Banning TikTok outright is a better approach than relying on the Commerce Department to take action against the Chinese-owned social media app, Senate Intelligence Committee ranking member Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told us last week. Several senators, both Republican and Democrat, told us they're interested in co-sponsoring a bill that favors the latter approach (see 2303080075).
Exports to China
A Friday House Communications Subcommittee hearing intended to jump-start negotiations on a comprehensive spectrum legislative package touched on some of those policy issues, but subpanel members used it as a bully pulpit to blast the Senate for failing to prevent the FCC’s frequency auction authority from expiring Thursday, as expected (see 2303090074). The House gaveled out Friday for a recess scheduled to end March 22. Senate leaders and Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., who disagreed about dueling bills to renew the commission’s mandate (see 2303080081), expect to return to negotiations this week.
Tower companies are looking to diversify their revenue streams as 5G unfolds, experts said during a Network Media Group webinar Thursday. The rollout of 5G presents “both challenges and opportunities for tower companies, including the need for infrastructure upgrades, competition in a highly regulated industry and potential for diversifying revenue streams,” said Will Townsend, Moor Insights principal analyst-networking.
The FCC’s spectrum auction authority was careening toward expiration late Thursday night, after the Senate gaveled out for the week without acting on dueling proposals to extend the mandate. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., earlier in the afternoon declared that an impasse between him and congressional leaders over the extension bills would continue into next week. Rounds failed Wednesday in his bid to pass his bill to lengthen a new renewal to last through Sept. 30 (S-650) by unanimous consent, as expected (see 2303080081). He also formally objected to advancing a House-passed measure to reauthorize the statute through May 19 (HR-1108). The deadlock will likely influence debate during a Friday House Communications Subcommittee hearing on spectrum legislative issues, lawmakers and lobbyists said in interviews.
Communications sector officials voiced elevated concerns Wednesday about the prospects that the FCC’s spectrum auction authority might expire Thursday night, before a planned floor showdown between Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and other Senate officials over dueling proposals to extend the mandate (see 2303080045).
TikTok’s popularity with young Americans isn’t a good reason to not take strong action against the popular Chinese-owned social media app, FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate Intelligence Committee Wednesday. A day earlier the White House announced support for bipartisan legislation to authorize the Commerce Department to effectively ban TikTok in the U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and more than 10 senators backed the bill.
The House Communications Subcommittee plans a March 10 hearing on spectrum legislation, the Commerce Committee said Friday. The hearing would happen a day after the FCC’s current spectrum auction authority expires, amid hopes the Senate will pass (see 2302280068) a House-cleared bill to extend that mandate through May 19 (HR-1108). Congress agreed in December to the most recent renewal after lawmakers failed to attach a bipartisan spectrum proposal to the FY 2023 omnibus appropriations package (see 2212190069). “Commercial spectrum policy is national security policy” because “we know the Chinese Communist Party seeks to write the rules for future communications technologies and has already used companies like Huawei to tap into our communications networks to surveil Americans,” said House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Communications Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio. “Conducting this hearing on the importance of establishing a strong national spectrum policy, including extending the FCC’s spectrum auction authority, is necessary in order to secure our global competitive edge against China while strengthening American communications leadership.” The hearing will begin at 9 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
Defending critical infrastructure is the administration’s top national cybersecurity priority, President Joe Biden announced Thursday, releasing the administration’s strategy.
SpaceX and China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. were the busiest launchers in Q4 2022, with 18 launches each, BryceTech said Tuesday. SpaceX launched 342 vehicles in those missions, and CASC did 27, it said. Next busiest was Russia's Roscosmos, with nine launches, it said. U.S. launch providers had 25 missions in Q4, compared with China's 22, BryceTech said.
An extension of the FCC's auction authority through May 19 isn't yet assured amid hopes for a slightly longer renewal to give lawmakers even more time to negotiate a broader spectrum legislative package, several senators said in interviews Monday and Tuesday. The House passed its bill to temporarily reauthorize the FCC's mandate (HR-1108) Monday on a voice vote. Lawmakers have been wary about the current March 9 expiration of the FCC's remit due to the slow pace of legislative talks since this Congress returned Jan. 3 (see 2302220063).