Apple doesn’t carry the Voice of America app in its China App Store because the Cyberspace Administration of China told the company that VOA lacks a license to operate in China and thus the app doesn't comply with local laws, said an Apple spokesperson in response to a letter from FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr to Apple CEO Tim Cook released Thursday (see 2204210053). “We are required to comply with local laws where we do business, even though we may sometimes disagree,” Apple said. “The app remains available for download in other countries.”
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr condemned Apple for removing the Voice of America mobile app from the China version of the company’s App store. “I find Apple’s conduct in this regard deeply troubling,” Carr said in a letter to CEO Tim Cook Wednesday. “Voice of America operates by statute as an objective, independent voice when it comes to its reporting and content.” The VOA app provides access to news and includes “built-in support for circumvention technologies” to protect user privacy under authoritarian regimes, Carr said. He referenced a speech last week in which Cook said Apple is committed to promoting privacy and human rights. “It is past time to stand up for those values -- not just in words in Washington but through deeds in Beijing,” Carr wrote. “Will Apple allow access to the Voice of America mobile app through its App Store in China, consistent with the fundamental human rights that you articulated in your speech?” In the letter, Carr gave Apple until April 29 to answer. Apple didn’t comment by our deadline Thursday.
The next big 3rd Generation Partnership Project document, Release 19, is still taking shape and the approach it will take to 5G standards isn’t clear, experts said Wednesday during an ATIS webinar. Many 3GPP meetings remain remote, they said. 3GPP Release 17 “focused on a select set of verticals, like the factory, like medical,” T-Mobile’s Greg Schumacher said. That document was “the big rush and flood of new verticals,” he said. “Release 18 had some new verticals, but it was a little more balanced” and “more of the work was focused on providing services across multiple verticals,” he said. “We will see what Release 19 looks like,” Schumacher said. “We expect to have more work to discuss and agree upon this coming quarter,” he said. The target is to get to 80% completion of the release in Q2 of next year, with the document complete at the end of Q3, he said: “This is subject overall to 3GPP schedules, which often are driven by other external forces,” he said. The timeline for Release 16 slipped about six months in 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic (see 2009220052). 6G won’t hit the market until the end of the decade, but “these technology and generational transitions have a very long lead time,” said Iain Sharp, ATIS principal technologist. Now is “a time to be looking at the early stages of what technology goes into 6G and what is its vision,” he said. In February, ATIS released the "Roadmap to 6G" by its Next G Alliance (see 2202170049). “We are in a pre-standards phase,” he said: “It’s really only in 2027 and beyond that we get to the standardization phase.” Work on 6G shouldn’t “detract” from work being done to make 5G work better, he said.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied rehearing by the full court of its decision upholding California’s net neutrality law. No judge requested a vote on whether to rehear the case en banc, said the Wednesday order. The state defendant didn't comment. Plaintiffs NCTA and CTIA declined to comment, and USTelecom didn’t comment by our deadline. ACA Connects directed us to the other associations. Vermont’s net neutrality law became enforceable after the U.S. District Court in Burlington continued a stay on the litigation Tuesday (see 2204190072).
The FCC deactivated emergency measures for Puerto Rico’s island-wide power outage Saturday at the request of the Puerto Rico Emergency Management Bureau, said an FCC news release listed in Monday’s Daily Digest. The final DIRS report Saturday said 14.2% of cellsites were reported down, and 74,950 cable and wireline subscribers didn't have service. Both numbers are improvements from the previous day, when over 18% of cellsites were down and 267,111 cable and wireline subscribers were without service. No broadcast stations were reported out Saturday and the agency didn’t issue any grants of special temporary authority during the incident.
More than 18% of cellsites in Puerto Rico were out of service and 267,111 cable and wireline subscribers were down, said Friday’s disaster information reporting system release on the island-wide power outage there. The FCC’s Public Safety Bureau activated its emergency response measures Thursday over the outage, and Friday was the due date for the first reports. The bureau issued public notices Friday on emergency contact information for licensees that need special temporary authority and on 24-hour availability of staff. One FM station was reported out of service, but no public safety answering points are down, the report said.
NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield and Fiber Broadband Association President-CEO Gary Bolton asked NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson to prioritize broadband, equity, access and deployment program funding for "future proof, all-fiber networks," said a letter Thursday. Bloomfield and Bolton said NTIA should "place a heavy priority and preference" on projects that would serve a higher percentage of unserved locations. They also raised concerns that previous grant programs "have sought to award support based on subjective factors and policies that are extraneous to building and operating a broadband network and providing services." NTIA should "adopt tight guardrails" and accountability measures to "ensure applications are considered on their objective merits," they said. The program "has tremendous potential," they said, but "we are under no illusion this will be easy."
Global information tech spending is projected to reach $4.4 trillion in 2022, increasing 4% from last year, reported Gartner Wednesday. The 2023 outlook is for spending to increase 5.5% to $4.7 trillion, it said. Communications services will be about a third of total IT spending this year, but that proportion is projected to decline slightly in 2023, said Gartner. Inflationary impacts the past two years on IT hardware, including mobile devices and PCs, “are finally dissipating and are starting to spill over into software and services,” it said. Software spending is expected to grow 9.8% to $674.9 billion in 2022 and IT services are forecast to grow 6.8% to reach $1.3 trillion.
FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks is making staff changes, including a new wireline adviser, and new legal adviser, said a news release Thursday. Former Wireline Associate Bureau Chief Justin Faulb is Starks’ newest adviser; he previously had multiple roles at the agency, including as designated federal officer of the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee. “He is one of the Commission’s leading experts on supply chain security,” said Starks in the release. Faulb’s wireline experience will come in handy on “securing our communications networks, increasing deployment, and achieving digital equity,” Starks said. Starks’ Media and Consumer Protection Adviser Diane Holland is moving to a position as deputy bureau chief in the Wireline Bureau and will be replaced by Austin Bonner, who had been Starks’ legal adviser, wireline and public safety. “Diane brought to my office a depth of knowledge and experience that will be hard to replace,” Starks said. Morgan Bodenarain, a former aide to Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., will be Starks’ new legal adviser, focusing on digital equity, the release said. Bodenarain will succeed Special Adviser Alisa Valentin, who's leaving the FCC to work in the “non-profit space,” the release said.
The FCC is expected to deny a petition for reconsideration filed by wireless-mic maker Sennheiser of a December 2020 order (see 2012080064) closing the agency’s 2015 NPRM on whether to allocate a vacant channel for use by white space devices and wireless microphones. Sennheiser faced an uphill climb, with strong opposition from NAB and a united commission voting to close the proceeding, industry officials told us. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated an order last week on the recon petition. The FCC didn’t comment. Rosenworcel also circulated for a commissioner vote proposed changes to rules for environmental review of telecom projects in flood plains, in light of various changes to other federal environmental rules. FCC officials said the NPRM doesn’t seem to be on a fast track. It also circulated last week. In February, Sennheiser asked the FCC to reopen the proceeding, in a call with Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff. “Microphones operating on low-band UHF TV band spectrum are the only ones that can deliver the fault intolerant reliability, compact size and battery life that film, TV and theater producers demand,” said a filing in docket 15-146. In December, the company told the FCC a study it commissioned found an open channel in the 50 largest U.S. markets. “NAB emphasized that Sennheiser has provided no basis for reconsideration of the Commission’s unanimous order closing the vacant channel proceeding,” broadcasters told Wireless Bureau and OET staff in their last filing on the topic in November: “NAB urges the Commission to promptly dismiss Sennheiser’s petition for reconsideration of this order.” NAB and Sennheiser didn’t comment Wednesday.