The 5G Fund order that FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated last week (see 2403200071) is expected to have several gaps that will need addressing with a Further NPRM on a tribal reserve but also through auction public notices, industry officials said. One question that needs answering is how to define open radio access networks, slated to get up to 10% of the $9 billion to be awarded.

Carriers are pushing automation in their radio access networks but “need to be smart” about how they deploy it, Adam Loddeke, AT&T assistant vice president-RAN technology, said Monday during an all-day IEEE virtual workshop. Speakers also discussed how AI can supercharge automation.

New Florida restrictions on kids' social media use can withstand First Amendment scrutiny, state government leaders stressed during a Monday news conference for Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signing HB-3. Tech industry group NetChoice probably will sue "the day after this bill is signed," said House Speaker Paul Renner (R). "But you know what? We're going to beat them."

NCTA is seeking to intervene in support of the FCC and against four petitions for review consolidated in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the FCC’s Dec. 26 quadrennial review order for allegedly violating Section 202(h) of the Telecommunications Act, said NCTA's unopposed motion Monday.

The ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox affiliates associations seek leave to intervene in support of the four petitions for review consolidated in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that challenge the FCC’s Dec. 26 quadrennial review order for allegedly violating Section 202(h) of the Telecommunications Act (see 2403050075), said their unopposed joint motion Friday.

A combined $1.8 million proposed forfeiture for Nexstar and sidecar operation Mission broadcasting over Mission’s station WPIX New York will likely create uncertainty about similar arrangements that other broadcasters use, though attorneys and the FCC say Thursday’s notice of apparent liability is narrowly targeted. “We stress that the decision we reach today is limited to the facts before us and the relationship between Nexstar, Mission, and WPIX,” said the NAL. On the other hand, “If you’re a broadcaster with a sidecar, you’re saying ‘uh oh,’” said Holland & Knight attorney Charles Naftalin. Nexstar said it will dispute the enforcement action “vigorously.”

Recent House legislation attempting to force ByteDance to divest TikTok raises constitutional issues and doesn’t address broader privacy concerns, Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., told reporters Thursday, creating a bipartisan roadblock in the upper chamber.

State enforcers of net neutrality report no legal actions against ISPs more than five years after the laws took effect. A Communications Daily public records request showed that Washington state’s attorney general's office received 21 complaints related to net neutrality since enacting its first law in March 2018, but most were resolved informally. Half the states with such laws told us they hadn’t received complaints.

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., led filing of the Supporting National Security with Spectrum Act Friday as an alternative vehicle for allocating an additional $3.08 billion for the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program after congressional leaders didn't agree to include the funding in the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act FY 2024 minibus spending bill (see 2403210067). Congress inched closer Friday to passing the minibus, which also didn't include stopgap funding for the FCC's ailing affordable connectivity program despite a strong push by the initiative's backers (see 2402210073).

“Consumers shouldn’t have to pay higher prices because companies break the law,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland told a news conference Thursday announcing the bipartisan antitrust suit (docket 2:24-cv-04055) against Apple brought by DOJ and the AGs of 15 states and the District of Columbia. DOJ alleges in USA v. Apple that the tech giant has consolidated its monopoly power “not by making its own products better but by making other products worse.”