T-Mobile CEO John Legere and Sprint Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure defended their proposed combination during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee. Both executives assured senators they need to combine to remain competitive and deploy a 5G offering that would compete with AT&T and Verizon. Also Wednesday, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai appointed DOJ lawyer David Lawrence to head a task force to review the deal. Lawrence formerly worked for Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim and once worked on the Justice team that opposed AT&T’s failed buy of T-Mobile. Pai promised a “thorough investigation.”
DOJ's requirement that Disney sell 22 Fox regional sports networks to buy Fox's other nonbroadcast assets (see 1806270016) was logical, given the power New Disney would wield in sports programming otherwise, experts said Wednesday. Sports Fan Coalition (SFC) Chairman David Goodfriend said such conditions would be even more likely in a Comcast/Fox, given what would be New Comcast's ability to use sports programming as a club against MVPD competition. Comcast didn't comment. Fox approved a Disney deal (see 1806260038), though a shareholder vote hasn't been scheduled.
Senate GOP leaders are aiming to confirm FCC nominee Geoffrey Starks and Commissioner Brendan Carr to a second full term this week via unanimous consent, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Wednesday. The committee advanced Starks' nomination on a voice vote. Senate confirmation of Starks this week is seen possible, in line with expectations Thune was aiming to fast-track the nominee (see 1806200055). Starks would succeed former Mignon Clyburn, who left the commission earlier this month (see 1806070041). Starks would have a term ending in 2022, and Carr's additional five-year term would end in 2023.
Two groups of senators who criticized the President Donald Trump administration for lifting the Department of Commerce's ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE are urging administration officials to address the controversy. Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, R-Va., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., called on Trump Tuesday to reinstate the ZTE ban. Rubio was among sponsors of language attached to the Senate-passed version of the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-5515) that would reverse Commerce's decision and replace it with alternative concessions the company agreed to earlier this month (see 1806120001). Senators voted 85-10 June 18 to pass HR-5515 with the ZTE reversal provision intact, despite Trump's push against it (see 1806200077).
Experts agreed with Rep. Randy Weber, R-Texas, Tuesday that the U.S. would be in a “very bad spot” if American artificial intelligence competitiveness lagged behind China, the EU and others, during a Research and Technology Subcommittee hearing. House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said China is investing $7 billion in AI through 2030 and $10 billion in quantum research. The EU is planning a $24 billion public-private investment through 2020, he said. DOD’s “unclassified investment in AI was only $600 million in 2016, while federal spending on quantum totals about $250 million a year,” he said.
FCC OK of a longer C-band earth station registration window and a route to cheaper registrations for multiple fixed satellite service antennas at the same address (see 1806220004) solved many of the major concerns raised by interested parties, and the agency's unlikely to do anything else to drum up registrations, experts told us. They said it's unlikely the extra 90 days to register will have a material impact on the timing of FCC action on the C-band.
The draft NTIA Reauthorization Act received a sometimes lukewarm reception from some House Communications Subcommittee Democrats during a Tuesday hearing. Some House Communications Republicans and two former administrators who testified urged including language elevating the administrator role to a subcabinet-level position. Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and others promoted the legislation's potential as a driver of broadband deployment. It would allocate NTIA $50.8 million a year for FYs 2019-2021, with other provisions (see 1806200038).
Opponents of USTelecom's FCC petition for ILEC wholesale pricing relief have a tough task, particularly in urban areas, more so after the group agreed with previous critic Windstream to propose a delay in eliminating "unbundled network element" discounts until 2021, some told us. Incompas, which represents CLECs using UNEs, said the forbearance petition would cripple the competitors and discourage fiber deployment, including of incumbent telcos. It said the agency should restart a procedural clock and extend comment deadlines. USTelecom said the clock doesn't need to be reset and stood by its analysis that UNE relief would provide consumer and economic benefits.
The FCC kidvid NPRM was constructed to relax those rules for broadcasters while remaining acceptable to kidvid supporters, industry and FCC officials said (see 1806200058). It's not certain how the proposal will be received, and one Senate Democrat condemned the NPRM Tuesday.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr predicted some support from mayors and others in local government on an expected item on state and local government control of wireless siting. Tuesday at the Brookings Institute, he said no decision is made on when the FCC will take up the next big infrastructure order: “We’ve been working pretty diligently.”