INDIANAPOLIS -- There are alternatives to Congress and the FCC requiring carriers and others to remove from their networks equipment made by Chinese telecom gear makers, NARUC was told. Though some state commissioners later expressed skepticism, industry panelists (see 1:30 p.m. event listing) largely backed monitoring networks of U.S. companies for cyberattacks, including from Huawei or ZTE, and testing all equipment before installation for vulnerabilities. Stakeholders generally want testing and monitoring across the board, not limited to one company or manufacturers based in one country.
Questions remain about the draft rules for the upcoming auction of more than 17,000 numbers in the recently opened 833 toll-free code. Commissioners are to vote Aug. 1 on application, bidding and post-auction procedures for the FCC's first-of-its-kind auction, to be held on Dec. 17. The FCC previously chose Somos to administer the auction. The agency bills the auction as "an experiment in using competitive bidding as a way to assign toll free numbers."
Members of Congress continue introducing or working on bills targeting national security concerns with Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer Huawei, including a pending bill from House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., lawmakers and lobbyists told us. Some on Capitol Hill said they're holding out hope that a conference committee to marry the disparate House and Senate versions of the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act will agree to include a trio of House-passed amendments that target Huawei and ZTE. But they and others said legislative vehicles and these recent stand-alone bills should be considered as an alternative if the conference process fails to bear fruit.
The FCC Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council started Friday at its first public meeting in this iteration. The focus was on promoting security for 5G and 911 networks, broadcaster resiliency and strengthening emergency alerting. The agency plans a notice asking for volunteers for the six working groups, agency officials said.
The FTC again met criticism last week from Senate Democrats and Republicans after reports of an estimated $5 billion privacy settlement with Facebook. A former commissioner defended the agency's reported 3-2 decision, saying a more-stringent penalty was never guaranteed in court.
Parties in proposed reallocation of some C band for 5G said each of their plans is the only one that makes sense, in docket 18-122 comments posted Friday. The Wireless and International bureaus and offices of Engineering and Technology and of Economics and Analytics said in a public notice Friday they were seeking comment on the band-clearing plans put forward by AT&T; America's Communications Association, the CCA and Charter Communications; and the Wireless ISP Association, Google and Microsoft. Comments are due Aug. 7 and replies Aug. 14.
Competitive LECs want more time to move away from regulated resale of voice-grade copper TDM phone services bought from incumbents if commissioners vote soon to proceed with a forbearance order as expected (see 1907020058). The draft addresses remaining aspects of a larger petition for regulatory relief USTelecom filed in May 2018 (see 1805040016). The draft proposes a three-year transition for CLECs or their customers to find new voice service arrangements or for CLECs to negotiate new contracts. CLEC allies are optimistic the agency will extend the time as they seek.
Netflix subscriber growth began to recover “in the first couple of weeks of Q3," said Chief Financial Officer Spencer Neumann after the company missed its Q2 sub targets with results Wednesday (see 1907170070). The slowdown in subscriber growth was across all of our regions,” said the CFO that evening. “We think the primary story was around seasonality and timing and nature of our content slate, but pricing played a factor.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously advanced to the floor legislation that would establish a voluntary small claims board within the Copyright Office (see 1907110060). Groups including Public Knowledge and Center for Democracy & Technology remain opposed. They said it would subject internet users, who unknowingly violate copyright, to unfair fines up to $30,000.
The big decision on T-Mobile/Sprint could be fast approaching. DOJ is expected to announce a deal with the companies soon or sue to block the transaction, industry officials said. The biggest questions appear to be whether Dish Network will follow through on a proposal to launch a fourth national network and whether there will be restrictions on other companies, especially cable operators, buying Dish for its spectrum.