1. Monthly archive
  2. May 2019

May 2019

Trump administration will let the private sector lead in developing 5G

As the head of the Federal Communications Commission, I’ve been working for the past two-plus years to advance a market-based strategy to promote US leadership in 5G. As part of what we call our 5G FAST Plan, the FCC finished its first 5G spectrum auction in Jan, and we’re holding a second right now that’s already generated almost $2 billion in bids. The recipe for US leadership in wireless technology is proven and simple: Free up airwaves to accommodate the increase in wireless traffic. Get rid of the red tape that slows the deployment of wireless infrastructure.

Senator Markey and Rep Doyle Urge Chairman Pai to Reject Line Item Charges for Telecommunications Relay Services on Customer Bills

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) and House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA) sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai urging the FCC to deny a petition by the ITTA-Voice of America’s Broadband Providers that would permit carriers to display Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) Fund contributions on customer bills. TRS ensures persons with hearing or speech disabilities are able to use necessary telephone services at no additional cost to an individual consumer.

Ajit Pai-proposed upgrade to 25Mbps starts paying off for rural ISPs

More than 106,000 rural homes and small businesses in 43 states will get access to 25 megabit per second (Mbps) broadband at some point in the next decade thanks to a Federal Communications Commission policy change. The FCC's Connect America Fund (CAF), which distributes money to internet service providers (ISPs) in exchange for new broadband deployments in underserved areas, had been requiring speeds of just 10Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream over the past few years.

Attorney General Barr recuses himself from T-Mobile-Sprint merger decision

Apparently, Attorney General William Barr has recused himself from weighing in on a planned $26 billion merger of T-Mobile and Sprint due to potential conflicts of interest. That gives Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim, head of the Department of Justice’s antitrust division, final word on the controversial proposed merger between the nation’s third- and fourth-largest wireless providers. AG Barr was on Time Warner’s board until it was acquired in 2018 by AT&T and still owns stock in the new company.

Facebook's off-again, on-again affair with privacy

As Mark Zuckerberg filled in the details of his new, privacy-oriented vision of Facebook at the F8 developers conference, he left out a key episode from the past: Long before Facebook's pivot to privacy, the company pivoted to make everything more public. There's a reason Facebook's new "digital living room" where you are "free to be your true self" sounds familiar. You've already been there, if you were one of the hundreds of millions of people who used Facebook before roughly 2010.

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