The FCC has shifted stances in its draft repacking reimbursement order and proposes using FY 2019 reimbursement dollars to pay back low-power TV, translator and FM stations as well as using the $200 million from FY 2018. The draft order was released Friday along with the tentative agenda. It includes items on spectrum horizons and other 5G changes, a proposal for new 911 wireless location accuracy requirements, a draft order setting intermediate carrier standards for rural call completion and rules on reauthorization of broadcast satellite stations.
Whether the breadth of this week's Samsung smartphone launches was enough to fend off Huawei’s aggressive drive to become the global smartphone leader is the big unknown coming out of the high-profile Samsung Unpacked event in San Francisco, wrote IHS analyst Wayne Lam in post-event commentary Wednesday. Lam referred to the “new design language” of the S10, S10+ and S10e, along with the Galaxy Fold and the S10 5G model, and their simplified One UI software.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – A Maryland House panel faced division Thursday on rival 5G bills meant to speed wireless infrastructure deployment (see 1902070028). Witnesses for the wireless industry and Maryland business groups at an Economic Matters Committee hearing backed HB-654 by Chairman Dereck Davis (D), while local government officials supported HB-1020 by Del. Mary Ann Lisanti (D) and seven others on the 24-member committee. State lawmakers also weighed potential costs and benefits of a bill to strengthen Maryland pole-attachment authority.
FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel’s call for restrictions on e-cigarette ads isn’t likely to lead to direct FCC action, said e-cigarette industry officials and broadcast and First Amendment attorneys in interviews (see 1902140063). Rosenworcel isn’t necessarily aiming for an FCC rule against such ads, said broadcast attorneys and an aide in her office. “All I’ve done is called for the idea that the FCC, FTC, and [Food and Drug Administration] should come together, look at what laws are on their books, and identify if there are things we can do,” Rosenworcel said in a news conference last week. Commissioner Brendan Carr has said he would oppose such a move.
The FCC will take up an order at the March 15 commissioners’ meeting setting aside a big chunk of spectrum across four bands, above 95 GHz, for 5G, Chairman Ajit Pai said Thursday. With President Donald Trump also tweeting about 5G (see 1902210057), Pai blogged that 5G is the meeting’s key focus. The agenda also includes 900 MHz rules and media modernization and repacking reimbursement orders. Also on the agenda: spectrum partitioning, disaggregation and spectrum leasing rules, tougher requirements for locating wireless calls to 911 and intermediate carrier standards to improve rural call completion. Draft items are to be released Friday.
President Donald Trump sowed confusion Thursday on the administration’s stance on a ban on using equipment from Chinese suppliers Huawei and ZTE in U.S. networks. With a key industry meeting at the Mobile World Congress next week (see 1902060056), Trump posted two tweets stressing the importance of 5G and U.S. competitiveness.
Samsung faithful hoping for a peek at a rumored foldable smartphone weren’t disappointed Wednesday as the company gave an April 26 shipping date for the Galaxy Fold: a 4.6-inch screen when closed and a 7.3-inch tablet when open. Samsung filed trademark applications globally in the fall to register the promotional phrase “The Future Unfolds" (see 1810010009). Wednesday’s launch stage featured that tagline and had the look of a box with folding sides to drive home the theme.
Uniform software bill of materials (SBOM) standards will lead to more cyber-secure industry and government entities (see 1806060036), NTIA working group officials said Wednesday on a conference call. The agency is gathering feedback from software vendors, IoT manufacturers, medical device manufacturers, civil society and various sectors to improve transparency of software components and digital security.
Reactions were mixed to an FCC draft that would find broadband deployment is meeting a Telecom Act Section 706 mandate. Broadband providers and others welcomed a positive finding and credited the commission with clearing deployment obstacles, while consumer advocates were skeptical and slammed agency leadership. Chairman Ajit Pai Tuesday circulated a draft report internally that broadband-like advanced telecom capability is being deployed in a "reasonable and timely" way (see 1902190057). The report was due out Feb. 5 but delayed by the government shutdown. It might be put on the tentative agenda for the March 15 commissioners' meeting, which Pai is expected to highlight Thursday.
An FCC order on opening the C band to terrestrial 5G services is likely to come by midyear, with the agency indicating it wants to see that happen in Q2, Intelsat CEO Stephen Spengler said during an analyst call Wednesday. He said the rival T-Mobile band-clearing plan isn't serious but seems designed specifically to slow down the band-clearing process for anti-competitive reasons -- probably related to the pending T-Mobile/Sprint merger and protecting their C-band position, Spengler said. But it's not clear if the FCC also sees it that way, he said. T-Mobile didn't comment.