IoT's potential won’t be realized without universal interoperability, seamless operation, an easy development process and strong security, said Silicon Labs General Manager Matt Johnson, keynoting the second day of the company’s first “Works With” developer conference, held Wednesday and Thursday. “If we don’t get the trust and security right, this is not going to happen.”
With an FCC forum on open radio access networks coming Monday (see 2008180012), ORAN dominated discussion during a 5G panel at a U.S. Export-Import Bank virtual conference Thursday. U.S. National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien warned against 5G from China.
Big cable distributors, with headends staffed 24/7 and often heavy use of fiber instead of C-band satellite downlinks, shouldn't have difficulties with the integrated receiver/decoder (IRD) changes for the C-band repacking. Smaller operators with fewer resources face far bigger challenges. That's what experts told us. There aren't broad expectations of an IRD shortage due to the repack.
Restructuring Frontier Communications “manifestly benefits the public interest, with no countervailing harms,” trumpeted the carrier as it closed its case for FCC OK to emerge from Chapter 11. In replies posted Wednesday in docket 20-197, Frontier urged rejecting a union and consumer group’s concerns. Mississippi Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley promised to stand in the deal's way unless the carrier improves.
Chairman Ajit Pai said the FCC remains focused on illegal robocalls, consumers’ top interest at the agency. Carriers don’t want “this junk traffic," he told USTelecom Wednesday. Pai said cooperative efforts are working.
The House Commerce Committee advanced three telecom bills Wednesday, including bipartisan voice votes in favor of the Expanding Broadcast Ownership Opportunities Act (HR-3957) and the Preserving Home and Office Numbers in Emergencies Act (HR-1289). The committee also advanced the Enhancing Broadcaster Diversity and Inclusion by Verifying and Ensuring the Reporting Required by Statute Is Transpiring and Yielding Data Act (HR-5564) despite opposition from ranking member Greg Walden of Oregon and other Republicans. Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said “we’re going to try” to seek floor votes on at least some of the measures this month.
Legislation discouraging social media fact-checking and First Amendment rights is the wrong approach, said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks Wednesday. They discussed Republican proposals on Communications Decency Act Section 230.
The FCC posted items for commissioners’ Sept. 30 meeting Wednesday, including on spectrum items targeting the use of 3.45-3.55 GHz for 5G, long sought by carriers, and rewriting the rules for the 4.9 GHz band. NTIA weighed in on 3.45-3.55 (see 2009090058). Drafts were also circulated on an order cutting IP captioned telephone service rates. Chairman Ajit Pai laid out the agenda Tuesday (see 2009080068).
If Joe Biden wins the November election, expect Democrats to pursue antitrust law changes that would raise the bar for acquisitions, experts said in recent interviews. President Donald Trump has shown more interest in politically driven attacks than serious policy work, they said.
An order reshaping how the 5.9 GHz band is allocated could slip from the FCC’s Oct. 27 meeting to the Nov. 18 meeting as the Office of Engineering and Technology works through technical details, industry and agency officials said. The later meeting would be after the election, but Chairman Ajit Pai has broad support for opening the band for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use, and approval likely won’t be an issue, officials said. NTIA added a further wrinkle, proposing exclusion zones for the spectrum, in a letter to OET (see 2009090025).