The FCC is getting lots of advice on potential changes to its draft order tackling robocalls and robotexts, set for a vote on Thursday (see 2409050045). Republican Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington have mentioned concerns about the order but aren't necessarily expected to dissent on what is usually considered a top consumer priority, industry officials said Friday.
Don’t expect major daylight between a Kamala Harris administration and the Joe Biden White House on major communications policy issues, industry and policy experts predicted. Much focus and effort would center on defending the FCC's net neutrality and digital discrimination orders in the current federal circuit court challenges, as well as pursuing net neutrality rules, they said. Less clear would be the nature of the relationship between Harris' White House and Big Tech. The Harris campaign didn't comment. Deregulation and undoing net neutrality are considered high on the to-do list for the administration of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump if he's elected (see 2407110034).
Group of Seven members are focused on Chinese investment in Western telecommunications networks because they're concerned with Beijing’s access to company data, Anne Neuberger, White House deputy national security adviser-cyber and emerging technology, said Tuesday.
Instead of considering opening the 1.6/2.4 GHz band to mobile satellite systems, as SpaceX has argued (see 2403270002), the FCC should investigate whether SpaceX should even keep its FCC licenses, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America said Wednesday. If the FCC doesn't revoke the company's licenses, it should restrict CEO Elon Musk's control and management of SpaceX, said UCCA, an umbrella group of Ukrainian-American organizations. "Musk cannot use FCC licenses to militarily aid Russia, a state that is subject to U.S. sanctions," UCCA said. UCCA pointed to SpaceX allegedly refusing a Ukrainian government request to allow the Starlink satellite constellation to be used in Sevastopol to aid in an attack on Russia's fleet and Musk allegedly directing the disability or impediment of Starlink terminal functions that Ukrainian armed forces use. It alleged Musk made Starlink available to the Russian military, as it purchases terminals through other countries, and that its use in Russia-occupied Crimea is allegedly no longer geofenced. Beyond what it called unreliable Starlink service, UCCA said evidence of Musk's "illegal drug use and his erratic behavior is overwhelming." It added, "Simply stated, there is much more than smoke, there is a fireball of evidence that Musk lacks the basic qualifications to remain a Commission licensee." Accordingly, the commission should hold a hearing to determine if Musk can remain an FCC licensee, it said. SpaceX didn't comment. UCCA in 2022 petitioned for a hearing on the licenses of the owners of a Washington, D.C., area station that airs Russia's Radio Sputnik network (see 2203230054).
President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order directing DOJ to establish rules blocking large-scale transfers of Americans’ personal data to entities in hostile nations.
Industry lawyers and analysts expect a busy start for the FCC in 2024, with the 3-2 Democratic majority able to approve items without the FCC’s two Republicans, and Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel eager to address priorities before the usual freeze in the months before and after a presidential election.
Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer Quectel pushed back Friday against the House China Committee’s call for DOD and the Treasury Department to blacklist it over ties to the Chinese government, Huawei and ZTE. House China Chairman Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Calif., urged Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen Thursday to act on new information about Quectel's “multiple affiliations” with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the company’s collaborations with Huawei and ZTE. Those ties should qualify Quectel to appear on DOD’s blacklist of Chinese military-affiliated companies and Treasury’s similar “Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List,” the House China leaders wrote Austin and Yellen. Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi asked the FCC last year about the threat Quectel and Chinese gearmaker Fibocom posed to U.S. IoT devices (see 2308080059). “We are disappointed to see continued and false allegations from” House China about Quectel’s “supposed cooperation with the Chinese Communist Party” and the Chinese military, Quectel Wireless Solutions President Norbert Muhrer said Friday. “We are an independent company publicly traded on the Shanghai stock exchange that operates internationally.” The company “maintains the highest industry standards of security and data privacy,” Muhrer said, noting its products are designed only for civil and commercial use cases: “We comply with all U.S. and international export control and sanctions laws. We do not sell to any person or entity in Russia, Belarus, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria or Crimea, nor do we sell to military manufacturers anywhere.” Even “if Quectel were placed on the lists,” as House China leaders are asking, “the only impact would be to block U.S. investments in Quectel securities,” Muhrer said. “Quectel would not be barred from selling any of its products, in other words would not be blacklisted.”