Ossia wireless power firm taps Jim Cottrell, ex-HP, to lead regulatory efforts as senior director-regulatory compliance ... Comcast adds Toni Beck, ex-NextDecade, as vice president-external affairs, Houston Region ... Liberty Global and Digital Colony creating AtlasEdge Data Centres in transaction they expect to close in Q3, with industry executive Josh Joshi to be AtlasEdge executive chairman ... Hearst Television promotes Andrew Vrees to president-general manager, WMUR-TV Manchester, New Hampshire, succeeding Jeff Bartlett, retiring this summer.
Ossia wireless power firm taps Jim Cottrell, ex-HP, to lead regulatory efforts as senior director-regulatory compliance ... Comcast adds Toni Beck, ex-NextDecade, as vice president-external affairs, Houston Region ... Liberty Global and Digital Colony creating AtlasEdge Data Centres in transaction they expect to close in Q3, with industry executive Josh Joshi to be AtlasEdge executive chairman ... Hearst Television promotes Andrew Vrees to president-general manager, WMUR-TV Manchester, New Hampshire, succeeding Jeff Bartlett, retiring this summer.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP “NY” rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The Senate’s China competition bill will now include legislation introduced by two senators earlier this year aimed at securing U.S. leadership in emerging technologies. Sens. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said their National Strategy to Ensure American Leadership Act will be included in the Endless Frontier Act, which is expected to see a vote before the Senate soon (see 2105130025). The two senators’ original bill called for the Commerce Department to work with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to identify the 10 most critical emerging technology challenges facing the U.S. and recommend steps to ensure U.S. leadership in those technologies. Commerce is in the middle of crafting a series of export controls over emerging and foundational technologies (see 2105040063 and 2103190037).
The Biden administration said Thursday it expects deliberations over how to respond to Senate Republicans’ infrastructure counteroffer to continue into Friday, amid conflicting evaluations about prospects for a deal (see 2105190069). House Commerce Committee Republicans bowed the American Broadband Act to counter President Joe Biden’s proposal to spend $100 billion on broadband. The counterproposal includes $65 billion. More than 40 groups and companies launched the Broadband Equity for All coalition to press lawmakers to create a permanent federal broadband benefit program to succeed the FCC-administered $3.2 billion emergency broadband benefit program.
The State Department is preparing to amend the U.S. Munitions List to update export controls surrounding weapons, spacecraft and military electronics, according to a senior State Department official. The agency also plans to issue another extension to allow employees involved in International Traffic in Arms Regulations-related activity to work remotely and is inching closer to publishing its first ITAR reorganization rule, said Mike Miller, the State Department’s deputy assistant secretary for defense trade in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs.
Connectivity difficulties for households trying to apply online during the initial FCC emergency broadband benefit rollout could discourage people from returning to the website to try again, some working to encourage EBB enrollment said in interviews. Users reported initial delays (see 2105130063). The FCC posted an alert May 13, the day after the program began, warning online applicants they could have had connectivity issues in applying online. The alert cited high demand. The Universal Service Administrative Co. posted the same.
Telecom-focused Democratic lawmakers told us they remain hopeful broadband money in a final deal on infrastructure hews closer to the $100 billion they and President Joe Biden propose (see 2103310064) than the $65 billion Senate Republicans seek. Senate Public Works Committee ranking member Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and other Republicans remained mum on how much they planned to increase their ask in an updated counteroffer they were to have presented to administration officials Tuesday (see 2105170067).
Using streaming services to disseminate emergency messages mightn't be feasible, isn’t necessary and is outside FCC jurisdiction, industry trade groups and companies commented on a notice of inquiry. The “broadcast-centric” emergency alert system architecture is “not readily transferable to the varied and location-agnostic nature of internet-connected devices and streaming services,” said CTA. “At best, implementing such a requirement would be extremely cumbersome, and invoke a long list of unknown consequences related to complexity, user privacy and cost,” said NAB.
Congressional aides and FCC officials emphasized appetite for bipartisan telecom cooperation, at a Friday FCBA event. Aides to the House and Senate Commerce committees noted lawmakers' work to reach a compromise on infrastructure spending including broadband. FCC members’ chiefs of staff said commissioners learned to work together amid the 2-2 split.