With NARUC's membership OK'ing a resolution the FCC temporarily halt changes to Lifeline Wednesday at their meeting in Indianapolis, the National Lifeline Association backed the request. The resolution the bipartisan NARUC Telecom Committee OK'd Tuesday (see 1907230040) "underscores the need to implement robust API connectivity and state database access prior to hard launching the National Verifier" that will check whether people are eligible for the government subsidized services for the poor, emailed NaLA counsel John Heitmann. The resolution asks the FCC and Universal Service Administrative Co. to delay requiring more states use the NV until an application program interface is available or Dec. 31, whichever occurs later. "Fix it first is the right strategy," Heitman said Tuesday. "As industry and the public interest community have joined together to recognize, it is time to pause and study minimum service standard changes that would effectively impose substantial price hikes on low-income consumers for mobile broadband while denying them the choice of affordable voice services. Adding the states‘ support to the pending request for FCC relief rounds out the broad-based coalition seeking FCC action." The agency declined to comment and USAC hasn't commented.
Silicon Labs Q2 revenue rose 10 percent to $206.7 million despite “macro headwinds” affecting the semiconductor industry, while IoT grew to 60 percent of the revenue mix, said management on a Wednesday earnings call.
Silicon Labs Q2 revenue rose 10 percent to $206.7 million despite “macro headwinds” affecting the semiconductor industry, while IoT grew to 60 percent of the revenue mix, said management on a Wednesday earnings call.
ARRL told the FCC it has been unable to reach agreement in a proceeding that proposes to remove limitations on the symbol, or baud, rate, applicable to data emissions in some amateur bands. In March, the amateur radio operator group asked to pause the proceeding (see 1903280059). “When this process began, we expressed our intention to reach a common understanding of issues and to agree on their resolution insofar as possible.” ARRL said in a final report posted Monday in RM-11831. “At the beginning of our meetings there emerged consensus on the issues to be discussed,” the group said: “By the end, the parties had reached consensus on some of the issues, but not all. Despite our best efforts, some of the parties did not agree to submit to the Commission any of the recommendations on which there had been an apparent consensus, having negotiated with an ‘all or nothing’ approach.” More than 600, mostly amateur, radio operators, filed in the proceeding.
The FCC should defer acting on Hemisphere Media's petition for a declaratory ruling on foreign ownership (see 1907100056), said DOJ, DOD and the Department of Homeland Security in a letter posted Friday in docket 19-194. "The Agencies currently are reviewing this matter for any national security, law enforcement, and public safety issues, but have not yet completed that effort." The agencies "will advise the Commission promptly upon completion of our review," the letter said. Miami-based cable network and broadcaster Hemisphere sought permission to be up to 100 percent foreign owned. It operates under a declaratory ruling allowing foreign investors to own up to 49.99 percent in the aggregate of both its equity and voting interests.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a member of the House working group negotiating with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, said the second meeting, held the morning of July 11, was interesting, like the first. Schakowsky, D-Ill., whose area of interest in the group is the provision for biologic drug makers, said that topic was covered at the first meeting, before the Fourth of July break.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a member of the House working group negotiating with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, said the second meeting, held the morning of July 11, was interesting, like the first. Schakowsky, D-Ill., whose area of interest in the group is the provision for biologic drug makers, said that topic was covered at the first meeting, before the Fourth of July break.
Amazon's plan now before the FCC for a 3,236-satellite non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) constellation is increasing the pressure on the agency to act on its orbital debris proceeding, especially since the e-tailer's resources make its constellation plan less speculative than others, satellite experts told us. Amazon's International Bureau application filed Thursday also could raise red flags from other satellite operators about its trying to bypass the processing round process, said satellite lawyer Steve Goodman of Butzel Long.
Comments are due July 31, replies Aug. 15 on a joint petition to delay implementing scheduled updates to the Lifeline minimum service standards and support amounts for mobile broadband and voice services that were scheduled to take effect Dec. 1, said an FCC Wireline Bureau Monday public notice on docket 11-42. Last week, CTIA and others asked the FCC for the pause until it can review a market study due in two years (see 1906280012).
California regulators should pause reviewing T-Mobile/Sprint until a federal court decides on the state attorneys general lawsuit to block the deal, said Communications Workers of America. CWA met Thursday with Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves, said a Monday filing in docket A18-07-011 at the California Public Utilities Commission. “The case is scheduled to begin in October and last a few weeks,” CWA said: “If the court blocks the merger, there would be no need for a Commission decision on this very controversial merger.” The CPUC must issue proposed decisions 30 days before they can be voted upon at a meeting, so Tuesday is the deadline to get a T-Mobile/Sprint item on the Aug. 1 meeting agenda. The following two CPUC meetings are Aug. 15 and Sept. 12. “I would be surprised if a proposed decision approving the deal was issued this week,” Tellus Venture Associates President Steve Blum emailed Monday. “Under normal circumstances, i.e. the facts are known and the record is closed, I'd be expecting a proposed decision from the ALJ anytime now,” but deal parameters are in flux and California AG Xavier Becerra (D) opposes it, said the local government consultant. The AG suit “changes the dynamics and speaks volumes about how this Commission should move forward,” The Utility Reform Network (TURN) Managing Director-San Diego Christine Mailloux emailed Friday. If a proposed decision or ruling on the carriers’ motion on FCC commitments doesn't come soon (see 1905210001), TURN “will consider further action to request to put more detail into the record in response to any new information presented by the carriers,” she said. Some expect Becerra and other AGs’ suit to mean more scrutiny by California commissioners (see 1906200015). T-Mobile declined comment Monday.