The judge who heard states' case about whether T-Mobile can buy Sprint won't block the deal.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's $9.7 billion C-band clearing plan has support from fellow Republican commissioners. That means the order has the votes needed to be approved at or before the Feb. 28 commissioners' meeting.
A public auction of 280 MHz of C-band spectrum is targeted to start Dec. 8, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Thursday at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. Relocation costs for incumbents -- an estimated $3 billion to $5 billion -- will be covered by auction winners, he said. He said satellite operators then should be eligible for up to $9.7 billion in accelerated relocation payments for clearing the lower 100 MHz in 46 of top 50 partial economic areas by September 2021, and remaining 180 MHz by September 2023.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai circulated Wednesday an NPRM for a Feb. 28 commissioners' vote. It "would allow white space devices to reach users at greater distances, thus enabling improved broadband coverage," the agency announced this morning. "Because white space device operations must protect other authorized services from interference, Chairman Pai is also proposing to increase the minimum required separation distances for white space devices operating at higher power."
President Donald Trump said during his State of the Union speech he’s “committed to ensuring that every citizen can have access to high-speed internet, including and especially in rural America.” Tuesday night was the first time Trump mentioned broadband connectivity as a priority in the annual address, having not cited it during calls to pass infrastructure legislation in 2018 and 2019.
Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel criticized the FCC Friday for taking “so long” to reach its finding today that “one or more wireless carriers apparently violated federal law” in their location-tracking practices, including the sale of customer location-tracking data allegedly accessed by bounty hunters. Chairman Ajit Pai wrote House Commerce Committee Democrats Friday to inform them the agency had concluded its year-plus investigation into the claims. The carriers didn’t immediately comment.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai plans to soon circulate an item on the C-band auction and seek a vote at the next commissioners' meeting, he told Communications Daily in Q&A after Thursday's monthly gathering. "We will be considering an item on the Feb. 28 meeting to go forward with the C band.”
The FTC will review social media-related advertising guidelines in 2020, the agency confirmed Thursday. It will consider updating “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” The guides offer insight into how the agency views truthfulness and deceptiveness in ads.
The FCC auction of 3,400 MHz in the 37, 39 and 47 GHz bands garnered gross proceeds of $7.56 billion, the agency announced during commissioners' monthly meeting. “Bidding in the clock phase" ended Thursday after round 104.
Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., filed their Spectrum Management And Reallocation for Taxpayers (Smart) Act Tuesday in a bid to designate the proceeds from a coming auction of bandwidth on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band. Aides to Kennedy and Schatz confirmed the bill’s filing to us ahead of a formal announcement.