The House Commerce Committee is set to get dueling feedback from communications sector stakeholders Wednesday on broadband provisions in the Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s (Lift) America Act (HR-2741). The bill, refiled last week, would allocate $40 billion for broadband projects, $12 billion in grants for implementing next-generation 911 technologies and $5 billion for a loan and credit program for broadband projects. Democrats first filed the bill in 2017 (see 1706020056). The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham is “agnostic” about whether a new agency should replace the FTC as primary privacy enforcer, the South Carolina Republican told reporters Tuesday. “I’m agnostic until you prove to me that they’re not the right agency,” he said when asked about consumer groups’ call for a new agency.
The FCC likely won’t move forward quickly to impose rules requiring carriers meet a new vertical location (z-axis) accuracy metric for indoor wireless calls to 911, industry officials said Tuesday. Monday, APCO said the FCC should drop plans to impose the metric and focus instead on dispatchable location solutions (see 1905200025). But there was no common thread to public safety comments. Other first responders said requiring a 3-meter metric will help. Comments were posted through Tuesday in docket 07-114.
There’s no guarantee DOJ will follow the FCC’s lead and approve T-Mobile’s buy of Sprint, analysts wrote investors this week. The agencies have been coordinating their work on the deal (see 1905200051). “DOJ has a different statutory mandate than the FCC,” a department official said Tuesday. Review of the transaction is still “a very fluid situation” even though the two regulators are “typically aligned on telecom-related merger decision,” said Wells Fargo’s Jennifer Fritzsche.
The California Public Utilities Commission is taking a fresh look at communications, said members and staff at a commission meeting livestreamed Monday. Commissioners want to better understand future communications needs so they can determine the right role for the state regulator. They highlighted network issues during wildfires and low access among rural and low-income populations as possible issues.
The White House soliciting evidence of anti-conservative bias by tech platforms (see 1905160059) is a “good thing,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said last week. Asked about concerns over the administration's requesting information like citizenship status, Hawley told reporters it doesn’t seem much different from congressional offices collecting information for voluntary complaints. “It sends a signal to tech companies that [the White House is] paying attention, and it’s a good thing to be paying attention to.”
While still hoping to see up to 300 MHz of the C band freed up for 5G use, FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly on Saturday said he's amenable to clearing 200 MHz now and a structure that sees more opened up in the future. He said at the FCBA annual retreat that his top priority is clearing the band as quickly as possible. Panels at the event in Hot Springs, Virginia, also covered topics ranging from cybersecurity to autonomous vehicles.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s announcing ahead of DOJ his proposed approval of T-Mobile's buy of Sprint bucks some precedent under which the commission almost always announces second. It short-circuits the process and simplifies imposition of conditions on the transaction, said lawyers active in the proceeding. If Justice seeks conditions, it would have had to go to court to oppose the deal absent concessions by the companies. Pai's announcement was coordinated with DOJ, the lawyers said.
Industry groups sought changes to FCC-proposed competitive bidding rules for the upper 37, 39 and 47 GHz auction, slated to start Dec. 10 (see 1904120058). The auction will be the FCC’s third of high-band spectrum for 5G. The agency proposes to sell the spectrum in relatively large partial economic area licenses. Comments were posted late last week in docket 19-59.
Republicans and Democrats at the FTC still appear divided over what remedies should be included in the agency’s potential privacy settlement with Facebook (see 1905130031), tech observers said in interviews this week. They disagreed whether the agency is taking an unprecedented amount of time to settle, especially considering the probe could include violations beyond the Cambridge Analytica breach (see 1803260039). There's disagreement if the agency should hold CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally liable for his platform’s privacy miscues.