Commissioner Brendan Carr said FCC members will vote at their March 22 meeting on changes to rules on historic and environmental reviews of small cells and larger macro towers. More details will be available Thursday when Chairman Ajit Pai is expected to release items for the meeting. Carr and industry officials discussed 5G at a CTA event Wednesday. Many industry groups applauded the proposed changes.
Revamp, don’t repeal Alaska USF, urged the telecom industry and Alaska’s attorney general in comments this week in docket R-18-001 at the Regulatory Commission of Alaska. The RCA last month proposed phasing out AUSF by July 31, 2019 (see 1801160014). The Alaska Telephone Association (ATA), Alaska Communications (AC) and the AG office rejected that and pitched alternatives. AUSF surcharges -- 19 percent this year -- “will almost certainly continue to rise,” a lawmaker said. The federal USF contribution factor for Q1 is 19.5 percent.
Use of artificial intelligence and other evolving technologies will be critical to managing the airwaves and handling the spiraling demand for data, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel told the Mobile World Congress Tuesday. At the conference this week in Barcelona, the emphasis has been on 5G, during streamed keynote panels and in announcements made by companies there (see 1802260047). The conference is the last MWC before carriers start to deploy 5G later this year.
The House passed the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (HR-1865) Tuesday evening on a 388-25 vote. The House approved a trio of amendments supported by lead sponsor Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., amid continued opposition by some tech, privacy and open internet proponents to the possible changes. The amendments included one from Rep. Mimi Walters, R-Calif., to include language from the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (S-1693), which the House cleared on a 308-107 vote. Both bills would amend Communications Decency Act Section 230 to make it easier to bring criminal charges against websites that knowingly facilitate or promote sex trafficking. Opponents of adding the S-1693 language say HR-1865's existing language is a more targeted approach (see 1801040050).
In oral argument in the “Microsoft Ireland” Supreme Court case Tuesday (see 1710160009), Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor asked whether the high court should defer to Congress for a legislative solution on police access to data stored abroad. Ginsburg called the environment of U.S. v. Microsoft a “brave new world.” Citing the 1986 Stored Communications Act, Microsoft challenged a U.S. government warrant demanding emails stored in Ireland as part of a drug trafficking investigation. The high court granted the government’s application to review a 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that said Microsoft didn't have to comply with a probable-cause warrant for the customer's emails in Ireland because U.S. law doesn't apply abroad.
The “vast majority” of broadcasters are “nowhere close” to exhausting their initial allocation of repacking reimbursement funds, according to their expense filings, said Incentive Auction Task Force Chief Jean Kiddoo at Tuesday’s America’s Public Television Stations’ Public Media Summit. The timing of the agency’s release of a second allocation will be based on how quickly the first portion of funds is drawn down, Kiddoo said. “So far, we don’t see stations maxing out." Kiddoo said the IATF monitors the status of reimbursements “daily.”
Comcast's bid for Sky likely won't raise the same types and levels of regulatory concern that initially met Fox's bid for Sky, experts told us. Unclear is whether the Fox bid -- now that it has pledged a firewall to protect Sky News operations (see 1802120031) -- still carries those regulatory concerns. Comcast announced the $31 billion proposal Tuesday. Fox said it "remains committed" to the cash offer it made in 2016, saying "no firm offer has been made" by Comcast.
Two groups want a probe of FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly's comment at Friday's American Conservative Union's Conservative Political Action Conference calling for the re-election of President Donald Trump. The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) Tuesday asked the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) to investigate a "potential violation" of the Hatch Act, which restricts government officials' partisan political activity. That followed a similar complaint Friday from American Oversight (AO) that said O'Rielly "clearly violated" the law. O'Rielly's comment was "inadvertent" and he'll cooperate with the OSC, an aide said. There was also some controversy over a National Rifle Association award to Chairman Ajit Pai; the FCC said he's awaiting legal advice on an award rifle.
Congressional leaders are working to see if they can reach a deal to attach legislative language on FCC renewal and some spectrum issues to the FY 2018 omnibus spending bill, the leaders of the House and Senate Commerce Committees told reporters Tuesday. The current continuing resolution to fund government expires March 23. House Commerce is also eyeing upcoming work on STELA reauthorization and paid prioritization issues, said Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore. Walden also touted House Commerce's communications policy priorities Tuesday, at an NAB conference.
Dolby’s win with its Atmos post-processing technology in the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ smartphones gives the company “an important entrée back into Samsung that can hopefully be expanded over time,” said Dougherty & Co. analyst Steven Frankel in a Monday research note. Lenovo and LG also license Atmos. Samsung had been Dolby’s largest mobile customer until spring 2014 when Samsung stopped licensing Dolby’s codec “in a move designed to lower its bill of materials,” he said.