The wireless industry’s voluntary resiliency cooperative framework was a hot issue Tuesday, as the FCC heard testimony during the commissioners’ meeting. The virtual field hearing on Hurricane Ida dominated what otherwise would have been a brief meeting, pushing it to almost three hours. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel was congratulated on President Joe Biden's intent to nominate her for another commissioner term and his designating her as permanent chair. See our news bulletin here.
Senators told us they believe there's a feasible if narrow legislative window to reconfirm FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel this year, act on fellow Democratic commission pick Gigi Sohn and affirm NTIA administrator nominee Alan Davidson. The White House announced President Joe Biden’s intent to choose the trio Tuesday, as expected. Biden designated Rosenworcel Tuesday as permanent chair. She had been acting head since January. The White House also nominated Winston & Strawn patent lawyer Kathi Vidal as Patent and Trademark Office director.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., is working with Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chair Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., on antitrust legislation, his office told us Monday. They are exploring a bill that could potentially shift the burden of proof from the government to the private sector, forcing companies to prove acquisitions don’t harm competition, said a former antitrust official. The official said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is also involved in discussions and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is reviewing. “We’re not at a stage where things are concrete enough to accurately share” information, said an aide for Cotton.
Virginia could bet on low-orbit satellites for rural broadband if Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin wins in election. Also on Nov. 2, more Colorado residents are to vote on supporting localities’ right to pursue public broadband. In local mayor races, Boston Councilor Michelle Wu (D) is making a digital equity plan a key part of her campaign.
A three-month delay in T-Mobile's CDMA shutdown isn’t long enough, and T-Mobile should delay until 2023, a Dish Network official said Monday. Experts said the delay until March 31 likely won’t be enough to mollify other critics or California regulators. Dish bought Boost from T-Mobile to partially resolve regulator concerns about T-Mobile buying Sprint and has raised concerns many of the prepaid service’s customers use 3G phones.
Collecting regulatory fees from tech companies and users of unlicensed spectrum would be a huge task, outside FCC authority, and hamper broadband adoption, said trade associations and others in comments posted to docket 21-190 by Thursday’s deadline. Comments about establishing a small satellite regulatory fee also had multiple calls in the commercial space sector for creating new fee categories for other types of space operations.
Incumbent informing capability, a new and sophisticated sharing technology that makes use of AI and machine learning, is a major NTIA focus, but the agency doesn’t have the congressional funding it needs to put IIC in place, experts told us. IIC would be the next generation of sharing, a more sophisticated version of what's being done in the citizens broadband radio service, replacing the environmental sensing capability (ESC) used in that band.
Multiple states likely won't have adopted legislation on rollout of 988 services when the suicide prevention hotline goes live nationwide July 16, mental health policy advocates told us. That could result in impeded service for states that haven't set up funding mechanisms for call centers to handle the increased volume of call traffic expected. Some state legislators that faced opposition this year after carriers raised fee concerns hope to pass bills in 2022.
AT&T reported growth Thursday, adding 928,000 postpaid phone customers in Q3, more than double the 429,000 added by Verizon (see 2110200052). That was the highest number of adds in 10 years, the company said, with 4.4 million wireless postpaid subscribers added over the past year. AT&T also reached an “inflection point” in its wireline business, with broadband revenue growth surpassing legacy decline, executives said on a call with analysts.
Facebook was the top lobbying spender from tech and telecom in Q3, supplanting Amazon, the leader in recent quarters (see 2107210049). NCTA and Comcast again rounded out the top four. Most major tech and telecom companies' lobbying spending rose in Q3 compared with the same period in 2020; Huawei, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, IBM and Dell had the largest percentage increases. Apple, Broadcom and T-Mobile outlays dropped.