With the wireless industry pushing hard for additional spectrum, particularly in the lower 3 GHz and 7/8 GHz bands, which are being examined as part of the national spectrum strategy (see 2405060051), a top Verizon official said Tuesday the carrier isn’t in the market for additional spectrum. “We like the assets we have right now,” Sowmyanarayan Sampath, Verizon Consumer Group CEO, said at a MoffettNathanson investor conference. Verizon went big in the 2021 C-band auction, bidding $45.4 billion, plus $8 billion in incentive costs to satellite operators (see 2102250046). In markets where the carrier has deployed C-band it continues to see lower churn and a better mix of premium customers, Sampath said. He said Verizon has limited exposure with the loss of the affordability connectivity program, but also sees opportunities for gaining customers. “There could be an opportunity for us to get on the offensive and take some share,” he said. Verizon has “the largest collection of prepaid assets today, ranging from the discount to the mid-market, to the premium end,” he said: “We will have a service at every single price point.” About 15% of its wireless customers also buy broadband from Verizon, and it plans to double that figure, Sampath said. “We're never going to see it at the European levels of 50%, 60% convergence because the market structure is fundamentally different [in Europe] and the regulatory environment is very different there," he said. Sampath said Verizon believes it has the best U.S. wireless network, as a result of “better RF design” and “a better set of assets.” Verizon's tests show “it's a much better network,” he said. “At the end of the day, it comes down to reliability and coverage.”
Screen Media Ventures’ Dec. 27 complaint against RCN Telecom Services for secondary copyright infringement and secondary liability under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (see 2312290005) is the latest development in SMV’s quest “to add itself and hundreds of its works to an unrelated copyright action,” said RCN’s motion to dismiss Monday (docket 3:23-cv-23356) in U.S. District Court for New Jersey. That unrelated action, Bodyguard Productions v. RCN Telecom Services (docket 3:21-cv-15310), was filed in the same district nearly three years ago. SMV’s complaint alleges that RCN’s subscribers, or those using their subscriptions, use software such as BitTorrent to infringe SMV’s “exclusive rights of reproduction and distribution.” Whatever the plaintiff’s motivation may be for seeking to join or consolidate this action with Bodyguard, its claims can’t survive a motion to dismiss because they are time-barred, said RCN’s memorandum of law in support of its motion to dismiss. All SMV’s claims are subject to a three-year statute of limitations, and SMV expressly alleges that the underlying acts of copyright infringement and violations of the DMCA occurred as early as August 2018, said the memorandum. The plaintiff doesn’t allege that any relevant act of infringement or violation of the DMCA “occurred within the limitations period,” it said. SMV’s secondary liability claims should be dismissed “for a host of other reasons as well,” it said. The U.S. Supreme Court recently recognized, in its 2023 decision in Twitter v. Taamneh, that it would run roughshod over the typical limits on tort liability to effectively hold any sort of communication provider liable for any sort of wrongdoing merely for knowing that the wrongdoers were using its services and failing to stop them, it said. That principle, which is consistent with decades of Supreme Court jurisprudence on secondary liability, “forecloses” SMV’s claims here, said the memorandum. The plaintiff has also failed to allege facts supporting necessary elements of its claims for contributory and vicarious liability, it said.
Flywire, a U.S.-headquartered global payments company, may have violated U.S. sanctions against Cuba, Iran or Syria, it told the Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Mauritius formally accepted the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies May 13, moving the total number of countries that have accepted the deal to 75. The WTO requires 35 more to reach the two-thirds threshold needed for the agreement to be able to enter into effect.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel on Tuesday announced the establishment of the Spectrum Steering Team that will lead FCC efforts “to develop and implement forward-looking spectrum policies” and oversee work on the national spectrum strategy (see 2404260050). Susan Mort, deputy chief of the Wireless Bureau, and Ira Keltz, deputy chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology, will co-lead the team. Krista Witanowski, OET legal adviser, will serve as chief of staff. The FCC said the team “brings together policy experts, economists, and engineers from across the Commission.” The Office of Economics and Analytics and Space Bureau are also involved. “Demand for spectrum is growing at a breakneck pace as wireless technology expands and transforms so much in our economy and modern life, so we need to get creative with spectrum policies,” Rosenworcel said.
The European Council on May 14 broadened the scope of its sanctions framework on Iran due to that nation's support for Russia's war in Ukraine. The council expanded the bloc's ability to impose sanctions on not only unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) but "missiles too." The EU can now target individuals and entities "supplying, selling or otherwise being involved in transferring Iran's missiles and UAVs" in support of the war in Ukraine or used by armed groups that undermine security in the Middle East and Red Sea region. The council also barred the export of components used in the "development and production of UAVs from the EU to Iran."
Mauritius formally accepted the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies May 13, moving the total number of countries that have accepted the deal to 75. The WTO requires 35 more to reach the two-thirds threshold needed for the agreement to be able to enter into effect.
Broadband providers, broadcasters, satellite companies and the FirstNet Authority urged the FCC not to expand outage reporting requirements. Meanwhile, groups such as Public Knowledge, Next Century Cities and The Utility Reform Network (TURN) said increased reporting rules are a matter of public safety. Comments were filed in docket 21-346 by Monday’s deadline.
Carnival's cruise ships worldwide are now equipped with Starlink-delivered connectivity, Carnival said Tuesday. The fleet-wide rollout began in late 2022, Carnival said.