Incoming House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., faces much deliberation before picking his replacement as chair of the Communications Subcommittee, he told us Friday. But he predicts broad continuity on GOP telecom priorities in the next Congress and anticipates the many legislative initiatives from his own time as subcommittee chairman could be a springboard for Commerce going forward. Telecom and media industry officials issued many statements lauding Walden's ascendance.
Three contenders are finalizing bids to lead the House Commerce Committee in the next Congress, and are ready to present before the 32-member Republican Steering Committee Thursday, they told us this week. Republicans are expected to ratify the committee recommendation Friday. The contest is expected to be especially tight and involves Reps. Greg Walden, R-Ore., and John Shimkus, R-Ill., long seen as the two leading candidates, and former Commerce Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas. All told us they want to revisit net neutrality, core telecom statute in the 1996 Telecom Act, and one said this week Congress should look at repealing the FCC’s USF.
Three contenders are finalizing bids to lead the House Commerce Committee in the next Congress, and are ready to present before the 32-member Republican Steering Committee Thursday, they told us this week. Republicans are expected to ratify the committee recommendation Friday. The contest is expected to be especially tight and involves Reps. Greg Walden, R-Ore., and John Shimkus, R-Ill., long seen as the two leading candidates, and former Commerce Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas. All told us they want to revisit net neutrality, core telecom statute in the 1996 Telecom Act, and one said this week Congress should look at repealing the FCC’s USF.
The FCC Wireless Bureau is plugging away on many spectrum, auction and other matters despite the lull in FCC action on controversial major items during the presidential transition, said Bureau Chief Jon Wilkins at an FCBA event Tuesday. Wilkins, joined by other officials, said the bureau is moving ahead with work aimed at fostering deployment of 5G wireless infrastructure and other proceedings. "There's a lot of stuff that's going on," he said. "There are some bigger items that are midstream that aren’t necessarily teed up for a decision real soon." The latest spectrum frontiers proceeding aimed at using high-frequency bands is such an item, he said.
The FCC Wireless Bureau is plugging away on many spectrum, auction and other matters despite the lull in FCC action on controversial major items during the presidential transition, said Bureau Chief Jon Wilkins at an FCBA event Tuesday. Wilkins, joined by other officials, said the bureau is moving ahead with work aimed at fostering deployment of 5G wireless infrastructure and other proceedings. "There's a lot of stuff that's going on," he said. "There are some bigger items that are midstream that aren’t necessarily teed up for a decision real soon." The latest spectrum frontiers proceeding aimed at using high-frequency bands is such an item, he said.
Even before the FCC released its net neutrality rules on March 12, 2015, ISP interests signaled they would take the agency to court. The likes of CTIA and NCTA predicted lawsuits, as reported in Part I of this Special Report (see 1609150017). Even FCC officials predicted such suits -- accurately, as it turned out. This Part II focuses on how litigation came to pass. Part III reports how the commission won an initial court case (see 1610130014).
Some in the weather community -- characterized by Ligado as being plagued by "widespread misunderstanding" regarding how its broadband terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) plans shouldn't threaten National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration operations (see 1611210031) -- haven't been mollified by the company's attempts at clearing the air. "Ligado must be living in a post-truth world," David Titley, director, of Penn State University Center for Solutions to Weather and Climate Risk, told us.
Incentive auction proceeds of public TV stations should be set aside to fund local journalism, said Free Press in a release announcing a new effort by the organization Monday. “This auction of the public airwaves gives us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reverse the crisis in local news and re-imagine how local communities can get the information they need,” said CEO Craig Aaron. The campaign is initially focused on New Jersey public stations, but the group that often opposes industry consolidation believesthere are at least 54 public stations participating in the auction around the the country, and that their spectrum is “expected to bring in as much as $6 billion in the auction." Advocates for local journalism see the idea as promising.
Some in the weather community -- characterized by Ligado as being plagued by "widespread misunderstanding" regarding how its broadband terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) plans shouldn't threaten National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration operations (see 1611210031) -- haven't been mollified by the company's attempts at clearing the air. "Ligado must be living in a post-truth world," David Titley, director, of Penn State University Center for Solutions to Weather and Climate Risk, told us.
It shouldn’t be up to the District of Columbia Public Service Commission whether to expand the D.C. Universal Service Trust Fund to support broadband and wireless services, Verizon said Monday. Such an expansion "would represent the type of policy shift best decided by the Mayor and DC Council,” Verizon replied on a PSC notice of inquiry in docket FC988. The D.C. commission lacks jurisdiction to regulate broadband and wireless providers, Verizon said. It's “inequitable” to require local exchange and VoIP providers that fund the USTF to subsidize broadband and wireless services, it said. “It would increase the amount of subsidy necessary to support universal service so that landline providers and customers would have to provide increased funding at a time when customers are increasingly abandoning landline services.” Last week, the PSC aligned eligibility and other rules with the updated federal program (docket RM28-2016-01). “The amendments in the [notice of proposed rulemaking] make the Commission’s telecommunications universal service rules consistent with the FCC’s rules,” the PSC order said. The rules will become effective upon publication in the D.C. Register. That might occur on the FCC deadline of Dec. 2, PSC Chairwoman Betty Ann Kane said last week at the NARUC annual meeting in La Quinta, California (see 1611140052).