Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
Exports to China
In talks with corporate governance lawyers, FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington has begun promoting how the FCC's cyber-trust mark could help reduce operations costs, making suppliers from trusted nations more competitive against Chinese suppliers. In an extensive interview with Communications Daily last month, Simington also discussed "smart and targeted" reforms of linear video distribution regulation (see 2409120059), his new practice of dissenting from monetary forfeitures (see 2409060054) and how he sees U.S. industrial policy in the context of China (see 2408200041). In addition, he touched on incentivizing commercial orbital debris removal. The following transcript was edited for length and clarity.
Breaking up Google would be a “very dangerous thing” because the U.S. needs “great companies” against competitors like China, former President Donald Trump told Fox News Tuesday. DOJ recently told a federal court that a breakup should be considered in the department’s antitrust lawsuit against the company (see 2410090035). “It’s a very dangerous thing because we want to have great companies,” said Trump. “We don’t want China to have these companies.” However, Trump also said Google is powerful and “very bad to me.” He repeated claims that the platform favors negative stories about him and his campaign (see 2409300036).
Autos and trucks with built-in satellite-delivered connectivity will reach 30 million by 2034, ABI Research said Wednesday. Some Chinese original equipment manufacturers are shipping vehicles with the technology already, it added. Ubiquitous connectivity to drivers is a value proposition OEMs have lacked due to limits in cellular network coverage, but it provides a reliable after-sales revenue stream for OEMs. Satellite connectivity is particularly appealing in the U.S., China and the EU, given their strong markets for premium and SUV vehicles, it said. Collaboration between the European Space Agency, 5G Automotive Association and Third Generation Partnership Project will be key to unlocking satellite-connectivity capabilities.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
FCC Commissioners Nathan Simington and Geoffrey Starks warned the Mobile World Congress in Las Vegas that the FCC’s loss of general spectrum auction authority last year is hampering U.S. competitive efforts against major rivals in the 6G race. CTIA President Meredith Baker sounded a similar theme at the beginning of the conference, which CTIA sponsors with GSMA (see 2410080044).
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions. Lawsuits added since the last update are marked with an *.
Hikvision USA asked the FCC to process all applications by the company and its subsidiaries or affiliates seeking equipment authorizations for all equipment not categorized as “telecommunication” or “video surveillance” gear. The China-based company is on the FCC’s covered list of organizations that pose a threat to U.S. security. Hikvision offered as an example the EZVIZ RH1 Smart Cordless Wet and Dry Vacuum Cleaner, manufactured by an affiliate: “While this vacuum cleaner is not currently authorized by the FCC or sold in the United States, it cannot be classified as either telecommunications equipment or video surveillance equipment.” The filing was posted Wednesday in docket 21-232.
CTIA President Meredith Baker warned Tuesday that the U.S. will fall behind other countries unless Congress restores FCC auction authority, in remarks to the Mobile World Congress in Las Vegas. Baker quoted Paul Milgram, the economist whose work led to the first spectrum auction. The loss of auction authority is “nuts,” she said. The agency’s auction authority lapsed in March 2023 (see 2303100084).
Spectrum is critical to national security and the development of trusted technology, the Center for Strategic and International Studies says in a new paper. The security of the U.S. “as a market democracy is at stake,” CSIS argues. The U.S. is “currently in danger of falling behind China in mid-band licensed spectrum, which supports wide-area coverage and is essential for bringing mobile services and technologies to every part of the country,” the paper argues: “This shortfall poses a grave threat to the security of U.S. and allied network infrastructure.” CSIS stresses the importance of global harmonization of spectrum and scale for a trusted supply chain. China understands the importance of licensed spectrum for wideband networks and has set aside 2.5 times more mid-band spectrum for licensed use than is available in the U.S., CSIS says. The U.S. “is becoming a mid-band spectrum ‘island,’ operating largely outside the core globally harmonized spectrum bands,” CSIS warns. “If this trajectory continues, the U.S. technology ecosystem will be confined to a U.S.-only spectrum ‘dialect’ that lacks global influence and scale.” CSIS highlights the importance of the 7/8 GHz band as “a key opportunity” for the U.S. “to champion future harmonized capacity that can bolster its domestic wireless capabilities and support economies of scale for its trusted vendors.” That band has been a primary target of wireless carriers in the U.S. CSIS said it plans a second part to the paper, which will cover sharing in the lower 3 GHz band, the other top target of carriers. CTIA said it and its members support CSIS's conclusions.