Leaders on anti-robocall legislation say they're confident they can get a conference agreement over the August recess to marry elements of the House-passed Stopping Bad Robocalls Act (HR-3375) and the Senate-passed Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act (S-151). The House passed HR-3375 last week 429-3 (see 1907240063). House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio, was among those voicing optimism about the prospect for conference legislation, during an interview on C-SPAN's The Communicators to have been televised Saturday.
After a prolonged negotiation, DOJ reached agreement with T-Mobile/Sprint and Dish Network (see 1907260021). Justice got five attorneys general onboard from states that hadn't tried to block the multibillion dollar transaction. Industry officials said getting some support from states was important to the department and delayed an announcement by a day, though opposing states are expected to continue their lawsuit in federal court in New York. The California Public Utilities Commission also hasn't approved the deal. DOJ’s consent decree with the companies did little to mollify most critics.
Wireless carriers supported broad implementation of Shaken/Stir and said a safe harbor, based on the use of reasonable analytics, is critical. Companies concerned about reaching customers urged the FCC to build in safeguards that make sure only illegal and unwanted calls don’t get through. Some comments closely tracked concerns raised at the FCC’s recent summit on secure handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) and secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) (see 1907110023) Comments were due Wednesday in docket 17-59 (see 1907240047).
The small satellite streamlining order on Thursday's FCC agenda (see 1907110071) is expected to get 5-0 approval. But it remains undetermined how operators will use the new licensing option, experts told us. To them, the draft is a substantial improvement over the current licensing regime, at least for a portion of smallsat operators.
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., again (see 1905150061) criticized the C-Band Alliance's proposal for clearing spectrum in 3.7-4.2 GHz, saying during a Thursday House Commerce Committee hearing it could disrupt the opportunity for using proceeds from sales of the spectrum to pay for rural broadband deployment. Several tech and telecom policy topics came up during Thursday's hearing on the policy priorities of lawmakers who aren't its members. Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawaii, urged House Commerce to probe the tech sector's Communications Decency Act Section 230 liability shield and make further CDA changes.
T-Mobile/Sprint delayed an expected announcement (see 1907240062) of a deal with Dish Network Thursday. T-Mobile issued a news release less than an hour before a Q2 call with its CEO John Legere and others, saying the call was delayed. T-Mobile was ready to go and the holdup likely came from DOJ, which appears to be looking for state support, industry officials said. The deal with Dish was intended to address Justice interest in creating a fourth national wireless carrier to replace Sprint. Dish closed at $39.17, down 5.75 percent.
DOJ Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim met with Senate Antitrust Subcommittee leadership, aides told us Thursday. Delrahim originally was to testify before the panel with FTC Chairman Joe Simons on Tuesday, the same day DOJ announced a broad review of the tech industry (see 1907230057). The oversight hearing was postponed until September (see 1907220047).
AT&T got more wireless subscribers but lost pay-TV and DirecTVNow internet TV service customers in Q2, it reported Wednesday. Other results were also mixed. CEO Randall Stephenson said the carrier is trying to work out carriage agreements with CBS and Nexstar. The company was the first of the four major wireless carriers to report. Stock closed at $33.24, up 3.58 percent.
Ligado urged the FCC to finalize rules for the 1675-1680 MHz band, in reply comments this week in docket 19-116. Weather interests oppose Ligado's terrestrial low-power service plans for the band and its proposed alternatives for delivering NOAA weather satellite data (see 1704130023). Commissioners launched an NPRM in May seeking comment (see 1905090041).
Facebook will pay $5 billion and install an independent privacy committee to oversee data compliance, the FTC announced Wednesday in its long-awaited settlement. The company deceived users about control they have over their data, effectively violating a 2012 consent order, the agency alleged in its complaint. Separately, the SEC fined Facebook $100 million.