Former FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, now a consultant to T-Mobile/Sprint on their proposed deal, offered her first public defense during a Capitol Hill lunch sponsored by the Georgetown Institute for Tech Law & Policy Tuesday. The panel presented arguments for and against the transaction, now before the FCC and DOJ. T-Mobile acknowledged to lawmakers it spent $195,000 at the Trump International Hotel in Washington since announcing its proposed buy of Sprint in April (see 1903050044).
Former FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, now a consultant to T-Mobile/Sprint on their proposed deal, offered her first public defense during a Capitol Hill lunch sponsored by the Georgetown Institute for Tech Law & Policy Tuesday. The panel presented arguments for and against the transaction, now before the FCC and DOJ. T-Mobile acknowledged to lawmakers it spent $195,000 at the Trump International Hotel in Washington since announcing its proposed buy of Sprint in April (see 1903050044).
Amid the FTC's "huge portfolio that’s much different" from his agency's, FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said, are "a bunch of things that are unrelated. It makes it a very challenging opportunity for them." He was answering a question about the two agencies' coordination on net neutrality, during an episode of C-SPAN's The Communicators to be online Friday and televised this weekend. He repeated that net neutrality is a federal, not state, issue and raised national security concerns about Chinese 5G gear.
Amid the FTC's "huge portfolio that’s much different" from his agency's, FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said, are "a bunch of things that are unrelated. It makes it a very challenging opportunity for them." He was answering a question about the two agencies' coordination on net neutrality, during an episode of C-SPAN's The Communicators to be online Friday and televised this weekend. He repeated that net neutrality is a federal, not state, issue and raised national security concerns about Chinese 5G gear.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere and Sprint Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure faced no outright opposition to the carriers' proposed combination during a Wednesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing. Many Democrats registered varying degrees of skepticism regarding the executives' claims. Questions tilted toward focus on antitrust aspects of T-Mobile/Sprint, as expected (see 1902120056). Some probed the carriers' claims about the transaction's benefits for deploying 5G. Legere and other executives from the two carriers met FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Friday, they said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-197.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere and Sprint Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure faced no outright opposition to the carriers' proposed combination during a Wednesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing. Many Democrats registered varying degrees of skepticism regarding the executives' claims. Questions tilted toward focus on antitrust aspects of T-Mobile/Sprint, as expected (see 1902120056). Some probed the carriers' claims about the transaction's benefits for deploying 5G. Legere and other executives from the two carriers met FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Friday, they said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-197.
NARUC's Telecom Committee unanimously cleared an amended Lifeline resolution urging the FCC and Universal Service Administrative Co. ensure the national verifier accesses state databases required to automatically check users are eligible. USAC is responding to concerns and committed to making the NV work, South Dakota Commissioner Chris Nelson told us after the vote.
NARUC's Telecom Committee unanimously cleared an amended Lifeline resolution urging the FCC and Universal Service Administrative Co. ensure the national verifier accesses state databases required to automatically check users are eligible. USAC is responding to concerns and committed to making the NV work, South Dakota Commissioner Chris Nelson told us after the vote.
Universal Service Administrative Co. hasn't de-enrolled any Lifeline users who failed the national verifier's automatic reverification, and no decision has been made on when that will happen, USAC Vice President-Lifeline Michelle Garber told the Telecom Staff Subcommittee at NARUC Sunday. A state commissioner and subcommittee members grilled Garber on high rates of users failing the automated check due to the NV not accessing all databases relevant to determining eligibility, with USAC not even trying to access them in higher cost states.
Universal Service Administrative Co. hasn't de-enrolled any Lifeline users who failed the national verifier's automatic reverification, and no decision has been made on when that will happen, USAC Vice President-Lifeline Michelle Garber told the Telecom Staff Subcommittee at NARUC Sunday. A state commissioner and subcommittee members grilled Garber on high rates of users failing the automated check due to the NV not accessing all databases relevant to determining eligibility, with USAC not even trying to access them in higher cost states.