Regulatory changes being pushed by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr will likely have little effect on broadband deployment, New Street’s Blair Levin said during an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation webinar Tuesday. Other speakers noted that for the most part, the U.S. broadband market is highly competitive and getting more so, as fixed-wireless access and satellite broadband become more widespread.
In the biggest wireless deal since T-Mobile bought Sprint five years ago, AT&T announced Tuesday that it’s buying EchoStar spectrum for $23 billion (see 2508260005). EchoStar will continue to offer wireless service, but primarily as a mobile virtual network operator riding on AT&T’s network.
NextNav is hopeful that the FCC will move forward soon on an NPRM following up on its March notice of inquiry asking about the wide range of possible alternatives to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), said Renee Gregory, the company's vice president of regulatory affairs. Opponents of NextNav’s proposal to use 900 MHz spectrum for PNT are less anxious for the FCC to take next steps.
A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied an en banc rehearing of the rejection of a $57 million FCC fine against AT&T for violating the agency's data protection rules. The panel modified its April opinion slightly, taking out language that referred to a 2012 5th Circuit decision in U.S. v. Stevens (see 1208210038).
The Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA) and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to throw out an appeal of last year’s FCC order giving the FirstNet Authority, and indirectly AT&T, control of the 4.9 GHz band through a nationwide license (see 2410220027). The Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure (CERCI), which leads the appeal, fired back, saying a challenge by PSSA also should be tossed.
NTCA, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and other commenters told the FCC last week that they dislike a proposal to deregulate telephone access charges more now than they did five years ago, when the agency last sought comment (see 2008050030).
Countries around the world are approaching the move to 6G from different perspectives and often with differing focuses, said a recently posted report by the FCC’s Technological Advisory Council. The TAC approved the 6G report and two others from its working groups earlier this month but didn’t make them available at the time (see 2508050062).
An April 28 power outage in Portugal and Spain led to a widespread internet disruption in parts of Morocco, showing the interconnectedness of modern networks, Ookla industry analyst Luke Kehoe said during the company's webinar Wednesday. Morocco saw no similar power outage, but its fixed and mobile networks went down nonetheless, Kehoe noted.
Too many areas in the middle of the U.S. lack the critical infrastructure they need, such as designated interexchange points (IXPs), said Tonya Witherspoon, a consultant who led digital transformation initiatives at Wichita State University (WSU). During a Broadband Breakfast webinar Wednesday, she said most of the nation’s IXPs are on the East and West Coasts or in more populous states like Texas. Policymakers so far have paid too little attention to the dearth of U.S. IXPs, other speakers agreed.
The Consumer Technology Association and other groups are urging the FCC not to approve rules that could overcomplicate the approval of wireless devices by test facilities. The FCC is considering new rules for telecommunications certification bodies (TCBs) in response to a May Further NPRM that was part of the agency’s focus on “bad labs” (see 2505220056). Commenters warn that overly prescriptive rules could harm U.S. competitiveness.