“Look at the ‘5G race’ and predictions of doom with a jaundiced eye,” Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld plans to tell the Senate Commerce Committee during a Wednesday hearing on 5G workforce and deployment issues (see 2001160050). Feld is a late addition to the witness roster for the Senate Commerce hearing, as is NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, National Association of Tower Erectors Chairman Jimmy Miller and Fiber Broadband Association CEO Lisa Youngers will also testify. The hearing begins at 10 a.m. in 216 Hart. “Globally, the demand for new mobile services is driving rapid deployment of 5G without the need for Congress or the FCC to alter the balanced policies that have served us so well over the last three decades,” Feld says. “While framing deployment of 5G as a ‘race’ with other nations is a potentially useful metaphor to emphasize the importance of 5G as an area of policy, we should not confuse this with a literal race to see who can deploy the greatest coverage most quickly.” Congress “resisted the urging of wireless networks to radically preempt states or to eliminate allocations for unlicensed spectrum” when it adopted “new innovations such as incentive auctions,” Feld said. Lawmakers “must take necessary steps to ensure the timely deployment of 5G to all Americans. But these steps should reflect the policy of careful balance that has served us so successfully for the last three decades. By ignoring the hype and fear-mongering, Congress can address the genuine obstacles to 5G deployment.”
Google had the highest lobbying expenditure total for Q4 among tech and telecom companies that reported their spending by Tuesday evening, but it had the largest decrease from the same period in 2018. Google said it spent $2.74 million on lobbying for the quarter, down 44 percent from the previous year. NCTA had the highest spending figure among tech and telecom industry groups at $4.65 million, a 21 percent increase from 2018. Qualcomm reported $1.78 million in expenditures in Q4, down 11 percent from 2018. CBS reported $900,000 in spending for the quarter, which included its December combining with Viacom. That expenditure total was up more than 4 percent from 2018. Viacom said it spent $710,000, 18 percent down. Cox reported $860,000, up 41 percent. USTelecom laid out $750,000, a 29 percent increase. Sprint devoted $680,000, up 18 percent. CenturyLink spent $570,000, down 35 percent. BSA|The Software Alliance's $420,000 was a more than 23 percent increase. The Information Technology Industry Council expended $340,000, 26 percent less. Netflix reported $250,000, a 25 percent increase. Telecommunications Industry Association came in at $70,000, a 22 percent decrease. The Computer & Communications Industry Association was little changed at $50,000.
The House-passed Secure 5G and Beyond Act (HR-2881) isn’t “specifically” targeted against Huawei and ZTE, but it’s important for the U.S. government to “ensure that the American public and American companies recognize the threat” those companies’ products may pose, said lead sponsor Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va. She spoke to C-SPAN’s The Communicators, posted online Friday and to have been televised over the weekend. HR-2881 and Senate version S-893 would require the president to develop a strategy for ensuring security of 5G networks and infrastructure (see 1903270065). The House passed HR-2881 and three other 5G-centric bills earlier this month (see 2001080002). “Significant indicators,” including the Chinese government’s financial relationship with Huawei, show there’s good reason to be concerned that Huawei’s technology “could create back doors” or other ways of accessing consumer data or company data “that from the American perspective we would find unacceptable,” Spanberger said: China’s privacy standards and corporate practices “are different from those that we would find acceptable or even legal.” She supports the Trump administration's efforts to convince its allies, including the U.K., not to allow Huawei or ZTE equipment into their telecom infrastructure as part of fifth-generation wireless. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., recently filed legislation aimed at barring the U.S. from sharing intelligence “with any country that permits operation within its national borders” of Huawei-produced 5G equipment. The U.S. has a “right to express concern with how that information is being safeguarded,” Spanberger said. She said bids to ensure U.S. communications providers remove from their networks Chinese equipment determined to threaten national security “might perhaps be a step greater than we need to take at this time." Lawmakers are in talks to advance bills to reach consensus between the House-passed Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act and the similar Senate Commerce-cleared U.S. 5G Leadership Act. HR-4998 and S-1625 would provide funding to help U.S. communications providers remove suspect equipment.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., blasted Facebook during a Thursday news conference, calling the company’s behavior “shameful” and claiming the company acted in an “irresponsible” manner. Pelosi announced House Democrats “will be rolling out” a new infrastructure legislative package the week the chamber returns from its Martin Luther King Jr. week recess.
Technology and telecom policy matters were again largely absent during Tuesday night's debate among 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls, following a pattern set at the candidates’ December bout (see 1912200062) and most previous panels. Former Vice President Joe Biden suggested amid a discussion about the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on free trade that “we should be putting our money and our effort and our time in preparing American workers to compete in the 21st century on the high-tech side, dealing with artificial intelligence.” The Senate Commerce and Foreign Relations committees advanced USMCA Wednesday on voice votes. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted 22-1 to clear it, while the chamber’s Appropriations Committee advanced it 29-2. The Senate Public Works and Budget committees advanced USMCA earlier this week (see 2001150080). Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts pledged at the debate to roll back a Council on Environmental Quality NPRM promoted by President Donald Trump that aims to narrow the timeline of all federal agencies’ National Environmental Policy Act reviews of proposed infrastructure projects (see 2001090058). Warren also twice criticized Amazon for not paying federal income taxes in 2018, saying “we can make them pay.”
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., is eyeing a markup after the Martin Luther King Jr. Day recess of the Expanding Broadcast Ownership Opportunities Act (HR-3957) and potentially three other bills aimed at increasing media diversity. The measures got some bipartisan backing during a Wednesday subcommittee hearing.
House Communications Subcommittee members told us they are figuring out their path forward on media policy legislation, before a Wednesday hearing on bills aimed at improving media ownership diversity (see 2001090048). Senate Commerce Committee leaders are also seeking a path forward on their planned examination of media policy. Lawmakers in both chambers want to address media issues they couldn’t tackle last year during the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization process (see 1912310001). Those talks resulted in a skinny renewal that addressed few additional issues (see 1912190068).
The House Communications Subcommittee plans a Wednesday hearing on legislation aimed at increasing diversity in media ownership. “For too long we have discussed and acknowledged the fact that ownership of this country’s media outlets does not reflect the diversity of America,” said House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-Pa., and House Communications Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., in a statement. The FCC “isn’t doing enough to advance media diversity,” so “Congress must,” the lawmakers said. The panel begins 10:30 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn. Industry lobbyists we spoke with said the Expanding Broadcast Ownership Opportunities Act (HR-3957) could be a focus. The bill, first filed in 2017 (see 1704050014), would establish tax incentives for parties that sell assets to “socially disadvantaged individuals.” It would direct the FCC to make recommendations on ways to improve ownership diversity and develop an "incubator program" for existing licensees to help new entrants. Doyle and others expressed interest in examining other media issues in 2020 (see 1912310001).
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and other lawmakers are restarting talks to advance legislation to provide funding to help U.S. communications providers remove from their networks Chinese equipment determined to threaten national security. December's bid to advance it quickly in the Senate had failed (see 1912190068). The House voted Wednesday to pass the Secure 5G and Beyond Act (HR-2881) and three other 5G-centric bills, as expected (see 2001030049).
Leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees remain interested in continuing to pursue a broad media policy legislative revamp in 2020, after negotiations on Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization language resulted in a skinny renewal measure that addressed few additional issues (see 1912190068). President Donald Trump signed the FY 2020 federal appropriations minibus bill (HR-1865) two weeks ago that contained the STELA renewal language (see 1912240001).