The FCC Wireless Bureau gave Pine Cellular an additional year to meet the tribal lands bidding credit construction requirements for a 600 MHz license in Texarkana, Texas, to serve Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma communities. The carrier had problems because it’s using Huawei equipment at the site, the bureau said. “Because Pine Cellular is prohibited from using USF funds to maintain, improve, modify, operate, manage, or otherwise support its Huawei equipment, it asserts that it cannot act without a significant cost burden until the Commission acts in the Supply Chain proceeding to establish a cost reimbursement program for USF recipients to replace equipment from covered companies,” said the Thursday order. “Pine Cellular is presented with limited options for network deployment to the Choctaw Nation communities: build out its existing Huawei network and try to prove it used non-USF funds (recognizing that it also may need to replace this network); or build out an expensive parallel network for which it has no guarantee of reimbursement.” The extension is through Jan. 9, 2022.
Commissioner Mike O'Rielly's nearly seven-year FCC career will wrap up by year's end. During the agency's September meeting Wednesday, he said he's folding on others' efforts to get himself renominated. He said he's leaving regardless of how the November presidential election plays out (see 2009300014).
Hisense will back Filmmaker Mode beginning with products shipping this year, UHD Alliance President Mike Fidler told a webinar his group sponsored Wednesday with the Digital Entertainment Group. Filmmaker Mode is the uniformly named ease-of-access TV picture setting free of the image processing that creators disdain for rendering their content in the living room as if it were shot on high-speed video rather than film (see 1908270001).
Senate Communications Subcommittee members intermingled questions about FirstNet’s progress during a Thursday hearing with forays into how broader communications policy could affect the public safety broadband network. Subcommittee Chairman John Thune R-S.D., and others at times focused on whether legislation to further streamline permitting processes would aid FirstNet’s deployment. FirstNet CEO Edward Parkinson and AT&T Senior Vice President-FirstNet Program Jason Porter highlighted their progress in building the network and expressed willingness to carry out GAO recommendations that it improve communications with stakeholders (see 2009170071).
The FCC said 157 of the more than 400 applications by tribal entities to use 2.5 GHz during the tribal window were accepted for filing. Petitions to deny are due Oct. 15, oppositions Oct. 26 and replies to the oppositions Nov. 2. “That an application has been accepted for filing means that the application is, upon initial review, complete and contains sufficient information to be accepted for processing and further review, including a required period on which public comment on the application is sought,” said a Tuesday notice. FCC Democrats and tribal and other groups said the FCC should have kept the window open beyond Sept. 2 due to COVID-19 (see 2007310066). “This FCC has taken aggressive action to address the digital divide on Tribal lands, and the 2.5 GHz Tribal Priority Window has been perhaps the most significant,” said Chairman Ajit Pai.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 15 sanctioned a Chinese state-owned entity, the former first lady of Gambia and a United Kingdom-based company for corruption and human rights abuses under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.
If Joe Biden wins the November election, expect Democrats to pursue antitrust law changes that would raise the bar for acquisitions, experts said in recent interviews. President Donald Trump has shown more interest in politically driven attacks than serious policy work, they said.
If Joe Biden wins the November election, expect Democrats to pursue antitrust law changes that would raise the bar for acquisitions, experts said in recent interviews. President Donald Trump has shown more interest in politically driven attacks than serious policy work, they said.
If Joe Biden wins the November election, expect Democrats to pursue antitrust law changes that would raise the bar for acquisitions, experts said in recent interviews. President Donald Trump has shown more interest in politically driven attacks than serious policy work, they said.
Four people, including a civilian employee of the Navy working as an engineer, were arrested for their involvement in a scheme to illegally download and sell export controlled technical drawings of U.S. military systems, the Department of Justice said Sept. 2. Navy engineer Mark Fitting of Berlin, New Jersey, allegedly worked with Lighthouse Point, Florida, resident Melony Erice to sell the drawings to Newport Beach, California-based Newport Aeronautical Sales Corp. (NASC), which later resold the documents to foreign customers, the agency said. Fitting and Erice allegedly sold at least 5,000 technical manuals and drawings to NASC, working with NASC employees George Posey and Dean Mirabal, both of Costa Mesa, California, who also were arrested.