The FCC doesn’t “really believe” public safety agencies will ever leave the 470-512 MHz T band, despite the 2012 Spectrum Act's mandate, Enterprise Wireless Alliance Regulatory Counsel Elizabeth Sachs told the EWA’s virtual wireless leadership summit Wednesday. Congress “adopted legislation without really understanding what it meant or who was involved or what the impact would be,” said Sachs, of Lukas LaFuria.
Several members of the Senate Commerce and Judiciary committees face tough reelection fights, elections experts told us. Most of the vulnerable lawmakers are Republicans, including Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Judiciary Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chairman Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Commerce Security Subcommittee Chairman Dan Sullivan of Alaska. Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan is the only Democrat on either committee who faces similarly long odds. The House Commerce and Judiciary panels face far less potential turnover among incumbents seeking to return in the next Congress.
Design, MagSafe wireless charging and photography features stood out among early Twitter responses to Apple’s Tuesday launch event for four iPhone 12 models and a downsized HomePod smart speaker. So did Apple’s removal of chargers and earbuds from the box, which the company couched in an environmental light. Customers already have more than 700 million lightning headphones, said a spokesperson.
House China Task Force Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, believed “we can accomplish” many of the all-GOP group’s recent recommendations regardless of whether President Donald Trump or Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden wins the Nov. 3 election. He signaled optimism, during a Center for Strategic and International Studies event, about prospects for Congress to direct more money toward implementing his Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (Chips) for America Act. HR-7178/S-3933 is included in both the House and Senate versions of the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-6395/S-4049).
Silicon Flatirons dove into the importance of evidence-based spectrum policy during the start of a two-day conference Tuesday. Speakers said there are no easy answers, and it can be difficult to figure out where decisions are based on the evidence. The virtual conference continues Thursday.
The FCC is getting no satellite industry consensus on whether collision risk standards should be looked at on a satellite-by-satellite basis or on an aggregated basis. There was broad, though not universal, opposition to indemnification and a post-mission disposal performance bond proposals in the orbital debris Further NPRM adopted in April (see 2004230040). Docket 18-313 comments were due Friday.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit pressed attorneys from both the FCC and petitioners the National Lifeline Association in oral argument Tuesday over an FCC rule limiting carrier reimbursement for customers who are close to being eliminated from the service. Judge Harry Edwards pressured FCC trial attorney Maureen Flood into walking back an argument that NaLA’s challenge to the rule was “untimely,” while Judge Neomi Rao cut off NaLA attorney John Heitmann of Kelley Drye at the very beginning of his time to question the trade group’s standing, saying his own argument undermined his case. “I think you are admitting you don’t get the reimbursement,” she told him.
Auditing Washington, D.C.’s 911 center will uncover any systemic dispatching issues, and more regular reviews could go a long way toward preventing future problems, said experts in interviews. While it's concerning to read reports of the D.C. Office of Unified Communications sending responders to wrong addresses, closer review is needed, and some possible causes, including training and retention, are national problems, they said.
FCC Chief of Staff Matthew Berry and a top CTIA official downplayed reports the Trump administration is pushing the Pentagon to move forward on developing a national 5G network. The wireless industry sent a letter to President Donald Trump Tuesday opposing efforts to nationalize 5G network infrastructure. Berry and Scott Bergmann, CTIA senior vice president-regulatory affairs, spoke Monday at the Americas Spectrum Management Conference. DOD isn’t planning to launch a competitive 5G network, Fred Moorefield, deputy chief information officer-command, control and communications, said at an FCBA virtual conference Tuesday. Moorefield said he had seen the reports on the White House push but couldn't confirm them.
Apple “foreclosed competition” in iOS subscription-based mobile gaming, and owns “monopoly power” in the relevant market with no “pro-competitive justifications” for that harmful “misconduct,” alleged a complaint (in Pacer) Thursday in U.S. District Court in San Jose that seeks class-action status. Coming nearly two months after Epic Games sued to break Apple’s alleged stranglehold on the iOS app distribution and payment market (see 2008130048), the new complaint argues Apple monopolization is forcing consumers to pay “supracompetitive prices” for the Apple Arcade mobile gaming subscription service.