Expect “significant” proposed changes when the Senate Judiciary Committee marks up the Earn It Act, Sen. Richard Blumenthal told us Thursday (see 2006170063). “I’m ready for a markup, which will include some changes, some of them significant, to clarify the provisions in light of the feedback."
A House Communications Subcommittee briefing on Ligado’s L-band plan Thursday appears to have been a bid by Commerce Committee leaders to warn the chamber's Armed Services panel against attempting to advance language aimed at scuttling the FCC’s April approval, Capitol Hill aides and lobbyists told us. The company told members of the House and Senate Commerce panels Thursday it obtained emails showing the L-band plan previously had the backing of NTIA’s technical staff and the DOD Chief Information Office (see 2006180034).
While most associations have dropped plans for in-person summer conferences due to COVID-19, APCO is forging ahead with plans to meet Aug. 2-5 in Orlando. It's even offering a $100 credit to attendees, to be used at next year's conference. Infection rates are on the rise in Florida, and experts warned against holding the conference live.
ARRL asked the FCC to exercise caution in adopting new RF rules. The FCC logged more than 120 comments in docket 19-226 in the last two days, many from those concerned about the health effects of RF exposure. Others questioned the need for further regulation (see 2006170032). The comments respond to a December NPRM and were due Wednesday (see 1912040036).
When a public figure makes a statement violating Twitter rules, the platform doesn’t remove the post in order to allow public discussion and scrutiny, which was the case with President Donald Trump’s recent comments about looting (see 2006160059), Director-Global Public Policy Strategy and Development Nick Pickles told House Intelligence Committee Democrats Thursday.
TV stations are starting to see a gradual improvement in advertising, but the future remains uncertain, said broadcast executives and S&P Global Market Intelligence analyst Robin Flynn during a teleconferenced 2020 Kagan Media Summit Thursday. The second day of the COVID-19 version of the summit is set for June 25.
There’s “emerging consensus” the next Senate-side COVID-19 aid bill will include funding to bolster E-rate and other broadband initiatives, Incompas CEO Chip Pickering said Thursday. Some GOP lawmakers voiced growing interest in including broadband funding in coming pandemic legislation since House passage last month of the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act. HR-6800’s broadband funding includes an $8.8 billion Emergency Broadband Connectivity Fund and $5 billion for E-rate (see 2005130059). President Donald Trump’s administration recently narrowed the scope of their desires for a fourth major aid measure (see 2006050058).
A fiber outage caused nationwide problems on T-Mobile’s network Monday, but only about 20% of customers were affected, said President-Technology Neville Ray at a Wells Fargo virtual conference Thursday. “We’re very sorry for the occurrence,” he said: “We have to do better.” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai also spoke, but that wasn't streamed (see 2006160058).
Some 800 ISPs suspended broadband data caps during the FCC's Keep Americans Connected pledge. In many cases, they'll be back after KAC expires at month's end, experts said in interviews. Data caps aren't directly part of the commitment. The agency did urge ISPs to "relax" them. Providers including AT&T and Comcast opted to provide unlimited data through the pledge. Asked what happens after June 30, they and numerous other major providers, plus the FCC, didn't comment Thursday.
Ligado's L-band terrestrial wireless plan had the backing of NTIA's technical staff and the DOD Chief Information Office, and NTIA's opposition seemingly was political, said Ligado in a letter Thursday to House and Senate Commerce Committee members. Defense emailed us that the entire DOD is opposed to the Ligado plan. "The Executive Branch’s views are publicly available in the FCC’s docketed proceeding," NTIA said.