The FCC paused the informal 180-day shot clock on its review of T-Mobile’s proposed buy of Sprint Thursday and asked for additional comment on new data submitted by the companies. On Feb. 21 and March 6, “the Applicants filed significant additional information regarding their network integration plans for 2019-2021, an extension of their previously filed merger simulation analysis to cover the years 2019-2021, and additional information regarding their claims related to fixed wireless broadband services,” said a public notice in docket 18-197. The FCC sought comment on just the new submissions, due March 28.
Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer Huawei sued the U.S. government Wednesday over language in the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act that bars U.S. agencies from using “risky” technology produced by the company or fellow Chinese firm ZTE. The lawsuit itself didn't come up during a Thursday-Senate Commerce Security Subcommittee hearing on security implications of China's market activities. Members repeatedly returned to concerns about Huawei and major tech sector issues, including the U.S. race against China to dominate 5G.
A big part of the administration’s spectrum plan requires all federal agencies to submit planning documents, which include estimates of their needs 15 years in the future. Government and industry officials said the plan could be helpful in assessing future spectrum bands for licensed and unlicensed use, but acknowledge agencies have a big challenge.
Racial discrimination concerns “absolutely” need to be addressed in the data privacy debate, House Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., told reporters after a hearing Wednesday. The tech industry should ensure that facial recognition and other technologies aren’t discriminating against minorities, she said.
Frontier Communications faces a second Minnesota investigation in response to complaints by consumers and workers in a state Commerce Department report finding that the carrier possibly violated at least 35 laws and rules (see 1901240025). The Minnesota Office of Attorney General is probing possible consumer fraud in parallel to a Public Utilities Commission’s service-quality investigation, OAG commented this week at the PUC. Responding at length to the Commerce report of about 1,000 complaining consumers, the telco claimed fewer than 450 Minnesota customers had major service problems last year.
Even with FCC progress in easing the infrastructure path to 5G deployment and extending broadband connectivity, industry officials at a Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council event Wednesday sought lower barriers to infrastructure deployment. Some commissioners also said the draft Telecom Act Section 706 broadband deployment report points to big progress in closing the digital divide.
An FCC broadband report draft appears to rely on "tremendous over-reporting by a single CLEC/WISP," Free Press said. "Wildly over-inflated" data from Barrier Communications (BarrierFree) exaggerates the agency's claimed improvement in national broadband deployment in 2017, FP filed, posted Wednesday in docket 18-238. It said the FCC must address the error before adopting the 2019 report on the adequacy of advanced telecom capability deployment pursuant to a Telecom Act Section 706 mandate.
Democrats are aiming to move their newly filed Save the Internet Act through the House first amid perceptions the net neutrality bill faces better prospects there than in the Senate, lobbyists said. The bill mirrors the Congressional Review Act resolution that last year aimed to undo FCC rescission of its 2015 rules. Colorado and Hawaii state-level net neutrality bills this week cleared their originating chambers.
Antitrust law isn't a “Swiss Army knife,” capable of solving a host of social ills like privacy concerns, Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Mike Lee, R-Utah, said Tuesday during a hearing on monopolies. But ranking member Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said the increase in ownership concentration, particularly with tech, is leading to stagnating wages and other consumer harms.
A C-Band Alliance proposal for how CBA would protect earth stations in the 3.7-4.2 GHz band from interference from flexible use operations in the lower part of the band isn't winning over all critics. American Cable Association Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Ross Lieberman emailed that CBA's docket 18-122 posting Tuesday "fails to address the most pressing concerns ... like higher prices, lost programming, and foregone investments. CBA’s failure to acknowledge and offer solutions to these problems highlights why they are not suited -- whereas the FCC is -- to manage any reimbursement program for C-band users.”