The FCC plans an NPRM early next year to take recommendations on a 10-year, $9 billion rural 5G Fund proposed Wednesday by Chairman Ajit Pai (see 1912040037). It would replace the Mobility Fund Phase II auction for which the FCC had planned $4.53 billion in USF spending over 10 years. Staff recommended the proposal because of mapping problems, and now seeks an audit of some carriers. One of those companies, Verizon, turned the focus back to the regulator.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative rightly concludes in its Trade Act Section 301 investigative report Monday (see 191202006) that France’s digital services tax (DST), enacted in July, discriminates against U.S. companies, said tech and business trade associations. USTR seeks comment by Jan. 6 in docket USTR-2019-0009 at regulations.gov on its proposal to slap up to 100 percent retaliatory tariffs on 63 subheadings of French imports worth about $2.4 billion in 2018 customs value, mainly cheese, beauty products, handbags and kitchenware. The French government didn’t comment Tuesday.
TV stations should drop the use of signal blackouts as negotiation tools, a Phoenix Center panel heard Tuesday. Some sought congressional action, which MVPDs have long requested. Broadcasters declined invitations to participate, the organizers said. NAB said that's because the panel was stacked against its industry.
Localities shouldn't underestimate broadband infrastructure deployment as a form of disaster preparedness, said Wireless Infrastructure Association President Jonathan Adelstein and Doug Dimitroff of the New York State Wireless Association. They spoke at Tuesday's meeting of the FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss. is “open to discussing” a narrowly tailored private right of action provision in a compromise data privacy bill. He told reporters Monday any discussion of such a provision would be part of broader negotiations “in good faith" to try to win Democrats' support. The committee plans a hearing 10 a.m. Wednesday (see 1911250058).
On the cusp of an expected boom, commercial space sector worries range from a space business "bubble" to outdated rules regimes that require replacing and the need to show investors regulatory burdens are waning, said corporate and government space executives Tuesday at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the agency is committed to matching the tempo of the commercial satellite industry and avoiding a "Byzantine approval system" that could be a regulatory bottleneck. He remains concerned about prospects for orbital debris. His prepared remarks were later posted.
Google’s decision to limit political advertising microtargeting is a better approach than Facebook’s decision not to fact-check political ads, Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Ed Markey, D-Mass., said in interviews last month. Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii; Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; and John Kennedy, R-La.; said Google’s updated policy is a mistake.
Commissioner Brendan Carr spent nearly two weeks during Q1 outside the Washington area and away from the FCC, logging more time out of town than any of the other commissioners. That's according to analysis of travel receipts and commissioner calendars Communications Daily obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request, and of commissioners' Twitter accounts. The FCC FY 2020 budget estimate included roughly $1.9 million in travel line items, including $304,239 for the chairman’s and commissioners’ offices.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s Monday push for Congress to repeal a provision of the 2012 spectrum law that mandates public safety move off the 470-512 MHz T band by 2021 could help spur lawmakers, particularly Republicans, to address the longstanding issue, said stakeholders in interviews. Congressional T-band action isn't expected at least until after the start of 2020, given a backlog of other priorities and broader political issues, lobbyists said. The GAO recommended in June that Congress consider letting public safety incumbents continue to use the T band amid a lack of feasible alternative spectrum (see 1906210050).
As libraries, schools and nonprofits step up efforts to loan mobile wireless hot spots to those without residential broadband, demand is rising. Long-term, sustainable funding remains a challenge, said those interviewed last week. Anchor institutions offer free hot spot devices and accompanying wireless broadband access for checkouts that can range from a week or two up to a typical school year.