Dish’s OnTech smart home service expanded into 20 markets, bringing to 31 the total number of metro areas offering the device and installation service that launched in June (see 1906170060), General Manager Jeremy McCarty told us Tuesday. New markets are Baltimore; Beaumont, Texas; Charlotte; Chicago; Cleveland; Corpus Christi; Detroit; Jacksonville; Lansing, Michigan; Las Vegas; Macon, Georgia; Miami; Minneapolis; Phoenix; Pittsburgh; Portland, Oregon; Richmond; San Diego; Tucson and Palm Beach, Florida.
USTelecom and its partners are hoping the results of the four-month location fabric broadband mapping pilot project it recently concluded in two states will be promising enough to convince the FCC to move forward with and pay for similar efforts nationwide, executives said during a webinar Tuesday on its findings. The nationwide initiative could take 12-15 months to complete and cost upward of $8.5 million to $11 million depending on the types of datasets used, said Jim Stegeman, CEO of CostQuest Associates, during Q&A after the presentation. He recommended the maps be updated once or twice a year thereafter to take into account new construction or structures that are torn down. USTelecom estimates annual costs of $3 million to $4 million for updates.
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein (D) and Arizona AG Mark Brnovich (R) are participating in bipartisan discussions about a multistate investigation of tech industry competition, aides from both offices said. The group, which also involves Texas and Nebraska, is expected to issue civil investigative demands (CID) around Labor Day, said a source familiar with the effort. CIDs are prelitigation, administrative subpoenas officials can use to compel documents and testimony from the industry.
While an FCC proposal is still taking shape, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is telling industry officials he wants at least 300 MHz of C-band spectrum allocated for 5G. Pai also appears to be leaning toward an FCC auction rather than a private sale to allocate the licenses, industry officials said. The C-Band Alliance plan for clearing the band has dominated discussions. Last week, the FCC took reply comments on alternate proposals (see 1908150042). Again, comments were sharply divided. Pai said last month the FCC should have “results to show” on the C band in the fall (see 1907050024). The FCC and CBA didn't comment.
ASPEN, Colo. -- DOJ likes its chances of prevailing with its structural remedies on T-Mobile's buy of Sprint and a divestiture to Dish Network, said Antitrust Division head Makan Delrahim in an interview after a Technology Policy Institute Q&A. About a dozen states sued to block the deal. Also at TPI, Delrahim confirmed his department and several states are probing tech issues. He wouldn't object to a look by others at Communications Decency Act Section 230.
The premium for 5G in smartphones is “dramatically exceeding expectations,” with a price premium as much as 29 times higher than consumers expect, said IHS Markit Monday. Nine of 10 survey respondents said they expect to pay more for 5G than 4G LTE phones, but three-quarters said they expect to pay a 10-25 percent upcharge for 5G, a range of $32-$80 based on the average selling price of a smartphone, blogged analyst Joshua Builta.
Those representing schools and libraries endorsed an FCC plan to update its rules on USF E-rate category 2 spending to make permanent a pilot program that was to expire at the year-end, and asked that it move to a districtwide vs. a building-level budget approach, add to its list of eligible services and lessen filing burdens for applicants, in comments to docket 13-184 posted through Monday (see 1907090074).
ASPEN, Colo. -- Difficulties measuring digital effects on the economy are unresolved, economists said Monday in a Technology Policy Institute discussion (see page 2) of challenges gauging productivity. Many contend government statistics aren't fully measuring productivity growth and other indicators because of problems with measurement methods and other shortcomings. Speakers agreed agencies need to do a better job, though federal statistics collectors are making some improvements.
France’s digital service tax (DST) is a radical departure from international norm, discriminates against U.S. companies and undermines efforts to reach global, multilateral consensus on the digital economy, tech companies and trade groups told U.S. officials Monday (see 1908140056). Witnesses from Facebook, Google, Amazon, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, the Computer & Communications Industry Association and the Information Technology Industry Council testified before the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and officials from various federal agencies. Representatives from the departments of Commerce, State, Agriculture, Homeland Security and others questioned tech witnesses as part of the USTR’s Section 301 investigation of France’s DST.
ASPEN, Colo. -- Heightened policymaker and public scrutiny of the tech industry doesn't amount to a full-scale backlash, panelists generally agreed (see page 2). That may change as skepticism increases, one tech critic told a Technology Policy Institute audience. Since potential antitrust changes to perceived tech problems could take many years, if not a decade-plus, don't look for remedies there, TPI was told Monday.