FCC staff is talking with officials in California, Oregon and Texas on agreements to check eligibility of those states' low-income subsidized telecom service subscribers, Chairman Ajit Pai told us after Thursday's commissioners' meeting. "I expect those agreements will be reached and [the] verifier stood up in those states by the end of the year. We are making progress." FCC employees are working with other agencies so the national verifier can "ping," or check with, other databases to confirm subscriber eligibility, he said.
T-Mobile won't stop being the "Uncarrier" after it buys Sprint, CEO John Legere said at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The combined company would join the league of top rivals by market share. After about two hours of friendly questions from the defendant side, states grilled T-Mobile on alternative ways to compete. But they only had about 30 minutes and will complete cross-examination Friday.
Commissioners approved an NPRM 5-0 on clearing 3.1-3.55 GHz, seen by some as a sleeper item with big implications. The item sparked a debate among members on whether the FCC is doing enough on mid-band spectrum. Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., sat through 90 minutes of the meeting, signaling his ongoing concerns about setting rules for an upcoming auction of the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band.
International competition could cripple the U.S. space industry over the next decade as U.S. allies and adversaries invest heavily in their nascent domestic startups while the U.S. government isn’t doing enough to encourage the industry here, said SmallSat Alliance Chairman Charles Beames Wednesday at an International Institute of Space Law symposium. House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Chairwoman Kendra Horn, D-Okla., said the U.S.’s past approach to commercial space regulation encouraged innova- tion, but now that framework is ineffective, as possible applications mushroom.
Senate Republicans are eager to pass the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, despite reservations about including language shielding the tech industry from content liability. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced an agreement with the White House on USMCA Tuesday (see 1912100012). Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said that chamber will consider the trade pact in 2020 (see 1912100015).
Sprint plans to upgrade less than half its local markets to 5G if it can't combine with T-Mobile, testified a Sprint network planner Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Vice President-Network Development Jay Bluhm predicted Sprint would cease to be viable in two years, answering a question by Judge Victor Marrero. An Altice executive expressed worries about what the deal means in the long term for mobile virtual network operators.
Hill lawmakers' communications policy aspirations for a continuing resolution to fund the federal government past Dec. 20 took simultaneous steps forward and back Tuesday and Wednesday. Congressional leaders finalized an expected deal to attach language from two House-side Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization bills into the funding extension measure (see 1912090051). A contentious Senate Commerce Committee markup of the 5G Spectrum Act (S-2881) and other factors, meanwhile, raised doubts about the prospects of using the CR to weigh in on a planned FCC auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band (see 1912100001).
The FCC’s NPRM on the 5.9 GHz band is expected to get a few changes from the draft circulated by Chairman Ajit Pai three weeks ago, when commissioners vote Thursday. The proposal in general has support from commissioners, concerned about providing more spectrum for Wi-Fi. Pai proposed (see 1911200055) that the lower 45 MHz of the 75 MHz chunk of spectrum be set aside for Wi-Fi, 20 MHz for cellular vehicle-to-everything technology and the FCC seek comment on assigning the remaining 10 MHz to C-V2X or dedicated short-range communications.
A major focus of the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council will be the move to 5G, as evidenced by preliminary reports as CSRIC met at the FCC. Reports are due next year. Leaders of the six working groups noted their work so far only in broad terms. First documents are due at a March 17 meeting.
Tech and business groups hailed the pact announced Tuesday between House Democrats and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on legislative terms to ratify the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on free trade. There’s “no question” USMCA is “much better” than the North American Free Trade Agreement, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “In terms of our work here, it is infinitely better than what was initially proposed by the administration.”