The Trump Organization announced Monday that later this year, it will launch Trump Mobile, a mobile virtual network operator, and a gold-colored smartphone, which it said will eventually be made in the U.S. The launch would create ethics concerns regardless, but even more so given the Trump administration's pressure for the FCC to answer directly to the White House, public interest groups said.
The New York Senate voted 45-14 Thursday to approve a bill that would address junk fees. S-363 would require businesses, such as ISPs and cable providers, to display certain mandatory fees and the total price of their services. In addition, it would exclude "any tax, duty, fee or custom levied by any local, state, federal or other governmental or quasi-governmental entity" from its list of mandatory fees. Fourteen Senate Democrats introduced the legislation, the New York Junk Fee Prevention Act, in January. Providers would be deemed in compliance if they're abiding by the FCC's consumer broadband label rules. The bill accounts for the possibility of the FCC's rules no longer being applicable and establishes similar provisions for providers. Such mandatory fees would include surcharges that are "not reasonably avoidable" to make a purchase or require action by a consumer to remove them.
Citing uncertainties about U.S. tariffs, Counterpoint Research said Wednesday that it was revising its 2025 global smartphone shipment growth projection to 1.9% year over year, rather than 4.2%. While growth is likely in most regions, North America is expected to see a decline due to price increases from tariffs, it said.
Senate leaders may still try to hold votes on Republican FCC nominee Olivia Trusty and NTIA administrator nominee Arielle Roth in late June, shortly before the upper chamber breaks for the week leading up to the July Fourth holiday, but lobbyists now believe both confirmations are more likely to happen in the lead-up to the August recess. Lobbyists told us that Democratic FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks’ pledge last week to resign before the agency's June 26 meeting (see 2505220043) is easing Republicans’ pressure to expedite Trusty’s confirmation because the GOP will gain a majority even without her taking office.
NAB fired back at the Wi-Fi Alliance and various tech companies for opposing its petition for reconsideration of an order expanding the parts of the 6 GHz band where new very-low-power devices can operate without coordination (see 2505150017). “Both oppositions misstate the nature of NAB’s request in alleging procedural defects,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-295.
Apple stock was down Friday after President Donald Trump said it and other smartphone makers could be subject to sizable tariffs starting at the end of June. Trump "long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple" about his expectation that iPhones sold in the U.S. "will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else," he wrote Friday on Truth Social. "If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S." Later, Trump told reporters the tariffs would also apply to Samsung and other smartphone makers. "Otherwise it wouldn't be fair," he said, adding that the tariffs should be ready next month. "When they build their plant here, there's no tariff." He also told reporters he was confident Apple could build iPhones in the U.S. that would be price-competitive. Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst covering tech for TF International Securities, posted on X that in terms of profitability, "it's way better for Apple to take the hit of a 25% tariff on iPhones sold in the US market than to move iPhone assembly lines back to US." Apple closed at $195.27, down $6.09.
A U.S. Supreme Court opinion late Thursday preventing fired independent commissioners from resuming their work is a strong indication that the high court will allow President Donald Trump to remove FCC and FTC commissioners from the minority party, academics and attorneys said in interviews Friday.
HERSHEY, Pennsylvania -- FCC officials speaking Saturday at the FCBA's annual seminar expressed confidence that the agency will regain spectrum auction authority. Chief of Staff Scott Delacourt said the commission expects at least one auction, AWS-3, within the next year and is taking steps to ensure it can support that auction, such as preparing necessary IT, he said. Commissioner Nathan Simington said Congress sees midband spectrum as a priority, so a significant auction should be teed up by year-end.
The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau has ordered voice service provider Flowroute to immediately stop carrying spoofed jury duty scam calls on its network, said a news release and letter Friday. “The company faces a permanent block of all traffic on its network if it does not comply,” the release said. Flowroute allegedly transmitted spoofed calls to Cook County Illinois residents from someone impersonating an employee of the county sheriff’s office. “A law enforcement imposter told residents they had missed jury duty and must send money to the caller via a Coinstar kiosk at a local grocery store,” the release said. “Between July 23 and August 2, 2024, Flowroute originated 240 spoofed calls using the Cook County Sheriff’s Number,” the release said. The FCC’s traceback consortium, the Industry Traceback Group, tracked the calls to Flowroute, and Flowroute told the agency the calls came from “an entity named Llama Soft Pty. located in Sydney, Australia,” the release said. “The apparently illegal calls are the subject of the FCC’s ongoing investigation.”
Verizon isn’t sweating a potential downturn in the economy, Sowmyanarayan Sampath, executive vice president and CEO of Verizon Consumer Group, said Thursday during a MoffettNathanson conference. “We are really resilient, and we are ready for any type of economy,” he said. Sampath called it “a little premature” to discuss tariffs on smartphones. “We'll have to wait and see" what the real tariff is.