Congress should clarify FTC Act Section 13(b) and “revive” the agency’s “ability to enjoin illegal conduct and return to consumers money they have lost,” all four commissioners wrote in a statement that acting Chairwoman Rebecca Kelly Slaughter delivered to the House Consumer Protection Subcommittee.
SpaceX's license modification approval, released Tuesday, has conditions including requirements it coordinate with radio astronomy observatories and regularly report close passes in orbit involving, in addition to restrictions on how it uses the 12 GHz band. These was as expected (see 2104260044). Some critics of the license mod saw good news in the terms.
Washington state’s comprehensive privacy bill is dead for the third straight year. Unable again to overcome disagreement over enforcement and other issues, lawmakers ended the 2021 session Sunday without voting on the Senate-passed SB-5062. Washington legislators did pass municipal broadband and national 988 bills. Florida senators passed bills Monday to regulate social media and pole attachments.
The FCC remains focused on ensuring that 5G and other networks are secure, acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Monday at a virtual workshop on supply chain security, held in conjunction with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Rosenworcel said the FCC is exploring whether untrusted vendors should be excluded from the FCC equipment authorization program. Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington urged more focus on device security.
The Senate Commerce Committee will “mark something up shortly” in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in AMG Capital Management v. FTC, Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us Thursday (see 2104220068). House Commerce Committee Republicans said the high court’s unanimous decision shows the FTC exceeded its FTC Act Section 13(b) authority. They expressed frustration that Democrats “prevented” the full commission from testifying Tuesday, when acting Chair Rebecca Kelly Slaughter will appear before the House Consumer Protection Subcommittee.
Approval on circulation Monday of SpaceX's pending license modification for relocating more than 2,800 planned satellites to a lower orbit (see 2007140001) has conditions limiting its use of the 12 GHz band and on spectrum sharing, parties involved in the proceeding told us. The license mod got heavy opposition (see 2102120033). Parties told us litigation challenging the approval is a strong possibility.
The FCC's newest member lent his general support to the agency's thrust, following other recent supportive comments by Commissioner Brendan Carr (see 2104220036). The agency under acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has been focused on "doing things that just need doing," said Commissioner Nathan Simington during a virtual FCBA keynote Friday. Rosenworcel is "really managing the agency effectively," Simington said: "If you look at our voting records since I've joined up, there's a lot of unanimous decisions." There's a "lot of work we can get done," he said, and "that's exactly what we've been doing all year."
Investors trying to push better lobbying disclosures at communications, media and tech companies through shareholder proxy proposals face a steep uphill climb. Annual reports detailing lobbying spending and strategy were put on the yearly shareholder meeting agendas for Amazon, Boeing, Charter and Disney. They were rejected at Boeing and Disney. Experts told us odds of approval generally are slim.
AT&T had a wireless growth surprise in Q1, with 595,000 postpaid phone net adds and postpaid churn of 0.76%, better than analyst expectations. Verizon reported Wednesday it lost postpaid subscribers (see 2104210060). AT&T CEO John Stankey warned on a Thursday call with analysts that supply chain issues could complicate C-band deployments.
The FCC approved 4-0 an NPRM -- with tweaks, as expected (see 2104200063) -- on wireless mics in the TV and other bands, plus an order ending the 800 MHz rebanding proceeding. Commissioners offered brief statements on both items, neither of which faced opposition before the vote at Thursday's meeting.