FCC Robocalling Items 4-0 OK and Tweaks Possible
FCC commissioners are expected to OK 4-0 an order on secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) and signature-based handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) rules and an NPRM on certification requirements for VoIP providers seeking numbering access. They could potentially have tweaks sought by Commissioner Brendan Carr, said industry and agency officials in interviews last week. Both are set for a vote at Thursday’s meeting (see 2107150066).
The draft NPRM proposes additional certification requirements for VoIP providers seeking access to North American numbering plan numbers. The commission began allowing VoIP providers to access numbers directly from the North American numbering administrator in 2015. The NPRM is intended to ensure VoIP providers "do not facilitate illegal robocalls, pose national security risks, or evade or abuse intercarrier compensation requirements." The Stir/Shaken order would establish a process for the FCC to review decisions by the private governance authority, modeled on the appeals process for reviewing Universal Service Administrative Co. decisions. Whether to impose a deadline and the amount of time required for both items were under discussion between commissioners' offices Friday.
One concern has been that the Wireline Bureau, which has primary oversight here, has a heavy workload because of the focus on the emergency broadband benefit, broadband mapping and other areas aimed at closing the digital divide under acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Officials said reviewing revocations will likely place only a small extra demand on the bureau. The FCC declined to comment.
The draft declines to impose a deadline for staff action. “Each appeal is likely to present novel and potentially complex factual issues, and staff may in some cases need time to present follow-up questions to the appealing party or the Governance Authority,” the draft says: “A rigid deadline may preclude fully informed decision-making in such circumstances.”
The Voice on the Net Coalition wants a deadline. “Time limits are necessary since revocation could substantially negatively impact a service provider’s business,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 17-97. If none is imposed, VON recommends the FCC “not consider the revocation final, and thus not take any enforcement action against the service provider (or any of its delegated certificate customers) for noncompliance with STIR/SHAKEN obligations during the pendency of the appeal.”
Incompas last week sought time limits (see 2107290044). “It is encouraging to hear that the FCC is considering a specific time frame,” Incompas General Counsel Angie Kronenberg told us Friday. “We have full faith in both the governance authority and the commission to conduct a fair and thorough review. But it is equally important that voice service providers, their partners, and their customers know how long the process will take and that it will be resolved in a timely manner, so that other options can be explored if a provider's token is revoked.”
The FCC received minimal feedback on the draft NPRM. Lumen sought a change, in conversations with aides to Rosenworcel, other commissioners’ staff and the Wireline Bureau. It asked to include language on “intercarrier compensation abuses” because some carriers are being denied the ability to connect directly to VoIP providers "who own their own numbers and their competitive local exchange carrier partners."
USTelecom “supports the commission’s targeted efforts to stop illegal robocalls,” said Vice President-Policy and Advocacy Josh Bercu in a statement: “The ability of bad actors to easily obtain phone numbers is part of the problem, so we appreciate the FCC opening up this inquiry."