ISP associations challenging California’s net neutrality law will seek rehearing en banc at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said a Thursday stipulation by California and ACA Connects, CTIA, NCTA and USTelecom at the U.S. District Court for Eastern California. The parties agreed discovery at the lower court (case 2:18-cv-02684) should be stayed until the 9th Circuit rules on the rehearing petition. The appeals court last month upheld California’s law (see 2201280035).
NAB raised concerns and the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council supported a Land Mobile Communications Council petition asking the FCC to modify its Part 90 rules on sharing of TV channels 14-20 with the T-band to reflect the changes that have occurred due to the DTV transition. Comments were posted Thursday in RM-11915. The T-band is shared with public safety and gets the most use in major cities, including Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Washington, D.C. “The changes LMCC proposes could have the practical effect of increasing instances of harmful interference between television stations and land mobile operations in the T-band by allowing television stations and land mobile operations to operate in closer proximity to one another,” NAB said. It noted “occasional complaints concerning interference issues between television stations and T-band land mobile operators under the existing rules, including from LMCC itself.” NPSTC said “time is ripe” to update the rules. “The Commission is fortunate that the LMCC has done so much of the work required to initiate the rulemaking proceeding it has requested,” NPSTC said: “The LMCC petition is comprehensive and includes the background leading to the request, specific recommended changes to the rules, and the rationale for the recommendations provided. The petition even provides a succinct summary on the history of the T-Band spectrum sharing that began in the 1970s. This summary should be helpful as well in crafting the NPRM.” Los Angeles County noted the rules were last updated in the 1990s. “Experience gained from (1) combating interference from DTV operations (new since original rules were adopted), (2) the transition of some [land-mobile radio] systems from analog to digital (which is a continuing process), and (3) the lack of vacant channel options due to channel repacking -- all mandate that the Commission revisit equipment performance assumptions made over two decades ago,” the county said. Issue an NPRM “at the earliest opportunity,” urged the Enterprise Wireless Alliance: T-Band applicants “must comply with a rule that protects television station contours as though they still were operating in NTSC [National Television System Committee] format even though they are required to operate in ATSC [Advanced Television Systems Committee] format. In the interim, television stations are receiving greater than necessary protection while, conversely, affected land mobile systems are not able to derive maximum use of T-Band spectrum.”
GlobalFoundries estimates the current “shortfall” in semiconductor industry supply is in the mid- to high-single digits, based on industry-wide capacity of about 15 million wafers a year, said CEO Tom Caulfield on a Q4 earnings call Tuesday. GF completed its initial public offering in early November (see 2111020003). Industry supply capacity is projected to grow about 4% globally in the next five years, based on “announced fab expansions,” including fabs being tooled or those under construction, said Caulfield. Excluding China-based foundries, the five-year growth projection drops to 2.5%, he said.
The FCC took the next step on the next 5G auction Wednesday, seeking further comment on competitive bidding rules for a 2.5 GHz auction. The FCC imposed a tight deadline, with comments due Feb. 23. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has been under pressure to announce a start date for the auction, which many see as the lowest of low-hanging fruit ready for FCC action (see 2112100045). The notice asks whether use of “an ascending clock auction format -- a multiple-round auction with bidding for frequency-specific blocks -- would address certain concerns and suggestions raised by commenters with respect to both the single-round and simultaneous multiple-round (SMR) auction formats.” In a notice approved in January 2021, the agency sought comment on both a single-round and traditional SMR format (see 2101130067). Carriers disagreed sharply. T-Mobile and Verizon urged an SMR auction, while AT&T wanted one finished in a single round (see 2105040077). “To date, the Commission has used an ascending clock auction format in situations in which multiple frequency blocks of similar spectrum were offered, where a clock auction could be conducted more efficiently than could an SMR auction with license-by-license bidding,” the FCC said. A footnote cites the 28 GHz and 24 GHz auctions. The notice asks whether upfront payments and bidding eligibility proposed for the auction “remain reasonable and appropriate” under a clock auction format. The FCC said it doesn’t want “further comment on other procedures proposed” last year. Under the proposed approach “the clock price for a license would increase from round to round if more than one bidder indicates demand for that license,” the notice said: “The bidding rounds would continue until, for all licenses -- that is, all categories in all counties -- the number of bidders demanding each license does not exceed one. Once bidding rounds stop, the bidder with demand for a license becomes the winning bidder.” Commissioners approved the initial notice 5-0 during former Chairman Ajit Pai’s last meeting. The Office of Economics and Analytics and Wireless Bureau released the notice without a commissioner vote.
The proposed EU Chips Act will boost European digital sovereignty and technological leadership, the European Commission said Tuesday. It announced several measures to ensure a secure, resilient supply of semiconductors for the digital and green transition. Chip shortages forced factory closures in many sectors, and made "more evident the extreme global dependency of the semiconductor value chain on a very limited number of actors in a complex geopolitical context," it said. The legislation will make more than 43 billion euros ($49 billion) in public and private investment available and create mechanisms to prevent, anticipate and respond quickly to future supply chain disruptions. The EU wants to double its market share of chips to 20% in 2030. The Chips for Europe Initiative will pool resources from EU members, the EU, third countries and the private sector to boost research, development and deployment of advanced semiconductor tools. A new framework will ensure supply security and more funding for startups. Under a "coordination mechanism," governments and the EC will monitor the supply of semiconductors to estimate demand and anticipate shortages, and keep track of the value chain to chart weakness and bottlenecks. The EC proposed allowing that coordination between member countries and the EC to start immediately. European Parliament Internal Market Committee Chair Anna Cavazzini, of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance and Germany, welcomed the legislation but said it "falls short in addressing the need for circular economy by design, the reuse of chips and its raw materials" to meet the EU Green Deal's goals with diverse and short supply chains. The proposals need parliament and the EU Council approval.
Tech industry hiring got off to a “hot start” in January, adding 24,300 workers and 178,000 “occupations,” reported CompTIA Friday. January was the 14th straight month with tech employment growth “at the industry level,” it said. “By all accounts this was an exceptionally strong start to the year for tech employment,” said Tim Herbert, CompTIA chief research officer.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel notified Congress Friday that providers requested $5.6 billion from an FCC program to cover the cost of ripping and replacing Huawei and ZTE gear from their networks, nearly three times the $1.9 billion allocated. The FCC received 181 applications from carriers, she said. “While we have more work to do to review these applications, I look forward to working with Congress to ensure that there is enough funding available for this program to advance Congress’s security goals and ensure that the U.S. will continue to lead the way on 5G security.” The Office of Economics and Analytics and the Wireline Bureau, meanwhile, opened an online portal Friday for providers to report the extent to which their networks contain or use gear or services on the FCC’s “covered” list. Reports are due May 5. “If a provider cannot certify that it has no covered communications equipment or services it must then provide information regarding the locations, types, suppliers, historic and replacement cost, functionality, replacement plans, and a detailed justification of why such equipment was obtained," the FCC said.
Comments are due March 9 in FCC docket 15-80 on potential safeguards for information sharing with government agencies and other entities in connection with the disaster information reporting system and the network outage reporting system, says Monday’s Federal Register.
NTIA said FCC approval of Intelsat's license transfers as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization (see 2108270001) should include conditions on adoption of cybersecurity and system security plans that are guided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology cybersecurity framework. In a docket 21-375 petition Wednesday on behalf of the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector, NTIA said the proposed conditions on the transfer of Intelsat's authorizations come from a letter of agreement with Intelsat. DOJ, DOD and the Department of Homeland Security say conditions worked out with Intelsat include it not allowing disclosure or access to U.S domestic communications infrastructure records without prior consent. The letter said Intelsat consented to report within 48 hours any security incident. "This is a normal part of the FCC approval process," Intelsat emailed Thursday. "The conditions mentioned by the NTIA have already been agreed upon between Intelsat and Team Telecom [and] their sending it over to the FCC saying these are the conditions for approval and Intelsat and the government agencies have agreed, paves the way for the FCC to give its approval. We are expecting the FCC approval imminently." The agency didn't comment.
Free Press and Public Knowledge criticized Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Wednesday for setting a follow-up hearing on Democratic FCC nominee Gigi Sohn (see 2202020069). The second meeting is expected to mainly focus on Sohn’s commitment to temporarily recuse herself from some FCC proceedings (see 2201270073) and her role as a board member for Locast operator Sports Fans Coalition. “It is unfortunate that” the absence of Communications Subcommittee Chair Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., while he recovers from a stroke “was seen by some as a reason to hold a second hearing on Gigi Sohn’s nomination, particularly when” Senate Commerce “could use the time as an opportunity to consider moving forward on privacy, spectrum, or a host of other issues pent up," said PK CEO Chris Lewis. “The hearing scheduled for next Wednesday seems like nothing more than an opportunity to give these baseless concerns raised by industry an opportunity to hobble the appointment of a consumer champion” to the FCC. “Perhaps one way to avoid that consequence would be for members to call on” Cantwell to request Sohn “withdraw her recusal letter and follow historic precedent, which is to accept the advice of the Office of Government Ethics and the FCC's General Counsel,” Lewis said. Cantwell’s decision means “we have to deal with Senator [Roger] Wicker’s [R-Miss.] disingenuous and blatant obstructionism over this crucial nomination,” said FP General Counsel Matt Wood. With Cantwell “caving to unreasonable demands from opponents to Sohn, we’re going to see a hearing full of political posturing that serves no one except industry players eager to draw out the calendar and keep the FCC deadlocked. There is plenty of blame to go around for this situation, with the White House’s indecision and delays last year, and [Wicker's] continued opportunistic nonsense.” Commerce didn’t comment.