Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Harold Furchtgott-Roth and telecom officials raised concerns during a Tuesday Hudson event about the threat of Chinese dominance over global 5G development. China, Huawei and ZTE loomed over U.S. telecom policy this year, beginning with the January leak of a draft National Security Council official memo proposing the U.S. build a national 5G network (see 1801290034).
ORLANDO -- The FCC should extend the Mobility Fund II challenge process by more than three months to fix a deficient process, said a NARUC resolution cleared Monday by the Telecom Committee and Tuesday by the board. At NARUC's annual meeting (see 1811130035), the committee voted unanimously for the resolution after tweaking some language to address other commissioners’ concerns. Idaho Commissioner Paul Kjellander will step down as Telecom Committee chairman to join NARUC leadership, he said Monday.
DOJ is paying close attention to American Cable Association complaints of anticompetitive activity by Comcast, but chances it will go any further are slim, experts told us. Ethan Glass of Quinn Emanuel said a challenge of any investigation is the fine line between anticompetitive conduct and exercising a right to get the price for content one wants. President Donald Trump seemingly giving an amen to ACA's complaints likely won't sway the agency to do something it otherwise wouldn't. DOJ didn't comment Tuesday.
Telecom interests view the shift to split partisan control next Congress as improving prospects for compromise on a broadband title in a likely revisit of an infrastructure package. President Donald Trump and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said after the Democrats gained control of the House in last week's elections that they believe a deal is possible on infrastructure (see 1811070054). Democrats as of Tuesday won 228 House seats to the Republicans' 199, with eight races undecided. The GOP held a 51-47 Senate edge, with two races undecided.
Industry groups warned NTIA against pushing privacy policies that restrict data collection. Consumer groups argued for more FTC authority and higher standards on data collection consent. Friday was NTIA’s deadline for comment on the administration’s privacy principles effort. The agency will make them publicly available this week, so we asked stakeholders what they filed, and others released them. Some said they were working on them Friday, and others said they don't plan to file.
Discussions are continuing among groups representing the deaf and hard of hearing and industry, and also at the FCC, on proposed tweaks to how industry reports availability of hearing-aid compatible handsets, agency and industry officials said. An order is set for a vote at Thursday’s commissioners’ meeting (see 1810240030). It builds on a letter by CTIA, the Competitive Carriers Association, the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) and the Telecommunications Industry Association (see 1810240030).
The FCC is expected to issue a proposal kicking off the 2018 quadrennial review next month. Many industry officials foresee a focus on AM/FM subcaps, top-four duopoly rules, and how competition in the media market is defined.
With approval of four non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite applications on the agenda for Thursday's commissioner meeting (see 1810240030), the FCC is seen proceeding at a relatively good clip as it goes through Ku- and Ka-band constellation plans and now launches into V-band applications. "Our hope is to be able to approve [the remaining applications] with relative dispatch," Chairman Ajit Pai said in a brief interview after a Thursday event on the agency's space month (see 1811080034).
Getting fast broadband for residents is worth the fight against incumbent industry over municipal broadband, said Connecticut mayors and state legislators Thursday. Officials at a Connecticut State Broadband Office and Next Century Cities forum livestreamed from Hartford dared incoming Gov. Ned Lamont (D) to focus on future gain instead of preserving the status quo. Tuesday’s election brought the state a Democratic trifecta (see 1811070043). Local governments and the state consumer counsel are suing the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority for agreeing with ISPs “municipal gain” space on poles may not be used for muni broadband (see 1811010036).
On-orbit satellite servicing operations are around the corner, yet regulation and oversight are fraught with unanswered questions, experts said Thursday at a Consortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations (CONFERS) forum. "We don't want the Wild West up there ... flying around without any sort of planning," said Fred Kennedy, who directs the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Tactical Technology Office.