President Donald Trump signed the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act (HR-4998) Thursday, as expected (see 2003040056). The law, which the Senate passed in February (see 2002270070), allocates $1 billion to help U.S. communications providers remove from their networks Chinese equipment determined to threaten national security (see 1912160052). The White House tied Trump’s signing of HR-4998 to a broader commitment “to safeguard America’s vital communications networks and securing technology.” Trump “is committed to the development of reliable 5G and ensuring the United States remains the global leader in technology and innovation,” the White House said. The administration “is working with allies and partners” on telecom security principles “that will foster reliable 5G networks” and “is working to ensure America’s private sector has access to spectrum, including critical mid-band spectrum, to fuel the growth of our wireless industry.” Trump is “committed to ensure” that rural Americans “have access to safe and reliable high-speed broadband,” the White House said. Trump told reporters before a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar he believes if countries like Ireland use equipment from Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei, “there's a real problem with intelligence and intelligence security. And we'll see what happens. We'll be discussing that point also.” HR-4998’s enactment drew praise from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, U.S. lawmakers and communications sector officials. “Securing our networks from malicious foreign interference is critical to America’s wireless future, especially as some communications providers rely on equipment from companies like Huawei that pose an immense threat,” said HR-4998 lead sponsors House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J.; ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore.; House Communications Subcommittee Vice Chair Doris Matsui, D-Calif.; and Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky. Now “we can take steps to protect our communications networks from bad actors, while helping small and rural providers remove and replace suspect network equipment.” The law “lays the foundation to help U.S. firms strip out vulnerable equipment and replace it,” said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss. "I hope Congress will build on this success and move forward quickly to appropriate the necessary funding to reimburse carriers for replacing any network equipment or services found to be a national security threat," Pai said. "This funding is essential to successfully transition communications networks—especially those of small and rural carriers—to infrastructure provided by more trusted vendors." Telecommunications Industry Association CEO David Stehlin called HR-4998 “an important step forward in the United States’ efforts to safeguard the integrity of our communications networks by supporting efforts to replace at-risk equipment with equipment from trusted suppliers.” The Rural Wireless Association said that “now we must push ahead in Congress to quickly appropriate the authorized funding." Mavenir considers HR-4998 “an important step,” said CEO Pardeep Kohli. Trump is "providing another policy tool to prevent China and others from interfering in our communications networks," said 5G Action Now Chairman Mike Rogers. He praised "banning the use of federal funds to buy equipment from Huawei, ZTE, and other companies deemed to be national security threats, while providing funds to allow small businesses to remove this equipment."
Senate passage of the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act (HR-4998) got more praise Thursday and Friday (see 2002270070), including from the bill’s original co-sponsors and FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. The bill would allocate at least $1 billion to help U.S. communications providers remove from their networks Chinese equipment deemed to threaten national security. The House passed the measure in December (see 1912160052), meaning it now moves on to President Donald Trump. “The existence of Huawei’s technology in our networks represents an immense threat to America’s national and economic security,” said original bill sponsors House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., House Communications Subcommittee Vice Chair Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky. "This bipartisan bill will help communities across the country by bolstering efforts to keep our communications supply chain safe from foreign adversaries and other dangerous actors, while helping small and rural providers remove and replace suspect network equipment.” Starks tweeted he’s “very glad to see bipartisan agreement around helping small carriers get untrustworthy equipment out of their networks.” The FCC “needs to work quickly to get these funds to providers,” he said, replying to our tweet reporting the development. “We’ll all be more secure when the replacement is done.” FCC national security supply chain rules barring equipment from Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE from networks funded by the USF took effect in January (see 2001020027).
The FCC believes its push to expand the scope of industry’s wireless resiliency cooperative framework to include electric utilities will help better address wildfire threats, Chairman Ajit Pai wrote House Communications Subcommittee Vice Chair Doris Matsui, Rep. Anna Eshoo and two other Democrats in California’s House delegation, in letters released Friday. Matsui, Eshoo and Reps. Jared Huffman and Mike Thompson raised concerns in December that the FCC Public Safety Bureau’s review of the wireless resiliency framework “lacks targeted recommendations for wildfires.” The bureau sought additional feedback on the framework in April 2019 in light of seven hurricanes that hit the U.S. in 2017 and 2018 (see 1904010047). Eshoo, Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., and others have been pressing for more attention to the telecom impact of 2019 California wildfires (see 1911010039). “Expanding the scope of the framework to include electric utilities is especially important given the role a lack of power has played in cutting off access to communications to consumers,” Pai said in letters released Friday. “I have directed agency staff to engage with all stakeholders to ensure the whole swath of those responsible for keeping the communications networks up and running are participating in an expanded framework.” Matsui and the three other California Democrats filed their Emergency Reporting Act (HR-5918) in a bid to improve network outage reporting practices. The bill would direct the FCC to issue reports and do field hearings after activating the Disaster Information Reporting System. It would also require the FCC to do a rulemaking aimed at improving wireless carriers’ alerts to public safety answering points on network outages that prevent consumers from making 911 calls or hinder phone number identification. HR-5918 is one of eight public safety communications measures House Communications will examine during a Thursday hearing (see 2002200060). In a letter also released Friday, Pai told House Commerce Committee Vice Chair Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., the FCC "remains committed to assisting Puerto Rico's efforts to strengthen and harden its communications networks," including through its Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund. FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks hosted a field hearing in Puerto Rico Friday about the need for network resiliency after widespread damage from hurricanes in 2017 and more recent earthquakes (see 2002200021).
House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden of Oregon is the most recent in a string of six Communications Subcommittee Republican members who say they won't seek re-election in 2020 (see 1910280020). At the least, just less than half of the subcommittee's GOP roster is leaving at the end of this Congress. That turnover could present opportunities for remaining Republican veterans like House Communications ranking member Bob Latta of Ohio to have even more influence over telecom policymaking beginning in 2021. Some officials and experts we interviewed question how that will change the process.
House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone of New Jersey and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania led a letter with nine other committee Democrats Friday seeking an FCC update by Nov. 29 on its investigation into wireless carriers' location tracking practices, including the sale of customer location tracking data allegedly accessed by bounty hunters (see 1805240073). House Commerce Democrats criticized the investigation during a May FCC oversight hearing (see 1905150061). “Despite announcing” the probe more than a year ago, “the FCC has failed, to date, to take any action,” Pallone and the other Democrats wrote Chairman Ajit Pai. “Time is running out since the statute of limitations gives the FCC one year to act.” Also signing were Commerce Vice Chair Yvette Clarke of New York; Communications Vice Chair Doris Matsui of California; and Reps. Tony Cardenas, Anna Eshoo and Jerry McNerney of California; Debbie Dingell of Michigan; Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico; Darren Soto of Florida; and Peter Welch of Vermont. House Commerce “has repeatedly urged you to act quickly to protect consumers’ privacy interests, and unfortunately you have failed to do so,” the lawmakers wrote. “Reports indicate that these carriers have stopped the sharing of real-time location data with data aggregators. This is good news. Nevertheless, we are concerned that the Commission is shirking its obligation to enforce the Communications Act and the rules it has issued to protect consumers’ privacy.” The agency “received” the letter and is “reviewing it,” a spokesperson said.
Quadra Partners adds as partner Roger Sherman, ex-Waneta Strategies, and engineer Chris Helzer, ex-Nextel ... Congressional Spectrum Caucus co-Chair Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., hires Flynn Rico-Johnson, ex-FirstNet, as tech and telecom policy aide ... Kelley Drye advances Privacy and Information Security Chair Dana Rosenfeld to managing partner, effective Jan. 1, succeeding Lew Rose, retiring.
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., saw positive signs for moving forward on legislation to mandate an FCC-led public auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band after all subcommittee Democrats and several Republicans showed a clear preference for such a plan during a Tuesday hearing. The panel also was a forum for castigating the C-Band Alliance's proposal for a private auction of the bandwidth, as expected (see 1910280040). All sides continued to meet with the FCC. Chairman Ajit Pai is expected to propose a private auction plan for a vote at commissioners' Dec. 12 meeting (see 1910100052).
Tuesday's House Communications Subcommittee hearing on repurposing spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band (see 1910220070) is expected, like other Capitol Hill panels this year, to largely criticize the C-Band Alliance's proposal for a private auction of the bandwidth, communications policy-focused lobbyists said in interviews. House Communications, the Senate Commerce Committee and the Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee examined the FCC's C-band proceeding in hearings since May (see 1910170038). The House Communications panel will begin at 10 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn. A consortium of major satellite operators affiliated with CBA ahead of the hearing upped what they said their private auction plan would clear, as expected (see 1910250062).
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., led filing of the long-anticipated (see 1907150020) Clearing Broad Airwaves for New Deployment (C-Band) Act (HR-4855) Thursday, in a bid to require a public FCC-led auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band. The bill would require a public FCC auction of 200-300 MHz of “contiguous” spectrum on the C band by Sept. 30, 2022. It would require the auction to occur in a way that ensures C-band incumbents “receive equal or better service as before” the sale “continuously throughout the transition process.” The measure would reserve a 20 MHz guard band between the sold spectrum and other frequencies. House Communications Vice Chair Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and Reps. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, and Greg Gianforte, R-Mont., are co-sponsoring HR-4855. Doyle and Matsui had been collaborating since the summer to marry their separate C-band proposals. Doyle's earlier draft sought to auction 400 MHz of spectrum. HR-4855 “would ensure a transparent and fair process that would generate billions of dollars in revenue to address the urgent needs of millions of Americans such as building out broadband internet service in rural America while protecting users of incumbent services,” Doyle said. “An open and transparent process that enables competition and protects taxpayer dollars can best be accomplished by the FCC conducting a public auction of C-band spectrum that will help fund broadband deployment where it is needed most,” Johnson said. Public Knowledge Policy Director Philip Berenbroick hailed introduction, saying it “presents the fastest, most legally sound way for the Commission to repurpose a significant portion of the C-Band” and would “likely result in the return of tens of billions of dollars of auction proceeds to the Department of the Treasury.” The bill was filed before a planned Tuesday House Communications hearing on C-band issues (see 1910220070). The C-band debate was also the primary focus of a Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee hearing this month (see 1910170038).
The House Communications Subcommittee plans an Oct. 29 hearing on the debate over repurposing the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band for 5G use, the House Commerce Committee said Tuesday. The hearing is set to begin at 10 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn. It would follow a Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee last week in which Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., grilled FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on whether he favors a private auction similar to what the C-Band Alliance proposes (see 1910170038). Kennedy and some other lawmakers favor public auction (see 1908230049). “The FCC must repurpose the C-Band in a manner that promotes competition, spurs the 5G revolution, and yields revenue for important priorities here at home,” said House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Communications Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., in a news release. “There may be a need for legislation to reduce uncertainty and benefit Americans.” Lawmakers “don't want” the FCC “to become mired in litigation that slows 5G deployment,” Pallone and Doyle said. “We must ensure the American people benefit from this process.” Doyle and House Communications Vice Chair Doris Matsui, D-Calif., have been working since the summer to marry their C-band bills, which both favor a public auction (see 1907150020).