American Indian groups criticized proposed changes to wireless infrastructure rules teed up for next week’s commissioners’ meetings but so far haven't been making their concerns known through lobbying at the FCC. The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and some other groups representing tribal interests didn’t comment Tuesday, and representatives have said in filings that the regulator appears to be putting the interests of industry ahead of native groups.
Tech stakeholders remain divided over anti-sex trafficking legislation the Senate is poised to vote on this week, those on both sides told us. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, author of the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) (S-1693) (see 1803020024) plans to pursue the House-approved version of the bill, the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) (HR-1865). Facebook and the Internet Association support the House measure, but several tech groups remain concerned about the process in which the bills were combined in the House, and fearful the legislation will result in widespread censorship of content.
Satellite operators need to be far more active in helping set 5G standards or risk being relegated to a tertiary niche role in providing 5G services, industry officials said Monday at Satellite 2018. Meanwhile, experts said the Intelsat/Intel/SES plan for freeing up some C-band spectrum for terrestrial use (see 1802090016) raises big questions about whether it's a smart way to monetize spectrum, or a bad precedent for satellite operators as a whole.
AT&T arguments against Comcast's buy of NBCUniversal show that if AT&T/Time Warner goes through, prices for current services will increase and emerging competition development will slow, DOJ said in a docket 17-2511 trial brief (in Pacer) to U.S. District Court in Washington. On the contrary, AT&T and TW said (in Pacer), also filed Friday, the agency's lead economic expert concedes it wouldn't be profitable for New AT&T to withhold its TV networks from rival MVPDs, and prices paid by New AT&T subscribers will decrease. The trial, to begin Monday, is expected to last 15 days (see 1803080047).
NAB and some public interest groups disagree on nearly every aspect of an FCC-proposed broadcast ownership incubator program (see 1711160054), in comments in docket 17-289. NAB supports a program that would include incentives such as ownership rule waivers for participating broadcasters. Groups including the Communications Workers of America, United Church of Christ Communication Office and Prometheus Radio Project said the program wouldn’t accomplish its goals.
The FCC Connect America Fund Phase II subsidy auction got largely good marks from economists on a panel at an FCBA event Monday. All three welcomed the CAF II reverse auction (lowest bids win) set to begin July 24, which will make available up to $198 million per year over 10 years in high-cost support for broadband and voice services in areas traditionally served by large telcos. They expressed concerns about some details, and one economist estimated up to 30 percent of the funds could go unclaimed, though a second questioned that estimate, and a third didn't see that as a problem if it occurs.
Fighting seems unlikely to end soon in state and federal efforts to pre-empt local authority over broadband infrastructure deployment, said local government panelists Monday at a National League of Cities conference in Washington. Small-cells bills to promote 5G deployment by pre-empting local right-of-way (ROW) authority have been passed in 16 state legislatures and enacted into law in 14, but localities sued Ohio and Texas over such laws. Bad policy leads to litigation, so “there’s going to be more and more of this around the country,” predicted Mayor Gary Resnick of Wilton Manors, Florida.
A pair of Senate Commerce Committee hearings this week on President Donald Trump’s infrastructure legislative proposal will likely delve into thorny questions about how a final bill would fund broadband projects, and there will be interest in plans to streamline regulations viewed as impeding deployments (see 1803120049), communications sector officials and lobbyists told us. A Communications Subcommittee hearing Tuesday is to concentrate on broadband aspects of the Trump proposal. A full Commerce hearing that will include Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross is expected to touch on broadband and other infrastructure (see 1803060056).
Local and state governments haven't raised objections on a pending order streamlining parts of the wireless infrastructure rules, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said in an interview. The order is to get a vote at commissioners’ March 22 meeting (see 1803010047) and it may be OK'd 3-2 (see 1803070044). “This order only deals with federal process,” Carr said. “There’s nothing in the changes that we’re doing right now that’s going to greenlight any particular deployment. Every deployment would still have to go through the appropriate state or local review process.” Also Monday, the National League of Cities heard in Washington that fighting is unlikely to end soon in state and federal efforts to pre-empt local authority over broadband infrastructure deployment (see 1803120051).
Facing potential fines of 20 million euros under the EU general data protection regulation (GDPR), U.S. companies fear significant action against American firms soon after the law takes effect May 25, Venable partner Kelly DeMarchis Bastide said Friday.