Reuters

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai thinks everyone from Cher to Twitter has it wrong when they say that his efforts to roll back the US government’s existing network neutrality rules will spell the death of the web. Instead, Chairman Pai said that tech giants could pose the greatest threat by discriminating against viewpoints on the internet.

The European Union has agreed a plan obliging online retailers operating in the bloc to make electrical goods, concert tickets or car rental available to all EU consumers regardless of where they live. Putting an end to “geoblocking”, whereby consumers in one EU country cannot buy a good or service sold online in another, has been a priority for the EU as it tries to create a digital single market with 24 legislative proposals.

US cable operator Altice USA will sell mobile service on wireless carrier Sprint Corp’s network under a new multi-year agreement announced on Nov 5, becoming the latest firm to enter the wireless market in a bid to retain customers.  The companies announced the agreement a day after Sprint and T-Mobile US Inc ended merger talks. Under the terms of the agreement, Altice, the fourth-largest U.S. cable operator, will use Sprint’s network to provide voice and data services in the United States. It gave no time line on when it will introduce such services.

Facebook acknowledged that it has become a battleground for governments seeking to manipulate public opinion in other countries and outlined new measures it is taking to combat what it calls “information operations” that go well beyond the phenomenon known as fake news.

In a report and summary of response plans on its website, Facebook describes well-funded and subtle efforts by nations and other organizations to spread misleading information and falsehoods for geopolitical goals. These initiatives go much further than posting fake news stories to include amplification - essentially widening the circulation of posts through a variety of means - carried out by government employees or paid professionals, often using fake accounts.

In 10 days, the Federal Communications Commission will lift a ban on telecoms companies engaging in merger talks, and Wall Street is betting on T-Mobile US, Sprint, and Dish Network to be the first ones out of the gate. Shares of these companies have soared over the past 12 months on expectations of deal talks, and are trading at up to 31 times forward earnings, versus the S&P 500 telecom services index's .5SP50 18 times.

The rich valuations could discourage acquirers, who also have to assume the risk that antitrust regulators may look askance at more consolidation in the sector after a wave of mergers in recent years, investment bankers and industry experts say. "It seems as though valuations have already jumped to a near certainty a deal will be announced and approved. You have to ask yourself whether T-Mobile is going to be as eager to do a deal as Sprint," said Craig Moffett, an analyst at MoffettNathanson.

The Federal Communications Commission approved Time Warner's sale of a broadcast station in Atlanta to Meredith, a transaction that could help speed Time Warner's planned merger with AT&T. The station that Time Warner is selling, WPCH-TV, for $70 million, is its only FCC-regulated broadcast station. It has other, more minor FCC licenses. Meredith has operated WPCH-TV for Time Warner since 2011. It was previously known as WTBS. Meredith said it was pleased the FCC approved the application and that it anticipated "moving forward expeditiously to close this deal."

The House Judiciary Committee asked the Trump Administration to disclose an estimate of the number of Americans whose digital communications are incidentally collected under foreign surveillance programs. Such an estimate is "crucial as we contemplate reauthorization," of parts of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that are due to expire at the end of 2017, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI) wrote in a letter addressed to Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats. The request comes as some Republican lawmakers, many of whom have stridently defended US surveillance programs in the past, express sudden interest in considering additional privacy safeguards to how US spy agencies collect and share intelligence that contains information about Americans.

Japan's SoftBank Group Corp is prepared to give up control of Sprint Corp to Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile US Inc to clinch a merger of the two US wireless carriers, apparently. SoftBank has not yet approached Deutsche Telekom to discuss any deal because the Federal Communications Commission has imposed strict anti-collusion rules that ban discussions between rivals during an ongoing auction of airwaves. After the auction ends in April, the two parties are expected to begin negotiations.