ThePirateBay.org, an illicit torrent indexing service, remains a prominent target for the music, film and video game industries, show comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative posted this week. USTR collected comments through Monday for its Special 301 report on countries and groups that infringe U.S. intellectual property.
Michigan lawmakers advanced 5G wireless legislation Thursday, while Georgia went back to the drawing board, as states come to terms with the FCC’s order last month to lower state and local barriers. The Michigan Energy Policy Committee voted 15-4 to clear two wireless bills, SB-637 and SB-894, with one lawmaker noting the measures expand on the FCC decision. Later, a Georgia Senate study committee talked about a possible second attempt to update local right-of-way policies. In California, a state court decision could cause problems for Sacramento and Verizon’s 5G launch (see 1810010028).
Bipartisan interest in federal broadband funding mechanisms and criticism of FCC coverage data collection practices dominated Thursday's Senate Commerce Committee hearing on rural broadband, as expected (see 1810030055). The panel also became a forum for Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and other committee members to tout broadband-related legislation eyed for potential combination into a package bill (see 1807250056).
ORLANDO -- Smaller providers at the Competitive Carriers Association are likely to pursue priority access licenses in the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band when they become available, as early as next year, based on interviews at CCA’s meeting. They are more dubious on the outlook for high-band spectrum in their mostly rural markets. Attendees expect a PALs auction as early as the last quarter of 2019, though maybe not until early 2020.
DOJ will soon conclude a criminal case against companies using search algorithms to effectuate price fixing, creating an anticompetitive effect, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim told lawmakers Wednesday. Calling the case “the first of its kind,” he declined to name the companies involved, during a hearing on tech platform antitrust concerns. “We actually have a case, a criminal case, that’s going to be coming to a conclusion in the next two weeks,” he told the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee. Delrahim answered questions about various investigations of Google throughout the discussion.
ISP groups challenged California's net neutrality law Wednesday in the same U.S. district court where DOJ filed suit Sunday (see 1809210059). Separately, they backed the U.S. solicitor general's request to the Supreme Court to vacate the 2017 ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirming the FCC's 2015 net neutrality order (see 1808030041). That case was scheduled for justices' Oct. 26 conference (in Daniel Berninger v. FCC, No. 17-498).
ORLANDO -- FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr had nothing more to announce Tuesday on wireless siting (see 1810020027), but panelists at the Competitive Carriers Association conference said Wednesday there's still room for the FCC to do more. Will Adams, wireless aide to Carr, said the orders will go a long way toward speeding deployments.
Since the original estimate of the broadcast station 600 MHz repacking price tag was off, there's no reason to think the predicted time frame for completion is any more accurate, said NAB Associate General Counsel Patrick McFadden Wednesday at the Americas Spectrum Management Conference. There was also a clash over the 6 GHz proceeding on October's FCC member-meeting agenda. "This is a big step forward," said 6 GHz Coalition counsel Paul Margie of Harris Wiltshire.
ORLANDO -- Competitive Carrier Association executives expressed some concerns about T-Mobile’s proposed buy of Sprint, on a Wednesday panel at the group's annual convention. Members remain very focused on spectrum, including high band and the 3.5 GHz band, said CCA President Steve Berry, speaking to members. Spectrum remains a big issue, the executives agreed.
Senate Indian Affairs Committee members focused on what they see as deficiencies in FCC practices for determining broadband coverage on tribal lands, during a Wednesday hearing. The hearing examined a September GAO report that said the FCC overstates broadband availability on tribal lands because it considers service available in a census block if a provider can serve at least one location (see 1809100041). A Thursday Senate Commerce Committee hearing on progress in rural broadband deployments is likely to also touch on tribal governments' concerns. But the panel will largely be an overview of the chamber's work in this Congress on encouraging broadband projects in rural areas and is likely to frame Senate Commerce's approach to that issue in 2019, lawmakers and lobbyists told us.