As the FCC readies rules for an 833 toll-free number auction, with commissioners set to vote Thursday on a public notice on auction participation and procedures, toll-free number industry insiders said such an auction anytime soon could be poor timing. That's due to big question marks on how carriers will handle location-based services. Only a fraction of 833 numbers would have noteworthy demand in an auction anyway, and the limbo that location-based services are in could mean auction prices for those particularly desirable numbers could be depressed, said Bruno Tabbi, Ignition Toll Free president.
An NPRM reallocating the 1675-1680 MHz band, teed up for a vote at next week’s FCC meeting (see 1904170049), isn't expected to face opposition from any commissioners. Late questions have emerged, agency and industry officials said Thursday. Ligado sought a few tweaks. It wants the regulator to seek comment on a national license for the band, rather than partial economic area licenses.
Broadcast industry officials, advertisers and academics presented differing stances Thursday at the first day of a DOJ Antitrust Division workshop on whether linear local TV spots compete with digital promotions.
Apple posted its highest Services revenue ever, $11.4 billion, in the March quarter, up from $9.8 billion a year ago, said CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday’s earnings call. That 16 percent growth rate didn't offset a 17 percent global revenue decline in iPhones to $31 billion. Canalys reported Wednesday that iPhone shipments worldwide sank 23.2 percent in Q1 to 40.2 million shipments amid a global “freefall” in smartphone shipments that retreated for the sixth straight quarter.
California lawmakers moved a cavalcade of privacy bills, including several tweaking last year’s California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), in hearings this week. The Assembly Appropriations panel Wednesday unanimously cleared three without discussion. No members voted against five privacy bills, or two other bills on wireless data throttling of public safety users and e-commerce marketplace transparency, at a Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee hearing Tuesday.
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission sought Supreme Court review of the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision that interconnected VoIP is an information service, in a case about whether the state may regulate Charter Communications cable phone service. The agency Wednesday filed a writ of certiorari in case No. 18A889. That was expected (see 1903040025).
The completion of a bankruptcy restructuring by iHeartMedia Wednesday is expected to be followed by a sale or public offering for the broadcaster and improved health for the radio industry as a whole but isn’t expected to lead to iHeart binge-buying stations, radio attorneys, consultants and analysts told us. The restructuring process reduced iHeart’s debt by more than $10 billion, it said in a news release Monday. “The perception (and reality) that iHeart is now an independently functioning company out from under the scrutiny of bankruptcy court will greatly improve its image and the image of radio, too,” emailed media broker Robert Heymann, from the Chicago office of Media Services Group. The FCC OK'd the restructuring plan last week (see 1904240054).
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., will be “very helpful” for striking consensus (see 1904300195) on a privacy bill that can gain the support of a “huge,” bicameral majority, Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told us. His comment came after a committee hearing with consumer advocates and a top EU data privacy enforcer, who offered legislators advice on legislative specifics.
T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray contends AT&T and Verizon were too quick to launch 5G in high-band spectrum (see 1904250065). Experts told us now that Ray highlighted a growing realization that millimeter-wave spectrum will be only part of 5G, though the first to launch. They said AT&T and Verizon are likely learning a lot from their early work, which could give them advantages later on as 5G becomes more widespread across the U.S.
Even revised broadband deployment numbers still show a narrowing digital divide, with notable broadband deployments particularly in rural areas, the FCC said Wednesday. Some skeptics and critics of the initial report (see 1903060034) seemed partly mollified about the new data, though not pleased with the pace of deployment. "The new data doesn't change the ... fundamental conclusion: we are closing the digital divide," Chairman Ajit Pai said.