The House Commerce Committee will step into the messaging battle about the ongoing partial government shutdown next week via a planned Jan. 31 hearing aimed at examining the shuttering's effects on federal agencies under the committee's jurisdiction, which include the FCC and FTC, Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said during a Thursday committee meeting. House Commerce is working to schedule an expected net neutrality hearing for February. It’s also considering a joint hearing with the House Judiciary Committee to examine T-Mobile's proposed buy of Sprint, lobbyists said.
The FCC is continuing to prepare for the 24 GHz auction and future auctions, including pushing forward on the C band and other bands being looked at for 5G. The 28 GHz auction closed Thursday. Nevertheless, the agency remains constrained in how much staff can do as the longest shutdown in federal history continues. “Staff continues to work on future auctions,” a spokesperson emailed Thursday.
The shutdown is having immediate FCC consequences in the form of delayed filing deadlines and shuttered websites. It could also ripple out to delay expected rule changes for 2019, industry officials told us this week. Since staff isn’t available, expected early-2019 policy decisions on kidvid and rate regulation, court cases and progress of deals such as T-Mobile buying Sprint are considered likely to be delayed.
Winning the race to 5G will require “substantial additional terrestrial spectrum” and a “clearly defined schedule” for making that spectrum available, CTIA commented to NTIA on the national spectrum policy. Despite a government shutdown, which includes most of NTIA, CTIA and others released comments. Most appeared to follow past arguments. The filings are unlikely to be posted online until government reopens, industry officials said.
Lifeline subscribership has "shrunk" almost 30 percent under FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and is set to drop at least another 30 percent "on his watch," said Kelley Drye attorney John Heitmann on a New America Open Technology Institute panel Wednesday. Representing Lifeline providers, he said Pai commission actions and proposals undercut enrollment and providers.
Most don’t need gigabyte connections at home, except for bragging rights, Rob Alderfer, CableLabs vice president-technology policy, said at a Technology Policy Institute panel Wednesday. Video is driving demands for better connectivity and investment in networks, he said. Macquarie analyst Amy Yong said this is a confusing period for investors in this area, and regulation shifts add uncertainty. There's also uncertainty about future network usage, TPI's head told us.
Net neutrality bills are attempting comebacks in states that blocked measures last year, with lawmakers in more than a dozen states introducing net neutrality bills this month. States “have significantly more experience with the issue” after California enacted a strong bill and about 35 states at least proposed a measure last year, said New America Open Technology Institute Policy Counsel Eric Null. Pending legal challenges against the FCC and states could slow legislative momentum, some said. Federal legislators might try to preempt state actions (see 1901230046).
The House Communications Subcommittee is aiming to hold its first net neutrality hearing during the first two weeks of February, Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., told reporters Tuesday. Some Republicans are interested in exploring legislation that would be patterned on existing state-level net neutrality actions, to forestall potential Democratic legislation that would aim to reinstate FCC 2015 rules. Entities that lobbied on net neutrality in Q4 decreased from the same period in 2017.
Sprint and Twitter reported significant increases in their Q4 lobbying spending at our deadline Tuesday, while Qualcomm said its expenditures dropped slightly from the same period a year earlier. Many other tech and telecom stakeholders hadn't yet reported their own spending figures, but some outside lobbyists reported receiving fees from them. The deadline to file lobbying spending reports for Q4 was Tuesday.
The FCC’s partial reopening of the equipment authorization system, announced Friday (see 1901180040), will provide only limited relief, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel again warned Tuesday. The federal shutdown could slow FCC work on 5G in general, particularly on clearing mid-band spectrum, she said. Rosenworcel spoke at an Internet Innovation Alliance session on a potential incentive auction for the 2.5 GHz educational broadband service band, with a goal of raising money to close the “homework gap.”