The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority shouldn't assume Sky News will continue to be provided if Fox's planned buy of Sky doesn't go through, Sky said Tuesday in a CMA filing. It said it would "likely be prompted to review the position" if the provision of Sky News unduly impedes the Fox deal or other such deals. In a separate CMA filing Tuesday, Fox said there isn't one editorial position shared by News Corp. newspapers with which Sky News content "could even theoretically be aligned." It said overlap of exclusively Sky News and News Corp. news consumers is small, so the deal doesn't hurt diversity. And it said Ofcom considers Fox's compliance with UK broadcasting standards good, and thus "there is no plausible, let alone likely, risk" Fox wouldn't maintain Sky's commitment to broadcasting standards. U.K. Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Karen Bradley in September referred Fox/Sky to CMA for a full, six-month investigation (see 1709140020). CMA said provisional findings are due in December.
Intelsat and Coca-Cola are partnering on delivery of satellite-enabled Wi-Fi services to remote parts of Africa, Intelsat said Tuesday. It said the two will work jointly to establish Wi-Fi access at retail faculties in rural areas, allowing for personal and commercial connectivity.
ViaSat subsidiary ViaSat Antenna Systems and European industry will jointly work to develop components for the ViaSat-3 satellite broadband system under a public private partnership agreement between the company and the European Space Agency, ViaSat said Monday. It said the $78.8 million partnership, Project Aidan, is being co-funded by Switzerland, the Netherlands and Romania and will focus on producing fixed and mobile user terminals, including development of a fully electronic phased array, and ground segment equipment and gateways.
The FCC is ending Form 740 filing requirements for imported RF devices, effective Thursday, the agency is to say in that day's Federal Register. The FCC will continue to require compliance with rules for importing RF devices, it said: The regulator "retained the requirement that there must be an entity that assumes responsibility for the compliance of the device and modified the rules to ensure the existence and identity (and a domestic presence under the new [Supplier’s Declaration of Conformity (SDoC)] rules), of such a responsible party." Commissioners approved in July (see 1707130032).
Views of antitrust enforcement differ internationally, and even within the U.S., but there needs to be worldwide understanding there can be no exemption from universal procedural norms, DOJ Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim told a New York University School of Law audience Friday, according to a transcript. Principles include nondiscrimination, he said, and when foreign competition agencies occasionally favor domestic companies or discriminate against foreign firms, they violate that norm and "engage in shortsighted and counterproductive public policy." Procedural fairness and transparency are also among those principles, Delrahim said. He said the division's International Section "will continue to be a point of emphasis," with Roger Alford -- most recently University of Notre Dame associate dean-international and graduate programs -- named division deputy assistant attorney general. Delrahim said his renaming the Foreign Commerce Section as the International Section "emphasize[s] the breadth of its work." He said an Antitrust Division priority is making its technical assistance and support available to competition authorities in other nations and in modernizing its facilities with investments in new equipment and technology.
Apple didn’t respond to questions on its reported buy of wireless charging company PowerbyProxi. The acquisition was reported by stuff.co.nz Wednesday. The New Zealand company employs 55 and holds more than 300 wireless charging patents, said the report. PowerbyProxi showed its wireless power system in the U.S. for the first time in March at APEC 2017 in Tampa and Automate 2017 in Chicago in April, it said. Apple announced last month it will introduce the AirPower wireless charging pad next year (see 1709130040).
Chinese smartphone maker Vivo, nudged out of the top five global brands in Q2 by Xiaomi, according to IDC (see 1708020031 or 1708020038), entered the Hong Kong market Friday with the launch of the X20 handset. The company plans to expand to Taiwan, Singapore, Russia and Africa markets, it said. Vivo phones are also sold in Thailand, the Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Cambodia and Bangladesh.
Fiber network equipment is classifiable as optical instruments of chapter 90 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S., the Court of International Trade ruled. ADC Telecommunications argued Customs and Border Protection should have classified its “value added modules” as duty-free data transmission equipment. CIT held Wednesday that optical equipment includes fiber cables that transmit non-visible light, confirming CBP’s liquidation as “other optical appliances and instruments” at a 4.5 percent duty. A lawyer for ADC didn't comment.
Brazilian antitrust authority Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica approved AT&T's buy of Time Warner without any asset sale or divestiture required, AT&T said Wednesday. The company said it still expects the deal to close by year's end, with only DOJ review pending.
ITU lacks capacity or expertise to address privacy, as some governments proposed, said Access Now, Article 19 and Public Knowledge in a joint statement Monday. Instead, nations should use bilateral or multilateral agreements, national laws and other frameworks, the groups said. Brazil, Mexico, a regional group of Arab states and one formed by Russia and former Soviet republics suggested at the World Telecommunications Development Conference this month that ITU should expand its mandate into privacy-related issues, the groups said. They argued that ITU is vulnerable to "harmful types of politicization, as states and regional coalitions seek to leverage this forum to grab greater control over Internet policy and standards development." The groups said ITU's main goal is to facilitate interoperability of telecom infrastructure and therefore is limited in its expertise.