NTIA announced the first three winners under the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund, a $1.5 billion federal fund aimed at spurring the growth of open radio access networks and advanced spectrum sharing. NTIA unveiled the grants Tuesday at Northeastern University in Boston, one of the recipients.
Rollout of Gogo's terrestrial 5G system for business aviation has been delayed to mid next year due to a design error in a non-5G component of its chip, the company said Friday. The chip was designed by a third-party subcontractor, it said. It said its suppliers did extensive testing successfully of the 5G components of the chip.
Huawei Technologies plans to restart making advanced mobile chips as early as this year, as the Chinese company faces continuing restrictions from the U.S. and its allies per Nikkei Asia. Huawei is working with top Chinese chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International to produce in-house designed 5G chipsets in coming months, the paper said, based on reports from unnamed sources.
House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., is eyeing how to move forward on her Satellite and Telecommunications Streamlining Act (HR-1338) after the chamber failed to pass the FCC licensing revamp measure Tuesday under suspension of the rules. Meanwhile, the panel is set to mark up the NTIA Reauthorization Act (HR-4510) and two other Communications Subcommittee-cleared bills Thursday. The House Appropriations Committee is eyeing a potential markup this week of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee’s FY 2024 funding bill, which would end advance money to CPB beginning in FY 2026 (see 2307140069), subpanel Chairman Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., told us.
The FCC remains focused on the lower 3 GHz band for commercial use and will consider an auction of spectrum remaining, or returned, from past auctions when its auction authority is restored, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Tuesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The U.S. must lead the world on 5G, which is critical to the U.S. economy and to export democratic values “to the rest of the world,” she said. Rosenworcel spoke with Clete Johnson, CSIS senior fellow.
The House plans to vote as soon as Tuesday under suspension of the rules on the Satellite and Telecommunications Streamlining Act (HR-1338) and three other Commerce Committee-approved communications policy bills, said the office of Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La. Notably absent from the agenda is the Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565), which some lawmakers were pushing House leaders to bring up for a floor vote before Congress leaves on the month-plus August recess (see 2307200071). The House Rules Committee, meanwhile, will consider Wednesday whether to allow votes on three broadband-focused amendments to the FY 2024 Agriculture Department appropriations bill (HR-4368).
FCC announces bureau leadership teams, with each staffer coming from another agency position unless otherwise indicated: for the Wireless Bureau, Barbara Esbin, Kari Hicks and Susan Mort, deputy bureau chiefs; Jessica Greffenius and Jessica Quinley, assistant bureau chiefs; Arpan Sura, senior counsel to the chief; Janet Young, chief engineer; and Cameron Duncan and John Lockwood, legal and policy advisers.
Disney promotes Alexia Quadrani to executive vice president-investor relations ... Nexstar promotes Larry Cottrill to vice president-general manager, WCMH-TV Columbus, succeeding Ken Freedman, retiring, and hires Mitzi Coleman, from KTVL Medford, Oregon, as vice president-general manager, WTRF-TV Wheeling, West Virginia, succeeding Roger Lyons, retiring … CBS News and Stations names Kim Voet, ex-WDIV-TV Detroit, president-general manager of its businesses in Miami, including WFOR-TV and WBFS-TV, effective Aug. 14.
China is probably “at least” two or three years behind the U.S. in generative AI, said Samm Sacks, cyber policy fellow at New America and senior fellow at Yale Law School, during a Brookings webinar Wednesday. China appears to be relying on “iterations off of cutting edge research” published in other countries, she said. Chinese officials are struggling with how to balance information control with their desire to lead the world on AI, she said. “AI generates and disseminates information that’s of real concern to the Communist Party leadership,” she said. Cyberspace Administration of China (CCA) has “really been in the driver’s seat” on AI regulation, but the Ministry of Science and Technology is “likely going to have the pen for China’s AI law, which is in the works,” Sacks said. The CCA would likely take a more conservative stance on AI rules than the ministry, she said. Chinese censorship “has a limiting effect on the availability and quality of data,” she said. Another issue for China is U.S. restrictions on access to the most advanced semiconductors, and the Chinese semiconductor industry is “generally several generations behind,” she said. China has been relying on a loophole to use cloud service providers to “rent access” to advanced chips, she said: “We need to watch is this an area where the U.S. government is going to come in and try to close the loophole. How successful will China’s AI ambitions be given these constraints from the U.S.?” Marietje Schaake, Stanford University Cyber Policy Center international policy director, urged flexibility in EU regulations as negotiations continue between the European Council and the European Parliament. “We may not know what will come next, but we do know that something else will come next and generative AI is certainly not the last disruptive iteration” of AI, she said.
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) reappoints Renee Larrick to a second, six-year term on the Public Service Commission … Tubi, Fox’s free ad-supported streaming service, hires Vimeo’s Anjali Sud as CEO, effective Sept. 1, succeeding Farhad Massoudi, Tubi's founder and CEO, who announced his departure earlier in the year.