NTIA will likely move soon to appoint members to and relaunch the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, now that Alan Davidson has taken office as NTIA administrator, longtime members of the group told us. CSMAC has been in existence since the George W. Bush administration and grew out of a 2004 presidential memorandum on Spectrum Management for the 21st Century. But in recent years, it has been handicapped by a lack of political leadership at NTIA, even as spectrum issues have grown in importance, officials said.
President Joe Biden defended Wednesday his administration’s role in addressing claimed aviation safety implications of commercial wireless operations on the C band amid pushback from FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and top Republicans on the House Commerce and Transportation committees. AT&T and Verizon launched C-band operations Wednesday but are deferring around some airports amid frustration with FAA (see 2201180065). AT&T started to turn on its C-band spectrum in these areas Wednesday, a spokesperson emailed: Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, Chicago, Detroit, Miami, Jacksonville and Orlando. AT&T expects to reach 200 million people this year, the spokesperson said.
Their agencies hope to issue joint takeover guidelines this year, DOJ Antitrust Division Chief Jonathan Kanter announced with FTC Chair Lina Khan Tuesday. The rise in mergers and acquisitions has been a key driver in consolidation, including in tech, and the M&A guidelines should reflect modern challenges, they told a livestreamed news conference.
A draft FCC NPRM on broadband consumer labels like those recommended in 2016 may get pushback from ISPs because the labels would be mandatory for all providers, experts told us (see 2201060057). Consumer advocates said the move is a good starting point and will boost pricing transparency.
AT&T and Verizon plan to start turning on their C-band operations Wednesday, despite a push by major airlines to delay the start. Both said Tuesday they will defer the launch around some airports and expressed frustration with the FAA.
Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) is making a final attempt to delay launch of 5G in the C-band by Verizon and AT&T starting Wednesday, warning of the threat to radio altimeters from wireless transmissions. Industry observers said it’s unlikely AT&T and Verizon will again delay launch, which has been on hold since Dec. 5.
Sponsors of a bill that would ban Big Tech platforms from self-preferencing their products are optimistic about passage, but two Republican holdouts shared reservations in interviews last week. The American Innovation and Choice Online Act (S-2992) is set for markup Thursday after being held over one week. The bill would bar dominant platforms from acting to prevent rival products from competing on their platforms.
The biggest surprises in the 3.45 GHz auction were that Dish Network came in relatively big and T-Mobile small, according to the early analysis of the results, which were released Friday (see 2201140040). Verizon dropped out of the auction, after dominating the C-band sale, as expected (see 2111170037).
FCC handling of designated entities SNR Wireless and Northstar Wireless got probing Friday by Judge Harry Edwards as he repeatedly criticized the idea that ostensible investor protections gave Dish Network de facto control of the DEs when the FCC hadn't worried about those same protections in past DE situations. Judge Patricia Millett tore into the DEs' assertion that they had made substantive changes from the original terms of their investor agreements with Dish, in the nearly two-hour U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit oral argument (docket 18-1209). The DEs are challenging the FCC's 2020 rejection of the AWS-3 bidding credits -- the second time the agency did so (see 2011230062). New Street Research's Blair Levin said the panel appeared to side with FCC arguments, as was expected.
NAB and other supporters of the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act are making a renewed push to advance the measure, despite its still-murky path to becoming law in 2022. HR-1735/S-673 would let small news outlets negotiate revenue-sharing with online platforms (see 2103100058). Sponsors are readying tweaks in a bid to quickly advance the measure out of at least the House Judiciary Committee.