The FCC approved a public notice on the first auctions of millimeter-wave spectrum for 5G. The Tuesday vote was 5-0, though Commissioner Mignon Clyburn concurred, at what she later said is her last meeting, because of her concern the notice should ask additional questions (see 1804170021). A day earlier, CTIA said the U.S. is falling behind China in the race to the next generation of wireless (see 1804160056). U.S. carriers have been focused on high frequency bands in their initial rollouts of 5G with tests underway and commercial launches expected later this year.
FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said rural telco subsidies could be increased somewhat while better fiscal discipline is brought to the overall USF mechanism. The "real issue" for USF is the budget, he said, and while the high-cost program has been relatively "stagnant," other programs have grown over the years. "We can't constantly double" funding for E-rate, Lifeline and rural healthcare, he said at an NTCA policy conference Monday, noting he was pushing for a hard Lifeline budget. O'Rielly, who was interviewed by NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield, wants a "happy medium" for high-cost funding: rural telcos may not get everything they want but "hopefully" regulatory changes could "get you most the way there" and remove "barriers to your offerings."
On the eve of the FCC vote on an NPRM on the security of U.S. communications networks, CTIA warned in a report Monday that the U.S. has fallen behind China in the race to 5G. Commissioners also will vote Tuesday on a public notice on the first auctions of millimeter-wave spectrum for 5G. The auction notice appears likely to get a 5-0 vote, industry and agency officials said Monday.
House and Senate Commerce leaders told us they aim to continue work on telecom infrastructure legislation and tackle a raft of other communications policy issues, after their success just before the recess in enacting a range of telecom policy provisions as part of the $1.3 trillion FY 2018 omnibus spending bill (see 1803210041, 1803210068, 1803220048 and 1803230038). How the committees will prioritize those issues remained unclear last week, though the lawmakers and lobbyists acknowledged that follow-up on last week’s twin hearings with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on the Cambridge Analytica data privacy controversy (see 1804100054 and 1804110065) could be a lingering factor. It’s beginning to look increasingly less likely that Capitol Hill will be able to produce any communications legislation of the same scope as what lawmakers accomplished in the omnibus, in part because of the dwindling legislative timeline before the November midterm elections, lobbyists said.
President Donald Trump signed the Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization and spectrum legislative package (HR-4986) and other tech and telecom policy provisions included in the $1.3 trillion FY 2018 omnibus spending bill (HR-1625) Friday, despite a last-minute threat to veto the measure. The Senate passed the omnibus early Friday 65-32, after behind-the-scenes "begging, pleading and cajoling" to assuage objections from Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on the floor.
The Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization and spectrum legislative package (HR-4986) and other tech and telecom policy provisions included in the $1.3 trillion FY 2018 omnibus spending bill (HR-1625) moved a step closer to enactment Thursday when the House passed the measure 256-167. House leaders released the bill's full text Wednesday evening after a deal between President Donald Trump and Capitol Hill leaders (see 1803210041 and 1803210068). Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., filed cloture on the spending bill late Thursday, setting up a first vote around 1 a.m. Saturday, shortly after the current continuing resolution to fund the government is set to expire. McConnell and others remained concerned Thursday that Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., might move to force a brief government shutdown, as he did in February (see 1802060054 and Notebook at the end of 1802090050).
Trump administration officials' repeated citations of the national security implications of maintaining U.S. leadership in 5G innovation are a sign Congress needs to act on broader telecom policy issues that would help sustain that dominance, lawmakers and industry officials told us. The administration mentioned 5G deployment in its December national security strategy (see 1712180071 and 1712270032).
The FY 2018 omnibus spending bill contains language from the House-passed Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization and spectrum legislative package (HR-4986), as expected. House leaders released the spending bill's text Wednesday evening. The House could vote on the measure as soon as Thursday, with a Senate vote to follow. The current continuing resolution to fund the government expires Friday.
Capitol Hill's expected Monday night release of the FY 2018 omnibus spending bill looked more uncertain at our deadline, but several lawmakers and aides said they believe the legislation will include the text of the House-passed Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization and spectrum legislative package (HR-4986). The leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees have been eyeing the omnibus as a vehicle for enacting HR-4986 since last month, before the House passed the legislation (see 1802270055, 1803010056 and 1803060046). The Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (HR-4943/S-2383) could also be included in the omnibus (see 1803150059). The current continuing resolution to fund the government expires Friday. Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and other lawmakers separately told reporters they were hopeful but not certain the omnibus text would be finalized Monday night amid disagreements on several issues. Thune told reporters he is confident HR-4986 would be in the omnibus but "nobody knows until you see it." There was still "a whole bunch of stuff" under negotiation at our deadline, Thune said. Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., whose subcommittee has jurisdiction over the FCC budget, told reporters she is "very confident" that spectrum provisions included in HR-4986 are in the omnibus but "in terms of FCC reauthorization, I don't have a definite answer on that." HR-4986 includes language from the Viewer Protection Act (HR-3347) to authorize additional repack funding (see 1803080049) and from the Spectrum Auction Deposits Act (HR-4109) that would let the FCC place bidders' deposits for future spectrum auctions in a Treasury Department fund. It also includes a revised version of language from the Senate-passed Making Opportunities for Broadband Investment and Limiting Excessive and Needless Obstacles to Wireless (Mobile Now) Act (S-19) spectrum bill (see 1803020027 and 1803060046). "We're still optimistic” that HR-4986 will be included in the omnibus, but “anything can happen” since negotiations were continuing Monday on several items in the larger spending package, one aide told us. It’s unlikely that last-minute misgivings voiced by Public Knowledge and others (see 1803160059) about language drawn from the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act (HR-599/S-174) would endanger HR-4986’s prospects of being included in the spending bill, another aide said. The House passed HR-599 in early 2017. The Senate approved S-174 and other telecom-related bills in August as part of a deal to confirm Commissioners Brendan Carr and Jessica Rosenworcel (see 1708030060). The legislative language from S-174 would consolidate several FCC reports into a single biennial “Communications Marketplace Report.” Congressional Democratic leaders have backed consolidated reporting, with previous versions of HR-599/S-174 passing “unanimously” out of the House and Senate several times, so “it’s a little late in the game” for PK and others to object to the provisions now, an aide said.
The Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization and spectrum legislative package (HR-4986) “will go through the Senate” one way or another, said House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., on an appearance on C-SPAN’s The Communicators, set to be telecast Saturday. The House passed HR-4986 earlier this week (see 1803060046), but it remains unclear whether the measure will make it onto the FY 2018 omnibus spending bill.