Communications companies and federal agencies are still deciding when to bring more employees back for in-person work, experts said in interviews. But with no clear federal rules, executives are weighing benefits and risks. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is expected to release updated guidance in the next few weeks.
Groups representing smaller carriers emphasized the importance of giving carriers with fewer than 2 million subscribers priority as the FCC establishes rules to pay for ripping and replacing network gear from Chinese vendors. Huawei protested any requirement that equipment be removed from networks and said the program should be voluntary. The FCC should be aware that a global shortage of chipsets (see 2104120057) could complicate replacement, USTelecom warned. Comments were posted Tuesday in docket 18-89.
Telecom and technology are finally converging, but the FCC has been slow to keep up with the change, Commissioner Brendan Carr said Tuesday at FCBA's first “all chapter” virtual event, with members watching from across the U.S.
Expect a committee markup on the Endless Frontier Act in the coming weeks, Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., told reporters Tuesday. He said he’s negotiating with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., lead sponsor of S-3832, after receiving text from the White House. The bill is meant to increase domestic semiconductor manufacturing and strengthen U.S. competitiveness with China. Schumer said he wants a vote this month, with the bill wrapped into an infrastructure package.
A growing number of parties suggested technical conditions for any FCC approval of SpaceX's pending license modification to allow a lower orbit for more than 2,800 proposed satellites (see 2004200003), reflecting a sense that some think agency OK will be forthcoming, we're told. A lawyer involved in the proceeding said approval could come as soon as the end of the month. The commission and SpaceX didn't comment Tuesday.
NAB’s next president, Curtis LeGeyt, and the broadcasters who lead the trade group’s board blasted tech companies and called for legislation to protect local journalism, in a video discussion Monday for the virtual NAB Show. “Obviously these tech platforms have had a real disruptive impact,” said LeGeyt, the NAB chief operating officer who last week was named to replace President Gordon Smith at year-end (see 2104070045). Smith said during Monday’s event that he “has every confidence” in LeGeyt.
Washington state’s privacy bill might yet live despite appearing to miss a legislative deadline over the weekend. "The bill remains alive through the end of the Legislative Session," the bill's sponsor and Senate Technology Committee Chair Reuven Carlyle (D) tweeted Monday. A key House member voiced hope for compromise, but there seemed to be confusion among SB-5062 watchers Monday, with some saying the bill is dead. Washington privacy bills failed the past two years, with chambers at loggerheads on enforcement. The state’s House and Senate passed municipal broadband bills Sunday but must concur with each other’s changes.
Huawei doesn’t expect to make rapid progress with President Joe Biden's administration on U.S. sanctions, Rotating Chairman Eric Xu told analysts Monday in a streamed presentation. Huawei faces challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitics and U.S. sanctions, Xu said. Meanwhile, Biden hosted executives from AT&T, Google, Intel, automakers and other tech companies for a virtual discussion of supply chain issues. Xu said the U.S. is responsible for supply disruptions.
Five of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline's 180 centers nationwide already have the technology and staff training to handle text-to-988 and chat messages, and it's not clear whether they will need more if the FCC mandates that providers support texting 988, we're told. Kim Williams, CEO of Vibrant Emotional Health, which administers Lifeline, said the Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is working on a report that would include recommendations. SAMHSA said it's partnering with the FCC and carriers on the approach to implementing three-digit functionality for Lifeline. It said the ability of call centers to accommodate text-based utilization "has been -- and will continue to be -- a focus of the hotline’s operations." The FCC will vote at its April meeting on a Further NPRM on text-to-988 requirements and a possible July 16, 2022, implementation deadline (see 2103310054).
State telecom associations asked the FCC to reject some of the biggest winners’ long-form applications for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction. The Minnesota Telecommunications Association, Iowa Communications Alliance and Wisconsin State Telecommunications Association want LTD Broadband’s application to be rejected, claiming the company is incapable of delivering the services it won bids on.