Hill lawmakers' communications policy aspirations for a continuing resolution to fund the federal government past Dec. 20 took simultaneous steps forward and back Tuesday and Wednesday. Congressional leaders finalized an expected deal to attach language from two House-side Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization bills into the funding extension measure (see 1912090051). A contentious Senate Commerce Committee markup of the 5G Spectrum Act (S-2881) and other factors, meanwhile, raised doubts about the prospects of using the CR to weigh in on a planned FCC auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band (see 1912100001).
Motion Picture Association hires Karyn Temple, U.S. Copyright Office, as senior executive vice president-global general counsel, effective Jan. 13 ... FCC appoints Francisco Salguero, ex-Agriculture Department, chief information officer; John Skudlarek has been acting CIO ... Lisa Casias, ex-Commerce Department Office of Chief Financial Officer, joins FirstNet as deputy CEO ... ICANN advances Mandy Carver to senior vice president-government and intergovernmental organization engagement ... Brianna Manzelli, ex-Senate Commerce Committee, becomes FAA assistant administrator-communications.
FCC appoints Francisco Salguero, ex-Agriculture Department, chief information officer; John Skudlarek has been acting CIO ... ICANN advances Mandy Carver to senior vice president-government and intergovernmental organization engagement ... Motion Picture Association hires Karyn Temple, U.S. Copyright Office, as senior executive vice president-global general counsel, effective Jan. 13 ... Brianna Manzelli, ex-Senate Commerce Committee, becomes FAA assistant administrator-communications.
Two dozen advocacy groups asked the House Communications Subcommittee that held an FCC oversight hearing Thursday (see [1912050043]) to ask the regulator to address their concerns about telecom network resiliency, in a letter Wednesday to Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio. The groups said "increasing numbers of Americans lack basic, reliable voice telephone service as providers allow their legacy networks to rust and degrade. Lack of maintenance and lack of emergency preparedness have contributed to lengthy outages in periods of natural disaster." They sought a "comprehensive investigation into national network reliability." They criticized industry for its history of urging policymakers to "ignore worries over critical infrastructure by promising us a shiny future of fiber and 5G." Recent communications problems from California wildfires raised concerns failures could be worse during an earthquake (see 1911200002), the letter said. Signers included Public Knowledge, Common Cause, the Greenlining Institute, National League of Cities, The Utility Reform Network. The FCC didn't comment Thursday.
An Iranian businessman was sentenced to 46 months in prison for illegally exporting carbon fiber from the U.S. to Iran, the Justice Department said Nov. 14. Behzad Pourghannad worked with two others between 2008 and 2013 to export the carbon fiber to Iran from third countries using falsified documents and front companies, the agency said.
A Lebanese energy equipment company was fined $368,000 by the Bureau of Industry and Security after it illegally reexported generators to Syria, according to a settlement agreement signed Nov. 27. Ghaddar Machinery allegedly committed 20 violations of the Export Administration Regulations from 2014 to 2016, totaling about $730,000 worth of exports, BIS said. Ghaddar agreed to pay the penalty in five installments through November 2021. Failure to make the payments could result in more penalties, according to the settlement agreement, including a two-year denial of export privileges.
Consumers are ready for 5G on the road and at home but have concerns about cost and data privacy, Deloitte reported Wednesday. It canvassed a nationally representative sample of 2,000 U.S. consumers online in September and found nearly two-thirds were familiar with 5G, including more than 70 percent among the youngest two generations.
Two Russian nationals, two Italian nationals, a U.S. citizen and three companies were charged in a conspiracy to evade international trade sanctions, including violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Export Control Reform Act, the Justice Department said in a Dec. 3 press release. The conspiracy involved an attempted $17.3 million purchase of a Vectra 40G power turbine and attempts at wire fraud and money laundering, the Justice Department said.
State attorneys general sparred with T-Mobile and Sprint ahead of the Dec. 9 trial on the carrier’s proposed combination that would also establish Dish Network as a national wireless carrier. Plaintiffs and defendants filed pretrial memos Tuesday at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. “We are proceeding as planned and will be going to trial in less than two weeks,” a spokesperson for New York AG Letitia James (D) emailed Wednesday.
Indian companies are growing increasingly frustrated with restrictive Chinese market access, leading to a more competitive relationship between India and China and a closer Indian alignment with U.S. policies toward China, a trade expert said. However, although India shares U.S. concerns over China, it disagrees with the U.S.’s approach, preferring to engage with countries such as China and Russia diplomatically rather than impose sanctions on them, the expert said.