FCC Chairman Ajit Pai declared “massive victory” Wednesday as the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals mostly upheld the agency’s 2018 wireless infrastructure orders on small cells and local moratoria. Industry also applauded the court for rejecting local government claims that the FCC inappropriately preempted their authority in the federal agency’s effort to streamline 5G deployment. The 9th Circuit fully upheld the agency’s one-touch, make-ready (OTMR) order.
The personal health and safety risks of COVID-19 are casting autonomous driving in a more positive public light than before the pandemic, Motional President-CEO Karl Iagnemma told an Axios webinar Tuesday. The Hyundai-Aptiv autonomous vehicle joint venture was rebranded Tuesday as Motional.
More state commissions are eyeing contribution and other USF changes. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission may vote later this year on a USF administrator recommendation to switch to a connections-based mechanism. The Texas Public Utility Commission asked legislators to consider USF contribution changes next year. Oregon, New Mexico and Nebraska commissions are also reviewing state USF.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Qualcomm Tuesday in an FTC antitrust lawsuit against the company. In the minutes after the ruling, Qualcomm's stock rose, closing 2.3% higher at $108.83. The FTC is reviewing its options.
Gogo took a “devastating” Q2 hit from the COVID-19 pandemic's obliteration of commercial airline passenger traffic, said CEO Oakleigh Thorne on a Monday investor call. “It certainly was an extraordinary quarter, but for all the wrong reasons,” he said. “If you sell internet on an airplane and no one’s on the plane, it’s tough to make a living.”
The broadcast TV industry expects improvement in Q3, but it's still (see 2008050063) too uncertain to promise specifics, said executives from Gray Television, Univision, E.W. Scripps and Tegna. “The situation is still fluid and visibility is limited,” said Gray Chief Financial Officer Jim Ryan. “The impact of the pandemic remains uncertain,” said Tegna CFO Victoria Harker. "Scripps has suspended issuing new guidance because of the economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic," said the company.
The potential departure of FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly may affect work to allocate part of the 3.1-3.55 GHz band for 5G, lawyers and commission officials told us. President Donald Trump’s administration said Monday DOD agreed to hand off a 100 MHz portion of the 3450-3550 MHz band for commercial shared use (see 2008100038). FCC work on the band isn’t as far along as some other frequencies and NTIA is raising concerns (see 2007070062).
Dish Network is making “very steady progress” on its 5G network buildout, and its commitment to open radio access network (O-RAN) “architecture” (see 2002190048) is “the most important thing” about the deployment, said Chairman Charlie Ergen on a Q2 call Friday: “We’re the only company in the United States that we know of that’s doing that from a clean sheet of paper.”
The satellite industry expects at least some changes to the FCC International Bureau earth station siting guidance that's the subject of a reconsideration petition, given the seeming unintended consequences of it, we're told. Since it's about staff guidance and not an order, the outcome isn't exactly clear. The Satellite Industry Association had petitioned for changes.
The U.S. government shouldn’t force a TikTok sale to any particular company, but the Chinese app’s data practices are an unacceptable security threat, Senate Republicans told us last week. The company is defending itself through lobbying, interviews and other public actions.