FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he will propose by year-end to open additional high-frequency bands for 5G, building on the 28, 37 and 39 GHz reallocated last year (see 1607140052). Pai was among the first speakers Tuesday at GSMA’s first Mobile World Congress Americas, co-hosted by CTIA in San Francisco. Much of his speech focused on his usual big themes, including tackling the digital divide and eliminating unnecessary regulation.
Many U.S. cities lack funding and other support for advancing broadband, said a Strategic Networks Group report released Wednesday. About 63 percent of some 100 cities surveyed don’t have broadband funding, a city broadband office, and broadband adoption and training programs, the report said. About half the cities said lack of funding is the main thing stopping them from moving forward with broadband network investments, and 36 percent blamed a lack of political leadership. More than 80 percent said they had a utility or network asset that could be used for the buildout of a municipal network. Half the cities said they considered their broadband speeds excellent or very good, while two-fifths rated their city’s broadband value for money as such, it said. “Leadership, investment, and strategies need to be put in place at the municipal level to ensure the competitiveness and effectiveness of today’s American cities,” said President Michael Curri in a news release. SNG surveyed 103 U.S. cities in 38 states, plus one Canadian city. Corning, Henkels & McCoy, Fujitsu Network Communications, and Power & Tel underwrote the report.
An FCC regulatory fee order includes a hike on direct broadcast satellite providers from 27 cents per subscriber to 38 cents per subscriber this year, as proposed in an NPRM, despite opposition from AT&T's DirecTV and Dish Network (see 1708230015 and 1706230027). The commission said it agreed with cable industry arguments that DBS providers occupy Media Bureau resources "similar" to those used by cable (including IPTV), while it noted a disparity in regulatory fee assessments. The DBS increase is "an effort to bring the regulatory fee closer" to the cable fee, which is now 95 cents per subscriber, said the order and Further NPRM in docket 17-134 released Tuesday to collect $356.7 million in regulatory fees in FY 2017 (see 1709050081). The FCC projected about $22 million (6.2 percent of the allocation) in fees from International Bureau regulatees; $89 million (24.9 percent) in fees from Wireless Bureau regulatees; $116 million (32.4 percent) from Wireline Bureau regulatees; and $130 million (36.5 percent) from Media Bureau regulatees. Industry regulatory fee payments are due Sept. 26, said a public notice. The FCC failed to justify a decision to reassign 38 staff full-time equivalents for non-high-cost USF regulatory activities from the Wireline Bureau to an "indirect" category, "meaning that the cost of these programs will be borne by all Commission licensees," said Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, who partially dissented from the order. He also cited a lack of support for AM/FM changes that reduced fees for small broadcasters, but he "hesitantly" backed the DBS fee increase. The FNPRM sought further comment on the appropriate tiers for calculating terrestrial and satellite international bearer circuit fees raised in the 2016 and 2017 NPRMs, and on the methodology for calculating cable-TV subscribers in multiple dwelling units raised in the 2008 NPRM. Attorneys from law firms blogged on details of the actions, including Davis Wright, Fletcher Heald and Wilkinson Barker.
Wireless carriers, except Sprint, want the next iPhone to include AWS-3 spectrum, band 66, BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk told investors. “This mid-band spectrum not only offers more capacity with existing cell site spacing, but can also deliver faster speeds through carrier aggregation technology,” he wrote Tuesday. “AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have already started deploying this spectrum, but financially strapped Sprint did not buy any of this spectrum. Samsung put Band 66 in the Galaxy S8 and Note8.” AT&T wants the spectrum it's deploying as part of FirstNet to be included, he said. Sprint is focused on inclusion of high performance user equipment (HPUE) enabling its 2.5 GHz spectrum to “match the network coverage of its 1.9GHz mid-band spectrum,” Piecyk wrote. “Investors are optimistic that HPUE will be included in this year’s iPhone, especially given the strong relationship that Sprint Chairman Masa Son has with Apple.” One big question is whether Apple will add a chip allowing the phone to use TV band spectrum purchased in the incentive auction, he said: “Inclusion is a long shot but would be a huge win” for T-Mobile. Another question is whether the 38 GHz spectrum being championed by Verizon, a building block for 5G, will “ever be in an iPhone,” he said.
Hiking the per-subscriber direct broadcast satellite regulatory fee hurts consumers because that expense will be passed on to them, and the FCC hasn't said what regulatory developments of the past year justify such a "dramatic" rate increase for the third consecutive year, Dish Network argued. In a docket 17-134 ex parte filing posted Tuesday, it recapped a series of phone calls to eighth-floor aides in which Dish said agency arguments that a higher DBS regulatory fee would bring it closer to parity with cable TV and IPTV run counter to the FCC having acknowledged DBS isn't identical to cable and that it and DirecTV don't generate regulatory costs near what cable does. Dish and DirecTV have opposed the proposed 38 cents per subscriber fee on DBS (see 1706230027).
CBS is in “the early stages” of developing a “24/7" livestreaming sports channel in the mold of its CBSN online news service, part of its over-the-top strategy, said CEO Leslie Moonves on a Monday earnings call. The new channel, which will debut later this year, “does not yet have a name,” but “we think sports fans are looking for something like this,” he said. CBSN “has been a terrific growth engine," with streams up 38 percent in Q2, he said. “We're now broadening its reach by making it available on CBS All Access, and for the first time as a stand-alone channel in skinny bundles.” On Monday's announcement that CBS All Access will expand internationally starting in 2018's first half, the plan is to debut the service first in Canada “and then follow that up with additional countries on multiple continents shortly thereafter,” said Moonves. “Over time, we will add content from across our corporation to make our service more and more attractive. We are very aware of the international success that other streaming companies have had. We now see a huge opportunity for CBS to go direct to consumer on a much bigger scale worldwide.” CBS All Access and Showtime's over-the-top service are on pace to exceed 4 million subscribers combined in 2017, said Moonves. “We're more than halfway to our goal of 8 million subs by 2020, which is obviously quite conservative now. These services are just starting to hit their stride with much more and bigger programming to come.” Showtime OTT will beam the Aug. 26 pay-per-view matchup between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor direct to consumers, said Moonves. “This is the first time we've made a boxing or pay-per-view event available in this way."
The U.S. installed base of iPhones is “virtually entirely of phones sold in the past 33 months,” reported Consumer Intelligence Research Partners Thursday. It reached 141 million units in the fiscal quarter ended July 1 vs. 124 million in the year-ago quarter, CIRP said. Larger phones are making up a bigger share of the mix as “Plus” versions in the 6, 6S and 7 series total 53 million units, for 38 percent, up from 29 percent. “After over three years, and after initial skepticism, larger-format Plus model phone market acceptance is firmly established,” said analyst Josh Lowitz. Analyst Mike Levin noted the 141 million iPhones owned by U.S. consumers represent half the adult and teen population. Operating system switches are at an all-time low, Levin said. CIRP based findings on a survey of 500 U.S. Apple customers July 1-13.
The market for Chromebooks is growing while the overall PC market shrinks, Gartner reported. Worldwide Chromebook shipments grew 38 percent in 2016, while the overall PC market declined 6 percent, it said. Chromebooks are not a PC replacement “as of now” but could be in the future based on improved connectivity and more offline capability, said analyst Mikako Kitagawa Tuesday. Chromebooks run on Google’s Chrome operating system, the company says.
The Competitive Carriers Association encouraged the FCC to deny Verizon’s bid to acquire NextLink, in tandem with the pending Verizon/Straight Path, saying it would give the buyer too much high-frequency spectrum. If both buys are approved, Verizon would control 54 percent of all 28 GHz and 38 percent of all 39 GHz spectrum, CCA said in a news release. “It is certainly no surprise that Verizon is trying to downplay the substantial anti-competitive harms that would result from its acquisition of Nextlink, alongside the millimeter wave spectrum that could be aggregated by Verizon in the Verizon/Straight Path Transaction,” said CCA President Steve Berry. “The commission previously rejected CCA’s arguments by declining to consolidate the review of the Nextlink and other applications," a Verizon spokesman said. "We’re pleased that the Department of Justice has already favorably completed its antitrust review of this transaction.”
Liberty Interactive, which already owns about 38 percent of HSN shares, agreed to buy the remaining 62 percent of the company in an all-stock transaction valued at $2.1 billion, the companies said in a Thursday news release. The deal, which has an enterprise value of $2.6 billion, is expected to close in Q4 2017. HSN will become a subsidiary of Liberty Interactive, which also owns TV shopping channel QVC. The transaction requires approvals by the FCC, a Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust review and a majority vote of HSN shareholders, said Liberty Interactive. The acquisition would enhance development of e-commerce, mobile and over-the-top platforms and optimize programming among other benefits, the company added.