The FTC voted 3-2 Thursday to seek public comment on a potential privacy rulemaking to address “mass surveillance,” data breaches, deception and manipulation, as expected (see 2204180049).
Localities' lawsuits seeking franchise fees from streaming services have faced challenges in federal court, but experts said they expect the legal fight to increasingly focus on state courts. In a Texas court, Dallas, Houston and other cities sued Disney, Hulu and Netflix last week, claiming the streamers ignored their video service provider obligations to get their state certificates of franchise authority and pay required franchise fees. The streamers didn't comment Thursday.
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and other panel leaders are hopeful they can use the August recess to negotiate a deal on a spectrum legislative package before Congress returns after Labor Day, or at least decide whether to seek a stopgap FCC spectrum auction authority renewal in hopes of reaching a consensus later. Panel Democrats and Republicans divided along party lines (see 2208020076) during a Communications Subcommittee hearing last week on whether they back the 18-month authority extension included in the House-passed Spectrum Innovation Act (HR-7624).
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's former director highlighted the benefits of moving into the private sector and discussed what his former agency can do better to attract industry collaboration. Speaking Wednesday at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas, Chris Krebs said moving into private practice has been “lucrative.” The last 18 months “for me have probably been the most fun in my career. Yes, I had fun at CISA. I’m having more fun now. ... We get paid pretty well in this industry.” Krebs said he ran compensation models at CISA trying to figure out why government isn’t attracting the necessary talent: “When you look at pay in this industry, it’s pretty illuminating.”
A Verizon executive warned against awarding funds from the NTIA’s $48 billion broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program to companies that won’t be able to build the networks they promise. BEAD must be “structured in a way that works for experienced providers, who cannot only build reliable and efficient networks, but who will be around to serve customers for many years to come,” said Kathleen Grillo, senior vice president-public policy and government affairs, at a Media Institute virtual lunch Wednesday.
Increasing numbers of cable operators say they aren't seeing major residential broadband competition from fixed wireless access (FWA) providers. Some industry watchers are unconvinced.
The FCC rejected LTD Broadband and Starlink's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction long-form applications Wednesday, citing a "failure to demonstrate that the providers could deliver the promised service." LTD was the largest winning bidder, preliminarily bidding about $1.3 billion to serve 528,088 locations in 15 states (see 2012070039). Starlink's preliminary award was about $885.5 million.
Broadband industry officials Tuesday emphasized the need for partnerships between ISPs and local communities as states prepare for NTIA-administered funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (see 2206140075). High speed internet is “essential to the success of individuals … and to our country,” said NTIA Director-Communications Policy Initiatives Russell Hanser, during a Fierce Telecom virtual event Tuesday on the digital divide: “Internet access has just remained elusive for too long for too many.”
President Joe Biden signed the Chips and Science Act into law Tuesday, calling it a “once in a generation” investment that will help address the supply chain shortage, inflation, national security, jobs and climate change. He spoke for about 20 minutes before signing HR-4346 during a ceremony in the Rose Garden with dozens of congressional, administrative and industry attendees (see 2207280060 and 2208030052)
T-Mobile plans to buy 600 MHz licenses it has been leasing from Columbia Capital for $3.5 billion, the carrier said in an SEC filing. The deal requires approvals from regulators, including the FCC, but is expected to get them easily, especially since T-Mobile is already using the spectrum covered by the leases. The first stage of T-Mobile’s 5G build used its 600 MHz spectrum. T-Mobile Chief Financial Officer Peter Osvaldik said at a financial conference Tuesday the company doesn’t expect the deal to close for at least a year.