Amid calls to break up Facebook’s “monopoly,” Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, told us the current tech landscape isn't comparable to that surrounding antitrust activity against Microsoft in the late 1990s, when he chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee. Anticompetitive issues could surface, “but I don’t see any reason for it right now,” he said. The Open Markets Institute, Public Citizen and Content Creators Coalition are among groups demanding Facebook divest Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger (see 1805210051). Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin separately said DOJ should investigate big tech concentration of ownership.
Movie studios and regional sports networks (RSNs) could become antitrust sticking points for a proposed Comcast buy of Fox's nonbroadcast assets, antitrust experts told us. Comcast said Wednesday it's preparing an all-cash offer for the same Fox nonbroadcasting assets that Fox agreed to sell to Disney. It said the structure and terms of its offer, and the regulatory risk provisions, "would be at least as favorable to Fox shareholders as the Disney offer."
Commissioner Brendan Carr promised more FCC action is on the way on changes to wireless infrastructure rules, in an interview on C-SPAN’s The Communicators recorded Wednesday. Carr said he's “actively looking” at ways to speed up siting decisions and steps the FCC can take “to make sure that we’re all moving in the same direction in terms of promoting the deployment of this new infrastructure.” The episode is expected to be televised this weekend and put online Friday.
Congress gave itself multiple options for addressing President Donald Trump's bid to reconsider the Department of Commerce seven-year ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE, lawmakers and lobbyists told us. The issue continued to get Capitol Hill attention Wednesday. The previous day, the Senate Banking Committee attached language to the Senate version of the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (S-2098) that would bar Trump from changing the Commerce ban on U.S. sales to ZTE without certification to Congress the company complies with U.S. laws (see 1805220057). Trump has faced criticism over ZTE since he first tweeted about it last week (see 1805140062, 1805150068 and 1805160061). Commerce first announced the ban in April (see 1804170018).
CHARLOTTE -- The FCC will vote in July on a proposal for using C-band spectrum, the 500 MHz of spectrum between 3.7 and 4.2 GHz, Chairman Ajit Pai told the Wireless Infrastructure Association Wednesday. Pai urged aggressive action to win the global 5G race but said he wants to find balance between industry and local government interests. Dish Network plans to spend at least $10 billion on 5G, technology that Chairman Charles Ergen predicted would add “a lot more” than $500 billion to the economy. Chasing a 5G network for IoT, “Dish is back to being a startup business,” Ergen said. The company is spending $500 million to $1 billion in the first phase of its plans, and tower executives voiced eagerness to assist.
BURLINGAME, Calif. -- Consumers in the U.S. will buy more than 485 million connected consumer devices in 2021, including smart home, connected health, mobile and entertainment products, said Parks Associates at the opening of its Connections conference Tuesday. By 2022, that will top 520 million units. Making that possible are 106 million U.S. households, 88 percent, with broadband service, said analyst Tom Kerber.
An FCC proposal for rules requiring prompt action on “innovative” new technologies and services under Section 7 of the Communications Act got enthusiastic support from CTA, Qualcomm and other industry commenters. Filers also advised the FCC to move forward carefully, citing potential unintended consequences. In one of his first speeches as chairman, Ajit Pai promised to “breathe life” into Section 7 (see 1703150020). The agency sought comment in February, despite concerns by Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel (see 1802220045).
Discussing bipartisan draft legislation that would direct a Department of Commerce study on the IoT, House lawmakers from both parties said Tuesday that Congress isn't paying enough attention to consumer privacy. The Digital Commerce Subcommittee held a hearing on draft legislation from Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said the State of Modern Application, Research and Trends of IoT (Smart) Act would produce for Congress a central source of information on how industry is integrating IoT devices and how the country is adapting.
President Donald Trump pushed back Tuesday against reports the U.S. and Chinese governments reached a tentative deal that would lift the Department of Commerce seven-year ban blocking U.S. companies from selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE in exchange for China's rescission of new tariffs on U.S. agricultural exports. Capitol Hill backlash continued against Trump's interest in renegotiating sanctions against ZTE. Trump faced criticism over the telecom gearmaker since he first tweeted about it last week (see 1805140062, 1805150068 and 1805160061).
Globalstar, which unsuccessfully fought against allowing outdoor Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) devices to operate in the 5.1 GHz band, said it has evidence of growing degradation to its mobile satellite service (MSS) offerings. But spectrum and satellite experts said it isn't clear whether the FCC will take up the company's petition regarding whether the band can continue to allow sharing between MSS and outdoor U-NII operations.