CTA CEO Gary Shapiro warned Wednesday of a potential “brain drain” in the federal government should the Donald Trump administration continue its assault on the bureaucracy. The Joe Biden administration lacked enough officials who understood how business works, and Trump's don’t understand government, Shapiro said during a Broadband Breakfast webinar. Unions that represent federal employees, including at the FCC, slammed the latest Trump actions.
T-Mobile is continuing its industry-leading growth, adding 903,000 net postpaid phone customers in Q4 and 3.1 million for the year, the carrier said Wednesday. In addition, it had its lowest average postpaid phone churn ever, at 0.86% throughout 2024. The company is targeting public safety agencies with T-Priority based on 5G network slicing, T-Mobile executives highlighted on a call with analysts.
The White House OMB rescinded its stayed memo that called for a freeze on most federal grants and loans, bowing to mounting criticism of the plan’s breadth even after it partially walked it back Tuesday (see 2501280051). The now-rescinded freeze would have paused NTIA’s disbursal of $42.5 billion from the BEAD program and other Commerce Department initiatives, commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick acknowledged during his Senate Commerce Committee confirmation hearing Wednesday.
A White House executive order on diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) programs could lead to telecom companies abandoning such efforts, causing a rollback of progress on diversity, said industry executives and public interest attorneys during a FCBA panel discussion Tuesday. There is “fear and chaos” in “lots of corridors and hallways of corporate America” over the DEI executive order and anticipation of future White House action in that vein, said Clint Odom, T-Mobile vice president-strategic alliances and external affairs and a former FCC aide. “The world seems to be lining up between the companies that are doing DEI and the companies that are retreating from it.”
With President Donald Trump yet to lay out with any detail what course he will chart on spectrum, experts warned Tuesday that the current administration faces the same issues as the last (see 2411140042). With various band studies underway, launched under Joe Biden, there are no obvious bands left to reallocate for exclusive licensed use, experts said at the RCR Wireless Wi-Fi Forum.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted an administrative stay late Tuesday afternoon that temporarily blocked a White House OMB memo, which called for a freeze on most federal grants and loans, from going into effect. The Trump administration memo already faced an array of legal challenges, including a planned lawsuit from a coalition of Democratic attorneys general from New York, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Broadband officials and industry advocates raised questions about the memo's constitutionality and the future of certain FCC programs, such as Lifeline. Others warned the freeze could have serious implications for NTIA's BEAD program.
T-Mobile US appoints board member Srinivasan Gopalan COO, new post, effective March 1 … The National Association of Broadcasters appoints to its radio board: Henry Hinton, Inner Banks Media; Ignacio Meyer, Univision; and Shoshana Shapiro, Cumulus Media; filling vacancies ... Southwire creates three new posts, promoting Juan Hernandez to executive vice president-residential and commercial group; adding Rohan Kelkar, ex-Schneider Electric, as executive vice president-utility and industrial group; and expanding role of Veronica Braker as executive vice president-operations … National OnDemand taps Janet Sanford, formerly USIC, as vice president-national strategic partnerships, new post … Telephone and Data Systems names Walter Carlson president and CEO, succeeding LeRoy Carlson, who becomes vice chair, new post …
New FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s decision to pull all items on circulation for a vote by commissioners wasn’t a surprise, industry officials said. Since taking office a week ago, President Donald Trump has pushed a deregulatory agenda and issued a regulatory freeze among a slew of executive orders on his first day (see 2501210070). Among the FCC items withdrawn was a controversial NPRM that former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated in March on banning bulk broadband billing in multi-tenant environments (see 2408010064).
Responsible Enterprises Against Consumer Harassment (REACH) countered the arguments made against its request for a stay of the FCC's one-to-one robotext consent rules (see 2501230037). Absent FCC action, the rules become effective Monday. “Contrary to the National Consumer and Privacy Groups’ contentions, the request for a stay aligns with both executive authority and the [Administrative Procedure Act’s] legal framework,” REACH said in a filing posted Friday in docket 02-278. “The request also ensures a fair and thorough review of the Rule, taking into consideration important issues that may affect small businesses, consumers, and broader market dynamics.”
The White House likely won't try clawing back BEAD money, wrote Jade Piros de Carvalho, Bonfire Infrastructure Group vice president-broadband advocacy and partnerships, on Friday. States and territories entered into signed agreements with NTIA when their initial proposals were approved. The agreements define the terms and conditions of federal grants, and they permit states to draw down funds, including immediate access to 2% of the money for administrative purposes, she said. While the Donald Trump administration in theory could seek to take back BEAD money, "breaching signed contracts with states probably won’t go over well with governors." She said that while there had been concerns that Trump's American Energy executive order would pause disbursement of BEAD funds, the administration made clear BEAD was not part of that executive order.