The Senate voted 64-32 Tuesday to invoke cloture on Congress’ amended chips package, setting up a potential vote on final passage in the upper chamber for Wednesday. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was the only Democratic caucus member to vote no. Seventeen Republicans voted in favor.
A centralized database for pole attachments proposed in Maine could reduce costs and help expand broadband, said Crown Castle and other fiber companies. But to work, the PUC must set access and other rules, they said in Friday comments at the Maine Public Utilities Commission. Some smaller utilities resisted mandatory participation in Alden One, a joint use software system developed by pole owner Central Maine Power (CMP).
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is focused on border gateway protocol (BGP) security and resilience and welcomes the FCC’s recent focus on gateway issues (see 2204110057), said CISA Executive Director Brandon Wales during an NTCA webinar Monday. The webinar was sponsored by the Competitive Carriers Association, the Rural Wireless Association, the Wireless ISP Association and other groups, and targeted small carriers.
If Eutelsat and OneWeb move forward to combine, it likely won’t face big regulatory headwinds in the U.S., satellite experts told us. Eutelsat on Monday confirmed talks between the two. Under the deal's proposed terms, shareholders of each company would hold 50% of the combined group’s shares.
Lawmakers and diversity groups disagreed with industry trade groups about a petition for the FCC to require a vast swath of media companies -- including streaming services -- to report diversity data to the FCC. The schism surfaced in comments filed by Friday’s deadline in docket 22-209. “The media and entertainment industry is notorious for excluding people from historically underserved backgrounds,” said a letter of support from 20 Democratic House and Senate lawmakers, including Sen. Corey Booker, D-N.J., and Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas.
Verizon took a hit on Wall Street Friday, much as AT&T did the previous day (see 2207210059), after Verizon trimmed its financial forecast for the year and reported lower than expected phone adds. Verizon shares were down 6.74%, to close at $44.45 Friday.
The FCC's Communications Equity and Diversity Council needs more time to draft model policies for localities to prevent digital discrimination, the group said at its meeting Friday, which had been expected to include a vote on final recommendations for the agency (see 2202230065.
The health data privacy debate after the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade is focusing on social media platforms. Nearly 20 Republican state attorneys general asked Google Friday not to comply with Democrats’ request to “skew” search results and bury information on crisis pregnancy centers (see 2206290058). The Dobbs v. Jackson decision renewed questions about whether police should be able to access health data when prosecuting or blocking access to reproductive health services.
Eighteen wireless carriers and stakeholders are urging Congress to fully fund the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program amid ongoing concerns about the FCC’s final estimate that lawmakers will need to appropriate an additional $3.08 billion to pay the costs of replacing the unsecure equipment (see 2207150067). Industry experts told us the outlook on whether Congress will act on the Spectrum Innovation Act (HR-7624) or other proposals to provide additional funding is unclear, but the risk for industry and negative implications for closing the digital divide are real.
AT&T shares closed 7.7% lower Thursday at $18.91 after the company released Q2 earnings and reported a decrease in free cash flow. The carrier lowered full-year free cash flow guidance to the $14 billion range, $2 billion less than expected, “to reflect heavy investment in growth and working capital impacts related to timing of collections.” AT&T had $1.4 billion in cash flow Q2, versus analysts’ estimate of $4.7 billion. Overall, AT&T posted adjusted earnings of 65 cents a share on $29.64 billion revenue.