FCC Eyes Votes on RTT and EAS Items, Possibly Others at December Meeting

The FCC plans to consider real-time text and emergency alert system items and possibly others at its Dec. 15 commissioners' meeting, said the tentative agenda released Tuesday. Both the RTT and EAS items consist of a combined draft order and Further NPRM. The items circulated Tuesday, a commission official told us. The tentative agenda is due 21 days before a meeting, but was released early because of Thanksgiving on Thursday.

The FCC's near-term agenda was thrown into uncertainty after the election, when congressional Republicans -- backed by GOP commissioners -- urged the commission not to act on controversial matters during the transition to President-elect Donald Trump's administration (see 1611150052). The FTC got a similar request Tuesday (see 1611220069). All four major FCC agenda items were withdrawn from the Nov. 17 meeting (see 1611160048). Chairman Tom Wheeler issued a statement Tuesday accompanying the Dec. 15 tentative agenda; other commissioners didn't comment.

The RTT item is intended to oversee the transition from text telephone technology "to a reliable and interoperable means of providing real-time text communication over wireless Internet protocol-enabled networks and services," said the tentative agenda. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly partially dissented from a related NPRM earlier this year (see 1604280055), creating potential for controversy. The proceeding drew various concerns from some industry parties and public-safety groups (see, for example, 1611180030, 1609270039 and 1608020013).

Wheeler said the RTT item would provide an "integrated text solution" for calls by people who are deaf and some others with disabilities. "Real-time text allows text to be sent immediately as it is being created, enabling communications to flow back and forth in the same manner as voice communications," he said. "It also permits people with hearing and speech disabilities to use off-the-shelf devices. Rather than pay for special equipment that may be hard to find and not as effective, they will, for the first time, be able to use the same phones as everyone else. The proposed Order would replace our rules requiring TTY support with rules defining the obligations of these wireless entities to support real-time text over IP-based services."

The second item is aimed at enhancing the EAS system "as a tool for community emergency preparedness," the agenda said. "The Report and Order improves alerting organization at the state and local levels, builds stronger community-based alerting exercise programs, and protects the EAS against accidental misuse and malicious intrusion," it said. "The Further Notice seeks comment on proposals to leverage technological advances to improve alerting and additional measures to preserve EAS security." Wheeler said the "new rules would strengthen EAS by promoting greater participation by partners on the state and local levels, improved testing, and enhanced EAS security. The item would also seek comment on how best to leverage technological advances to strengthen alerting."

The draft EAS item is based on an NPRM (see 1601280057) issued in January, which sought comment on streamlining state EAS plans, making them more uniform and improving EAS security. Proposals to increase EAS security received considerable pushback from pay-TV groups and NAB as overly burdensome, and cable commenters opposed a proposed change to rules that allow them to "force-tune" viewers to a central emergency information station. The item could also be controversial, given that O'Rielly expressed several concerns about the EAS NPRM, which he said came close to an overreach of FCC authority.

The agenda said the following items on circulation may also be considered at the Dec. 15 meeting unless voted on earlier: "Update to Parts 2 and 25 Concerning Non-geostationary, Fixed-Satellite Service Systems and Related Matters, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking; In the Matter of Amendment of Part 0 of the Commission’s Rules Regarding Public Information, the Inspection of Records, and Implementing the Freedom of Information Act; Maritime Communications/Land Mobile, LLC, Order on Reconsideration and Memorandum Opinion and Order; Improving the Resiliency of the Nation's Mobile Wireless Communications Networks, Order; and Preferred Long Distance, Inc., Memorandum Opinion and Order."

The International Bureau circulated proposed updates to Part 2 and 25 rules that would facilitate deployment of non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite service constellations (see 1610210055). The NPRM would seek comment on current rules on when two NGSO systems come close to alignment, requiring either coordination or splitting the spectrum, and whether the rules for those in-line events should be modified.