Avoid reading too much into the merger policies of the new Donald Trump administration based on the rejection last week of Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s proposed $14 billion buy of Juniper Networks, industry experts said. DOJ sued to block the transaction, citing the competitive effects on the wireless local area network (LAN) industry (see 2501300063).
The California Public Utilities Commission approved $48 million in last mile broadband funding Thursday. It selected eight projects through its last mile federal funding account grant program to serve disadvantaged and low-income communities. “We are putting these funds to work, generating quality jobs, bolstering our economy, and building fast, reliable, and affordable broadband infrastructure,” said CPUC President Alice Reynolds. The commission also approved $32.5 million as part of the program last week [see 2501170039).
On his first trip as FCC chairman, Brendan Carr said Friday he was in western North Carolina to visit “several of Hurricane Helene’s hardest-hit areas where recovery and restoration are underway.” President Donald Trump visited the area ahead of Carr, before continuing on to California, which has been hit by massive wildfires. “Everybody is talking about California, and that’s a mess,” Trump said after he arrived in North Carolina on Jan. 24. “But I said, ‘I’m not going to California until I stop in North Carolina.’” Trump also signed an executive order on rebuilding roads in the region, eliminating the need for permitting. Carr said he will make several stops in the state, spending "time with emergency management and public safety officials, telecom crews, broadcasters, and other government representatives that are now working to rebuild these communities.” He added: “I am grateful for the surge in support that President Trump and his Administration have been providing to communities across Western North Carolina, including an Executive Order that will speed restoration efforts here.” Carr hasn’t made other travel plans, FCC officials said Friday. He went to California for a visit tied to the Dixie Fire in 2021.
Charter Communications sees broadband subscriber competition from fixed wireless access (FWA) having peaked and predicts that fiber overbuilding will slow down. In a call with analysts Friday as Charter reported its Q4 2024 results, CEO Chris Winfrey said the broadband environment is "still competitive in terms of fiber and cellphone internet overlap." But, he said, "we better be better this year than we were ... last year" -- especially with the loss of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) no longer dragging down results, as it did in the second half of 2024. Charter executives used the term "cellphone internet" five times in Friday's call.
The National Sheriffs’ Association and the California State Sheriffs’ Association lack grounds for a stay of the FCC’s 4.9 GHz order, the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 07-100. The groups sought a stay pending judicial review of the order (see 2501230034). The sheriffs groups “feigned surprise” but “had ample notice that the Commission was considering the band-manager framework adopted in the Order,” PSSA said. Even if the arguments “had merit, they are not entitled to a stay because they do not come close to demonstrating that they will suffer irreparable harm absent a stay,” PSSA said: Their purported injury “is based on speculation that their members might wish to expand operations in the future and would not be able to do so, and that it will be costly for them to collect and present the data concerning their existing operations.” But the groups don’t “show that any member has concrete plans to expand operations -- a necessary prerequisite for a claim of irreparable injury.”
In one of the first big antitrust decisions in the second Donald Trump administration, the DOJ sued to block Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s proposed $14 billion buy of Juniper Networks. The department said its decision, announced Thursday, was based on the proposed deal's competitive effects on the wireless local area network market. Both companies said they will contest the decision, which they called “substantially disconnected from market realities.” The acquisition was pending for more than a year.
The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District petitioned the FCC to stay a requirement that 4.9 GHz licensees provide the agency with granular licensing data by June 9 or face cancellation of their licenses. BART said it's using the band to build a communications-based train control system that will “enhance the safety of its transit operations.” Absent a stay, BART would have to devote “crucial and limited resources to a cumbersome, expensive and time-consuming data collection process, which must begin immediately to meet” the June 9 deadline, said a petition posted Wednesday in docket 07-100. The Government Wireless Technology & Communications Association and state groups previously asked the FCC to delay the requirement (see 2412230048). The National Sheriffs’ Association and California State Sheriffs’ Association also asked that the FCC stay the October order giving the FirstNet Authority -- and, indirectly, AT&T -- use of the 4.9 GHz band pending judicial review (see 2501230034).
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
CTA CEO Gary Shapiro warned Wednesday of a potential “brain drain” in the federal government should the Donald Trump administration continue its assault on the bureaucracy. The Joe Biden administration lacked enough officials who understood how business works, and Trump's don’t understand government, Shapiro said during a Broadband Breakfast webinar. Unions that represent federal employees, including at the FCC, slammed the latest Trump actions.
T-Mobile is continuing its industry-leading growth, adding 903,000 net postpaid phone customers in Q4 and 3.1 million for the year, the carrier said Wednesday. In addition, it had its lowest average postpaid phone churn ever, at 0.86% throughout 2024. The company is targeting public safety agencies with T-Priority based on 5G network slicing, T-Mobile executives highlighted on a call with analysts.