Some FTC staffers are expecting Joe Simons to step down as chairman on Inauguration Day, an agency aide told us. An industry official said Simons is “looking to step down before the end of the year.” He recently told senior staff it could be as early as Thanksgiving, but he wants to vote out the agency’s antitrust case against Facebook before he leaves office, the industry official said.
Huge changes to broadcast ownership regulation aren’t expected under the next FCC, with the pending U.S. Supreme Court decision on Prometheus IV the likely driver for any changes that do happen, said associations, broadcasters and broadcast attorneys in interviews. “I’m not terribly concerned that things are going to change drastically under a Biden administration,” said Graham Media CEO Emily Barr, chair of NAB’s TV Board. FCC and NAB briefs in the case are due Monday.
An order allowing very-low-power (VLP) devices to use the 6 GHz band appears to be in doubt for the Dec. 10 FCC meeting. More will be known soon. Chairman Ajit Pai is to offer his blog post on the meeting Wednesday, with draft items to circulate Thursday. Wi-Fi advocates reported numerous calls, particularly with Office of Engineering and Technology staff, in recent days to discuss the rule changes, teed up in an April Further NPRM (see 2004230059). Incumbents hope for a delay.
The “general direction” on China policy likely won’t change under President-elect Joe Biden, said James Lewis, Center for Strategic and International Studies senior vice president, during an FCBA webinar Thursday. Adam Lusin, director of the State Department’s Office of International Communications and Information Policy, warned the U.S. focus on a multistakeholder approach to internet and 5G governance is under fire from China and other nations.
Incompas CEO Chip Pickering is hopeful this Congress enacts FY 2021 funding and a COVID-19 aid bill, despite partisan rancor. Group officials told a Thursday webinar they’re monitoring whether the Senate confirms FCC nominee Nathan Simington, plus the impact of a change to a majority-Democrat commission after President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.
Facebook v. Duguid, to be argued before the Supreme Court Dec. 8 (19-511), could provide long-awaited clarity on the definition of what constitutes an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, experts told us. Consumer groups hope the court will do nothing to narrow the definition. In September, the administration supported Facebook in what lawyers on both sides say was an unusual brief.
State and local governments want to reset relationships with the FCC under President-elect Joe Biden in 2021, said officials from NARUC, NATOA and the National Association of State Consumer Advocates (NASUCA) in interviews this week. A new FCC means “new beginnings” and a chance to build bridges, said NARUC President Paul Kjellander, elected association head Tuesday (see 2011100060).
Qualcomm has “line of sight” into 5G smartphones that will launch next year or in 2022, and it estimates more than 700 models are in the design pipeline, President Cristiano Amon told an Axios webinar Tuesday. OEMs are making "significantly" more requests of Qualcomm for new “capabilities in artificial intelligence processing on the devices,” he said. “As you have the high-speed connectivity on 5G and the ability to communicate with the cloud 100% of the time, you’re also bringing the possibility of doing a lot of machine learning.”
The FCC effort to interpret Communications Decency Act Section 230 isn’t comparable to the heavy-handed regulations repealed during the net neutrality debate in the late 2000s, Commissioner Brendan Carr said Tuesday during a Federalist Society event. Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld questioned how Carr could be against Communications Act Title II regulation of internet service providers but also support Section 230 regulatory changes envisioned by the Trump administration (see 2011060053).
The National Lifeline Association and Assist Wireless filed an emergency stay petition Monday asking the FCC to freeze the Lifeline minimum service standard at 3 GB within seven days. “It is a precursor to going to a federal court for such relief, if necessary,” emailed John Heitmann of Kelley Drye, who represents NaLA. Without the stay or the waiver NaLA previously sought, the MSS will automatically rise to 11.75 GB Dec. 1, triggering a “one-year death spiral” for the entire lifeline industry, the stay petition said. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai withdrew a proposal weeks ago (see 2011020065) that would have made the 2020 MSS 4.5 GB because it wouldn't receive sufficient votes.