconnection and porting issues between Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) providers and rural local exchange carriers (“LECs”) in Kansas. VoIP providers and rural LECs in Kansas have had a long‑running and contentious battle regarding number porting … Continue Reading
With the new James Bond film delayed until the end of the year, the FCC has something to tide everyone over: STIR/SHAKEN – the SIP-based caller ID authentication process. Last year, Congress passed the Traced Act, which required the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) to require caller ID authentication within 18 months of the Traced Act’s … Continue Reading
Before Thanksgiving, a bipartisan group of Senators introduced legislation aimed at decreasing the number of unwanted robocalls. The TRACED Act would expand FCC authority under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), empower the FCC to mandate call authentication rules for voice service providers to cut down on caller ID spoofing, and create an interagency working … Continue Reading
The FCC will vote this month on whether to consider adopting a set of rulings that would limit the authority of cable local franchise authorities (LFAs) in the franchising and regulation of cable systems in response to a recent court case that threatens to expand LFA authority over cable systems and their diverse service offerings. … Continue Reading
Earlier this year, the President signed into federal law the Kari’s Law Act of 2017, a measure aimed at ensuring multi-line telephone systems (MLTS) users can directly access emergency personnel by dialing 911 without first dialing an access code. As you’ve probably observed, the passage of this new federal law was somewhat bittersweet, as the … Continue Reading
It’s that time of year again! (Well, again after a one-year hiatus, that is.) Time for our annual reminder that the annual customer proprietary network information (CPNI) certifications are due by March 1 for most (but not necessarily all) telecommunications carriers and interconnected VoIP providers. CPNI includes a variety of sensitive customer data such as, … Continue Reading
A recent D.C. Circuit Court decision may significantly impact the access charges billed by over-the-top VoIP carriers. In 2015 the Commission issued a declaratory ruling (In re Connect America Fund, 30 FCC Rcd. 1587 (2015) regarding the classification of end office local switching when internet service providers (“ISPs”) collaborate with over-the-top VoIP providers to complete interexchange … Continue Reading
Back in February the FCC released its new E911 standards designed to improve E911 location capability. As we reported in March, most of those new standards were to take effect in April … except for a small handful that happened to be “information collections” and thus subject to the hilariously named Paperwork Reduction Act. Thanks … Continue Reading
In the wake of an impressively cooperative response to the Commission's 2014 proposals, the FCC has established a new set of E911 location standards.… Continue Reading
Deadlines have been set for responding to the FCC's request for input on the likely effects of the copper-to-IP technology transition on consumers and competitive providers have been set.… Continue Reading
The FCC is looking to address the effects that discontinuance of copper-based services can be expect to have on consumers and competition.… Continue Reading
The transition from circuit-switched telephone technology to digital-based IP telephony is a game-changing development. FHH telecom guru Paul Feldman will help explain it in an upcoming FREE webinar. Details at the link below.… Continue Reading
Comment deadlines have been set in the FCC proceeding that could eventually mean serious changes in what we understand a telephone number to represent.… Continue Reading
New E911 rules designed to make it easier to locate you (and anybody else with a personal communications device) are now set to take effect in November.… Continue Reading
Deadlines for comments and reply comments have been set with respect to on the Commission's latest effort to improve the accuracy of E-911 location identification capabilities.… Continue Reading
