Politico

CTIA President Meredith Attwell Baker, representing wireless giants like AT&T and Verizon, paid a visit to Federal Communications Commission Ajit Pai Pai and FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly to lobby them to auction off licenses in the upper portion of the 6 GHz airwaves.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a legal challenge from Public Knowledge, The Greenlining Institute and other groups to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai’s 2017 rollback of certain Obama-era requirements for phone companies angling to transition off of legacy copper networks. “This is a victory for American consumers, who will benefit from faster fiber deployment and the increased availability of next-generation services,” Chairman Pai said. He has touted the deregulation as critical for allowing the transition to more advanced, IP-based networks.

Over a month has passed since Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) blocked Senate Commerce Chairman Roger Wicker’s attempt to fast-track a House-passed bill, H.R. 4998, authorizing $1 billion to reimburse rural wireless carriers that replace gear from companies deemed a national security risk (i.e., Chinese telecom giants Huawei and ZTE).

House Democratic leaders are set to roll out infrastructure legislation following the Martin Luther King Jr. Day recess. The legislation will likely feature provisions aimed at closing the digital divide, putting the issue of broadband internet access front and center ahead of the 2020 elections.

The trade deal that President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He signed left the tech world clamoring for more. Industry leaders praised the deal’s progress on forced technology transfers and intellectual property theft in China and expressed optimism about its next iteration.

Sen John Kennedy (R-LA) is angling to hold more Federal Communications Commission hearings soon in his appropriations subcommittee overseeing the commission, still focused on how FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will structure a planned auction of 5G-friendly airwaves in the C-band. “Let me speak bluntly, we’re watching the FCC like a hawk,” said Sen Kennedy.