A two-week, worldwide Conference Preparation Meeting (CPM) for the upcoming World Radiocommunication Conference ended in Geneva Thursday. The next step is release of a 1,000-page report expected within the next month. The CPM was a success, with a record 1,300 participants from 107 member states, ITU officials said during a news media call.
Breaking up big tech platforms like Facebook could “very potentially” help with political censorship issues related to anti-competitive behavior, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told us, responding to questions about the FTC’s newly formed tech competition task force (see 1902270063). Facebook’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp are an “obvious place to inquire,” said Cruz, the agency’s Office of Policy Planning director in the early 2000s. “I hope the task force looks at both antitrust issues and consumer protection issues and in particular, the political censorship that we’ve seen from big tech.” He called the group “long overdue.”
Privacy advocates said a Washington state law sought by Microsoft and other tech companies provides too little protection to consumers. The House and Senate privacy bills lack teeth and cede too much control to companies, American Civil Liberties Union and Consumer Reports officials said in interviews. State Sen. Reuven Carlyle (D) responded that his bill is “the strongest, meaningful privacy measure that is on the table.” House Innovation Committee Chair Zack Hudgins (D) has appeared more open to making changes in response to concerns, telling us his chamber’s bill is a “work in progress.”
Best Buy shares closed up 14 percent to $68.82 Wednesday after a better-than-expected fiscal Q4 earnings report showing a 3 percent year-over-year hike in comparable sales. Enterprise revenue was $14.8 billion over 13 weeks vs. $15.3 billion in a 14-week year-ago quarter. Domestic comp sales grew 3 percent. A 3.5 percent revenue decrease to $13.5 billion was driven by the lost week and closing 257 Best Buy Mobile and 12 large-format stores over the year, said Chief Financial Officer Corie Barry. She estimated the extra week last year brought in $760 million in sales.
The 5G Automotive Association told the FCC there's broad support for its proposed waiver to deploy cellular vehicle-to-everything technology (C-V2X) in the upper 20 MHz of the 5.9 GHz band. Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel recently said they support instead a broad NPRM (see 1902140057), a stance taken by commenters (see 1902110007). Replies were posted Wednesday in docket 18-357. Wi-Fi advocates see the band as offering critical mid-band spectrum for unlicensed use.
ANNAPOLIS -- The Maryland Senate Finance Committee took up the Senate version of small-cell legislation considered by the House Economic Matters Committee. The Senate panel heard testimony Tuesday evening on industry-supported SB-937 and local government-backed SB-713, after a lengthy hearing on other bills. A Verizon official warned that absent industry-friendly legislation, the state might not see 5G anytime soon.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and industry officials are open to passing a federal privacy law that’s stronger than California’s. Cantwell suggested during the committee’s first privacy hearing in 2019 that federal law should be stronger, at a minimum. Wicker sounded hopeful about prospects for privacy legislation during a later Incompas event, saying it's one of his “must-pass” priorities for the committee this year (see 1902270018).
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said Wednesday he favors reauthorization of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act, one of several communications policy issues the committee is “intent on moving” on this year. Wicker said during an Incompas event he is bullish about advancing privacy legislation but less certain about prospects for bills on net neutrality and improving conditions for 5G. Other federal officials meanwhile noted there's no 5G "killer app" yet.
Delaying the increase to 25 percent on the 10 percent Section 301 tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports will require a “presidential proclamation” or publication of a Federal Register notice before the midnight Friday deadline to avert an automatic rate hike, emailed customs law expert Ted Murphy of Baker McKenzie Monday. President Donald Trump, for the second time since December, postponed the rate hike in a pair of tweets Sunday, citing “substantial progress” in U.S.-China trade talks (see 1902250001).
Technology “can be a force for good,” but parents, the academic and medical community and lawmakers need better understanding of how tech use and media consumption by youth is affecting attention spans, sleeping, eating and exercise patterns, said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., Tuesday. He and co-sponsor Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., rolled out the reintroduced Children and Media Research Advancement (CAMRA) Act. Markey said the bill would fund a five-year, $95 million National Institutes of Health initiative on the impact of various tech and media on cognitive, physical and socio-emotional development. They said the research was to look at the effects of mobile devices and apps, social media, movies, TV and videogames.