Satellite will play a role in 5G, but not immediately, because it will take time for deployment outside the denser urban areas, and in the meantime satellite's big focus will be on 4G, satellite operator CEOs said Tuesday at Satellite 2019. 4G “still has a long, long way to go” and its deployment will remain the main route for satellite operators participating in mobile until 5G starts rural deployment, said SES' Steve Collar on a panel.
The FM translator interference order will require complaint minimums more in line with the 25 requested by NAB than the possible 65 (see 1905010162) that would have been needed from some full-power FM stations to lodge complaints under the draft released in April, industry and FCC officials said in interviews this week.
Telecom policy issues ultimately drew the most attention during a Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee hearing Tuesday on the FCC and FTC FY 2020 budget requests, including work to combat illegal robocalls and reallocate spectrum to support 5G. Some subcommittee members also talked about what language the FTC and FCC believe should be in a final privacy legislative package, though that garnered far less focus than expected (see 1905020057). President Donald Trump’s administration proposed more than $335.6 million in combined FY 2020 funding for the FCC and its Office of Inspector General and $312.3 million for the FTC (see 1903180063).
Industry reacted against President Donald Trump’s surprise tweets Sunday threatening to hike to 25 percent the Section 301 tariffs currently at 10 percent on $200 billion in Chinese imports, effective this Friday. The uproar overshadowed industry’s response to Trump’s accompanying threat to impose 25 percent tariffs “shortly” on $325 billion more in Chinese goods previously “untaxed.” That would cover virtually all remaining imports to the U.S. from China.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., wants to reauthorize the Section 215 phone surveillance program, despite reports NSA might let it expire (see 1904240068). “We plan to reauthorize it. It’s a valuable program,” Burr told us. Ranking member Mark Warner, D-Va., is skeptical, but said he's open to hearing arguments for reauthorization.
C band made available for terrestrial 5G in the U.S. could carry a price tag of tens of billions of dollars, with the investment community generally expecting the FCC to opt for the C-Band Alliance proposal and satellite operators all likely to get a windfall, financial analysts said at the Satellite 2019 show Monday. Raymond James' Ric Prentiss said the FCC wants more consensus before it decides on a C-band approach.
House Commerce Committee leaders told us they're in the earliest stages of exploring a revisit of NTIA reauthorization legislation, which they believe could be one vehicle for moving on some broadband and spectrum policy issues. The then-majority GOP House Communications Subcommittee last year released a draft recertification bill, but lawmakers gave it mixed reviews at a hearing (see 1806260064). Other lawmakers are also working on broadband bills amid renewed attention on a possible infrastructure legislative package (see 1904300194).
An FCC order rejecting China Mobile’s application to provide telecom services in the U.S. is expected to be the most contentious item at Thursday’s commissioners’ meeting. The order itself isn’t controversial, but questions are expected on whether the regulator needs to do more to address upfront the security of 5G networks, agency and industry officials said. FCC Democrats Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks raised concerns about whether the agency is engaged enough on security issues.
Though “churn attribution” isn’t a “perfect science,” it’s “fair to say” that a "little less than half" the 266,000 in Dish pay-TV net subscriber losses in Q1 were from the Univision and HBO blackouts, said CEO Erik Carlson on an earnings call Friday. Dish and Univision resolved their differences near the end of the quarter. “There’s nothing new to report” in the HBO impasse, which started in November (see 1811070030), said Carlson.
A Rhode Island net neutrality bill faces an uncertain path in the House despite Democratic control and passing by wide margin in the Senate last week (see 1904300191). A high-ranking House Democrat told us he's deciding if the bill is necessary. Pending litigation may be a factor stopping some states from passing bills, observers said. Elsewhere last week, lawmakers cast yes votes for bills to combat robocalls using fake phone numbers and to support broadband by municipalities and electric cooperatives.