ISPs expect wide participation in the first phase of the $20 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auctions FCC Chairman Ajit Pai signaled he wants in 2020, they said in interviews this month. RDOF replaces the Connect America Fund phase II USF program that supports deployment in high-cost, sparsely populated areas (see 1907110031). "We'll start to see the pace of things quicken in 2020," said Mike Saperstein, USTelecom vice president-policy and advocacy.
Massachusetts is challenging the FCC's order that Charter Communications faces effective competition in parts of the state and Hawaii from the AT&T TV Now streaming service (see 1910250036). Similar Cox Communications and Comcast petitions with the agency for similar determinations (see 1912190070) will likely also get state and locality opposition there, we were told. Hawaii didn't comment when asked if it would also appeal.
Cincinnati Bell agreed to sell its telecom company, with a network footprint of more than 1.3 million homes in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Hawaii, to Toronto-based Brookfield Infrastructure in a deal announced Monday valued at $2.6 billion, including stock purchase and the assumption of the telco's debt. "The transaction strengthens our financial position, enabling accelerated investment in our strategic products that is not presently available to Cincinnati Bell as a standalone company," said Leigh Fox, president-CEO of Cincinnati Bell, in a statement. "This will allow us to drive growth and maximize value over the long term," he said. Brookfield Infrastructure CEO Sam Pollock said the company will leverage its operating expertise to help Cincinnati Bell management "complete its industry-leading fiber optic roll-out plan."
As the clamor over the proposed sale of the Public Interest Registry to a private equity firm grows, stakeholders said the deal is unlikely to be stopped via antitrust or other legal avenues, but ICANN could force concessions from the buyer. The transaction, announced Nov. 13, involves the sale of PIR's assets to Ethos Capital. Despite assurances from the buyer and the seller, the Internet Society (ISOC), opposition continues to grow (see 1912090002), with several Democratic members of Congress seeking answers Monday to a lengthy list of questions by early next year. In his year-end blog, ICANN Board Chair Maarten Botterman stressed the organization "takes its responsibility in evaluating this proposed transaction very seriously" and again urged the parties to behave openly and transparently.
The California Public Utilities Commission received final arguments for and against the T-Mobile/Sprint deal, before a possible vote in early February. T-Mobile and Sprint said FCC and DOJ orders add to the deal’s public-interest benefits. That pact's plan to add Dish Network as a fourth national carrier didn’t persuade consumer advocates or the Communications Workers of America to support the deal, though they appeared open to strict CPUC conditions. The California commission is the last state agency OK the carriers need.
CTIA and carriers are pushing the FCC to move some 6 GHz incumbents to spectrum above 7.125 GHz, but it’s unclear that approach will work. NTIA has been scoping the 7125-8400 MHz band since the summer (see 1908010065). NTIA officials now say they think federal agencies, particularly DOD, are active in the band and their systems would be difficult to relocate, said industry officials active in the proceeding. Some uses of the band are classified.
As the witness parade concluded at the T-Mobile/Sprint trial in lower Manhattan, analysts who attended were divided on whether carrier defendants or state plaintiffs have the edge. Each side had strong moments, they said. Friday, the FCC and DOJ Antitrust Division urged deference to their conditional OKs, at U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The FCC is fishing for ideas to incentivize C-band satellite operators beyond costs of moving customers to just the upper portion. That's more complicated since all operators have equal access to the full band, we were told. Momentum is behind the idea of incentivizing incumbents, partly to try to avoid what otherwise is seen as a likely legal challenge to a government move to take back satellite spectrum authorizations.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said wireless carriers must transmit enhanced wireless emergency alerts to subscribers. After delays, major carriers are expected to immediately be able to transmit the new, improved alerts on their WEA platforms, industry officials said Thursday. Last week, the commission announced the Federal Emergency Management Agency told the FCC the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System wasn’t ready to support wireless emergency alerts by what was to be the Dec. 13 deadline (see 1912130059). The original deadline in a 2016 FCC order was May 1. The FCC also made the requirement official.
A European legal adviser called parts of the Privacy Shield data transfer pact between the EU and U.S. invalid. European Court of Justice Advocate General Henrik Saugmandsgaard Oe said Thursday standard contractual clauses (SCCs) for transferring personal data outside the EU are OK, but the PS may not be in light of Europe's newer data privacy regulations. While such advocate general opinions aren't binding, they are generally adopted by the EU's top court. Some U.S. interests said the 97-page opinion sparks fears about PS.