FTC scrutiny for the tech industry’s smaller and serial acquisitions will increase if commissioners rescind a 1995 policy statement Wednesday, as expected, antitrust attorneys told us. The commission meets Wednesday for its second open meeting under Chair Lina Khan (see 2107120065). It will vote whether to rescind the policy statement on prior notice and prior approval remedies in transactions.
Former FCC chairs said addressing the digital divide won’t be easy, even with infrastructure legislation before Congress, during a Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council webinar Monday. A pending bipartisan proposal includes $65 billion for broadband (see 2107150046).
Stakeholders divided in comments Friday on a Treasury Department-proposed final rule allowing only broadband projects in areas without 25/3 Mbps to be eligible for the $350 billion in state and local funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (see 2105100060).
With nearly 3.6 million households enrolled in the emergency broadband benefit, experts want the FCC to release additional data about enrollment rates and subsidy amounts to better evaluate EBB effectiveness. Others said also in interviews last week the commission should revisit the rules to require more frequent reporting from participating providers to forecast when the program may end.
Amazon and Facebook are attempting to “bully” the FTC by seeking recusal of Chair Lina Khan (see 2107140036), Senate Democrats said in interviews. Republicans were more hesitant to dismiss the filings but credited Khan’s approach. A former FTC general counsel and a legal scholar told us it’s unlikely the companies will succeed.
NARUC won’t remove from a draft resolution on the emergency broadband benefit a clause asking Congress to phase bypassing the state eligible telecom carrier (ETC) designation process, said measure sponsor Crystal Rhoades on Friday. NCTA unsuccessfully asked to remove that clause Thursday at a NARUC Telecom Subcommittee meeting (see 2107150056). The EBB resolution and two other drafts are up for vote at NARUC’s Telecom Committee meeting Tuesday in Denver.
The House Appropriations Committee advanced increased CPB funding Thursday along party lines. The committee was considering legislation early Thursday evening that would boost NTIA, Patent and Trademark Office and other Commerce Department agencies' appropriations. The committee advanced its FY 2022 Department of Homeland Security funding bill earlier this week, which included $2.13 billion for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (see 2107130056).
Details revealed Thursday of what FCC members are to vote on Aug. 5 showed some impermissible telecom relay service-related fees would be OK, outlined how new innovation zones would work and showed how political advertising thresholds would change. Commissioners will consider modifying the compensation methodology for IP relay service providers to use “only projected costs and demand” to calculate base level compensation, said a fact sheet. The current compensation period, which follows a cost-based base level of per-minute compensation, ends June 30. The draft NPRM would rescind prohibition on outreach cost recovery because there's one IP relay provider, and would modify rules allowing recovery for indirect overhead.
Three Democratic senators criticized CTIA for lobbying efforts on states' implementation of the 988 suicide prevention hotline. "Telecom lobbyists appear to be pressing state legislatures to reduce the size of the fees assessed and the scope of the services to which the fees could apply, well beyond -- and in some cases contrary to -- the guardrails already written into law," Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Chris Murphy of Connecticut wrote CEO Meredith Baker Thursday.
Wireless has a big role to play in infrastructure building and looks like it will be part of bipartisan legislation, Wireless Infrastructure Association President Jonathan Adelstein told a Media Institute virtual event. "Fiber-only” may be “well-intentioned” but would “crash on the messy rocks of reality in rural America,” he said. At another event also Thursday, Commissioner Nathan Simington raised concerns about how far the FCC can go on data security and privacy.