As wireless providers plan to roll out their 5G networks, cable ISPs are aiming to do similarly with 10-gigabit networks or 10G. Monday at CES, the cable industry said the first deployments could come as soon as late 2021. Participants include Charter Communications, Comcast and Cox Communications.
Georgia and West Virginia lawmakers appeared poised to move 5G wireless bills as state legislative sessions begin in 2019. Look for bills in those and other states that didn't succeed in passing measures last year, wireless industry officials told us. Local governments opposing state pre-emption see no slowdown ahead on state bills, even though the FCC ruled in September, said NATOA General Counsel Nancy Werner.
The new year won't see a major decline in uncertainty for radio and TV station owners considering big mergers and acquisitions, at least right away. Questions about the final disposition of FCC rules on M&A, divestitures that haven't been finalized and other issues remain pending, an array of experts agreed in interviews last week.
T-Mobile/Sprint opponents in New York support strong state conditions on the $26 billion deal, their representatives told us Friday, the due date for the second round of comments in case 18-C-0396 at the New York Public Service Commission. While not ready to support the deal, the Public Utility Law Project has moved from a position “tending toward telling the commission to deny,” said PULP Executive Director Richard Berkley. In the California Public Utilities Commission review, intervenor testimony is due Monday, with hearings planned this month and next.
Don't expect any AT&T/Time Warner-scale mergers and acquisitions in entertainment and media this year, experts told us. The federal government partial shutdown isn't having a chilling effect on deals, but that could change the longer it lasts, they said. "Two weeks may not be the end of the world for a lot of transactions; two months could be," said wireline and wireless lawyer Laura Phillips of Drinker Biddle.
State attorneys general have an obligation to protect consumers against deception from online platforms like Facebook, Mississippi AG Jim Hood (D) told us Wednesday. Hood, who battled Google on various legal fronts, discussed a growing trend of tech-related enforcement from state entities. Washington, D.C., AG Karl Racine (D) recently sued Facebook over the Cambridge Analytica privacy breach (see 1812190039).
House Commerce Committee Democratic and GOP leaders told us they're working through the process of naming subcommittee heads and committee members in the opening days of the 116th Congress. House Commerce ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., said he's evaluating applications for ranking member slots, including for the House Communications and Digital Commerce subcommittees. Walden switched places with new House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., when the new Congress formally convened Thursday.
With 2019 dubbed the year of 5G and companies vying to compete in the new citizens broadband radio service and other bands, the federal shutdown comes at a bad time, industry officials said last week. Every cellphone, TV, computer or other device sold in the U.S. emits a unique RF signature and must be cleared by the FCC. With the agency mostly shuttered as of Thursday, those clearances can no longer take place.
Apple shares closed down 10 percent Thursday at $142.19 and tech suppliers fell after its rare warning about quarterly results drew tech tariff concerns. CEO Tim Cook cut sales guidance after U.S. markets closed Wednesday to $84 billion for the quarter ended Dec. 29 vs. the $89 billion-$93 billion from November's earnings call (see 1811020043). That's a drop from the year-ago period.
Republican leadership added two tech-minded lawmakers to the Senate Judiciary Committee in Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., according to a GOP roster circulating around the Hill. Republicans also doubled down on adding female representation with Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa (see 1812140044).