FCC Chairman Ajit Pai wants ISPs to not cut off services to customers for an additional approximately month and a half, through June. He extended his Keep Americans Connected pledge until June 30, the agency announced Thursday.
As COVID-19 continues to affect the U.S., ISPs are beginning to extend the period of time they will delay disconnecting telecom services. Within minutes of each other Monday afternoon, Cox and Verizon made such commitments. More companies are expected to follow.
AT&T's Randall Stephenson is retiring as CEO. The 60-year-old who has been chief for 13 years will become executive chairman until January; he had been CEO-chair. The board elected Chief Operating Officer-President John Stankey, 57, as CEO effective July 1, and a director on June 1.
The FCC is poised to act against four companies it alleges are controlled by China's government. The agency issued show cause orders Friday to China Telecom Americas, China Unicom Americas, ComNet and Pacific Networks. They are asked to explain why the commission shouldn't “start the process of revoking their domestic and international section authorizations enabling them to operate” in the U.S. The materials are here.
FCC members unanimously approved Ligado's use of its L-band spectrum for terrestrial use, the agency announced Monday morning. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai called the vote "another step forward for American leadership in 5G and advanced wireless services.” The vote "reflects the broad, bipartisan support that this order has received," he said.
The FCC and the Office of the Solicitor General filed a cert petition at the Supreme Court seeking reversal of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Prometheus IV. Parties to the case sent us the filing, which wasn't yet online or confirmed by the FCC.
T-Mobile/Sprint got its final OK, as the California Public Utilities Commission voted 5-0 Thursday for a revised proposal that reasserted the agency’s authority to review the deal while adjusting some conditions.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai circulated a draft order to OK with conditions Ligado’s application for a low-power terrestrial nationwide broadband network, the agency confirmed Thursday morning in a long-anticipated move. The L-band operations could support 5G and the IoT, the regulator said. “This draft order would both promote more efficient and effective use of our nation’s spectrum resources and ensure that adjacent band operations," including GPS, "are protected from harmful interference,” it added.
The California Public Utilities Commission reasserted authority to review T-Mobile/Sprint, while tweaking some conditions the carriers opposed, in a revised proposed decision released Wednesday. Commissioners plan to vote Thursday.
Frontier Communications is the latest telco to file for bankruptcy. Bondholders representing more than 75% of the carrier's approximately $11 billion in unsecured bonds agreed to support the plan that's expected to reduce the company’s debt by more than $10 billion, said an email we received at around 11 p.m. EDT Tuesday. The company said it and subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.