Several top tech and telecom companies reported major swings in their Q1 lobbying spending. Google and AT&T showed significant drops, while Twitter and Sprint saw increases. Tech companies and groups generally had big upticks, as did at least one telecom provider being taken over.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission should execute its plan to adopt the FCC cable rate formula for pole attachments, but not stop pole owners and attachers from negotiating their own rate agreements (see 1903220061), commented cable, wireless and other pole riders Friday in docket 2019-00028. Local governments raised concern with a proposal to retain a municipal exemption for fees for make-ready work but remove the exemption from costs of replacing poles for a municipal attachment.
It was “a bit surprising to hear” Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) say last week he wants to renegotiate Foxconn’s contract to build a downsized LCD fab in the state because of how cash incentives already are written into the agreement to protect taxpayers, emailed Bob O’Brien, president of Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC). O’Brien has followed the Foxconn project closely, and as a former Corning executive, was invited to the June groundbreaking where President Donald Trump and Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou presided (see 1806290027).
There’s enough evidence for U.S. antitrust enforcers to investigate whether Facebook is undermining competition by leveraging its data against rivals, antitrust experts said. Bringing an actual case will be much more complicated, they added. One expert argued it’s unlikely the FTC or DOJ bring a case, given the ongoing Cambridge Analytica probe, other enforcement priorities and that a company is suing Facebook on anticompetitive grounds.
With Verizon partway through its massive copper-to-fiber transition, state consumer advocates are urging the carrier ensure no customers are left behind. The Communications Workers of America wants the same. The latest policy jockeying relates to the wireline IP transition.
Charter Communications may have escaped New York state’s boot after agreeing to expand broadband to 145,000 homes and businesses entirely in unserved and underserved areas of upstate by Sept. 30, 2021, and spend another $12 million on additional broadband deployment. Friday’s submission of the proposed settlement to the Public Service Commission tees up a 60-day comment period. The PSC votes this summer.
The FCC is under increasing pressure to open more mid-band spectrum as 5G deployments start. Most agree none will be available before next year and the auction of the licensed tier of the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band. The other two main bands in focus at the FCC, 2.5 GHz and the C band, are expected to be opened after the 3.5 GHz auction. Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks are leading the effort.
The Indiana Supreme Court’s top justice appeared to bristle Thursday at Indiana’s view that individuals may not refuse to unlock their phones for law enforcement. “If we say that a citizen can be compelled to unlock their cellphone just based on a warrant … what’s left of the Fifth Amendment?” asked Chief Justice Loretta Rush at oral argument livestreamed Thursday in Katelin Seo v. Indiana (18S-CR-00595). She and other justices wrestled with how to apply analog precedents to a digital age.
T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T dodged Sen. Ron Wyden’s request for specifics on customer location data incidents in April 5 letters to the Oregon Democrat obtained by us Thursday. Instead, companies cited the life-saving benefits of sharing data with police and specific examples of customer rescues in emergencies. Verizon and T-Mobile also described generally how companies report location data breaches to the FBI and Secret Service through the FCC.
Washington state’s controversial privacy bill is most likely dead for this session after the House missed a Wednesday deadline to vote it out of the chamber. “Without some extraordinary effort the bill will not be considered further by the WA legislature, until next year,” though no bill is truly dead until the legislature adjourns sine die April 28, wrote House Innovation, Technology and Economic Development Committee Chairman Zack Hudgins (D) in an email update Thursday. Consumer privacy advocates cheered demise of the bill that was backed by Microsoft and other tech companies.