As the FCC considers using a degraded throughput threshold for spectrum sharing among non-geostationary orbit satellite constellations, the result should be maximum use of the spectrum even through "productive interference" where the cost of mitigation overprotects some users, ITIF said Monday in docket 21-456. It also warned of the degraded throughput disincentivizing investments in better receivers, creating a "hecklers' veto," and urged the agency to adopt standardized antenna patterns that will receive FCC protection. That would prevent poorly performing receivers being a basis for claiming high degraded throughput, it said. And it urged an aggregate threshold that's parceled out among systems in later processing rounds that actually deploy.
Several groups supported T-Mobile’s proposed buy of Mint Mobile (see 2303150032) in filings at the FCC. While the review of acquisitions is “important, both from a national security and competition standpoint, the current administration’s posture has been far too extreme,” National Taxpayers Union said, posted Wednesday in docket 23-171. “This case should not warrant an excessive review process or lawsuits,” the group said: “In this case, at just north of $1 billion in value, this is not a blockbuster acquisition by the broader acquisitions market and even by T-Mobile’s standards, which just closed the Sprint acquisition only three years ago for $23 billion.” The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said the FCC should “narrowly tailor” its review to “the purposes of Section 214" of the Communications Act, which governs foreign ownership. T-Mobile is partly owned by Germany’s Deutsche Telekom. “Because this proposed merger presents little chance of consumer harm and a strong probability of consumer benefits, the Commission should approve it as consistent with the statute and recent Commission precedent,” ITIF said: Protecting the public interest “is only an intelligible principle when it is in service of the Commission’s statutorily prescribed authority. It is not a freewheeling grant to go on a generalized policymaking expedition.” Silicon Harlem also supported the transaction. “Carefully consider the potential positive impact this transaction can have on expanding affordable wireless access and promoting digital equity,” Silicon Harlem said. “By approving this acquisition, you would send a clear message that the FCC is committed to fostering the inclusion of historically underserved communities in the digital economy,” the group said. New York’s Capital Region Chamber also filed in support, citing the “connectivity challenges that rural communities continue to face.”
Forcing tech companies to pay usage fees to European ISPs could be “discriminatory” and damage net neutrality, NTIA argued in the European Commission’s public consultation on EU investment in digital communications networks.
The Chips and Science Act offers $39 billion to boost the U.S. semiconductor industry, but many applicants could come away empty-handed, said Michael Schmidt, director of the Commerce Department’s CHIPS Program Office, at an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation conference Wednesday.
The U.S. faces a shrinking percentage of students graduating with electrical engineering (EE) degrees, despite the importance of the engineering specialty to the telecom industry and the U.S. economy, ITIF said in a report released Monday. From 1997 to 2020, EE bachelor’s and master’s degrees conferred rose just 37.5%, while degrees in all other fields rose 81.1%, the report said. EE degrees granted to U.S. citizens increased 18.2%, compared to 110% for temporary residents. The group notes that the Chips and Science Act “will create tens of thousands of jobs in the coming years” requiring EE degrees. “Policymakers should provide incentives for colleges and universities to keep expanding EE enrollment for U.S. citizens and permanent residents while increasing retention rates,” ITIF recommended: “Many jobs in EE relate to military or other national security application areas that require the holder to be a U.S. citizen” and “many foreign students who obtain EE degrees here return to their home nation, boosting their domestic industry, not America’s.”
NTIA faces questions about its request for comments released last week about a national spectrum strategy, which experts said appears to show work on the strategy at an earlier stage than expected. Several groups issued comments thanking the administration for moving forward, but former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said the RFC was more like an FCC notice of inquiry than an NPRM (see 2303150066). O’Rielly said the document released offered less direction than expected, based on earlier comments by Scott Harris, tapped to lead work on the strategy.
Industry groups and broadband experts want flexibility in the buy American provision of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, per comments to OMB posted through Tuesday in docket OMB-2023-0004-0001. OMB sought comments on proposed revisions and clarifications to the IIJA's Build America, Buy America Act provisions. Some raised concerns about how the requirements could affect broadband deployment projects funded through NTIA's broadband, equity, access and deployment program and backed establishing a waiver process.
Industry groups and consumer advocacy organizations disagree about how the FCC should define digital discrimination and ways to facilitate equal access to broadband, according to comments posted through Wednesday in docket 22-69. The commission adopted an NPRM in December seeking comment on rules to combat digital discrimination, as required by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (see 2301190049).
The White House's directive that all construction materials used in federal infrastructure projects, including fiber cable, be American made shouldn't cause big delays in or cost run-ups for fiber for broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) projects, we were told. It's less clear whether the directive could cause challenges in obtaining the electronics -- typically made overseas -- used to light the fiber.
The FCC appears close to releasing a Further NPRM on authorizing fixed-wireless and Wi-Fi outdoors, at standard power levels, in the 5.9 GHz band, industry officials said. More than 200 wireless ISPs and others have received FCC permission to use the band since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic under grants of special temporary authority (STA), but the Wireless ISP Association pressed the FCC to act on final rules.