Agenda

What's on the agenda for policymakers.

If China Dominates 5G, It Will Control the Future

The US needs a positive alternative to the Chinese 5G model, and it needs to put it forward right now, before or during Barcelona. If we don’t, this year’s Mobile World Congress risks turning into a victory lap for Huawei and Beijing. The solution is not, as some have put it, to “become like China to beat China.” China is playing to its own strengths—state-directed investment and financing, lack of checks and balances internally, and a unified decision-making structure—to support its goal of wireless domination.

Consumer groups livid over Senate privacy hearing snub

Consumer advocates are furious that the Senate Commerce Committee's initial witness list for its upcoming hearing on data privacy consists entirely of industry-backed groups. The panel, led by Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS), announced a slate of witnesses headlined by representatives from prominent tech trade groups. A Senate staffer familiar with the committee described the Feb. 27 session as a starting point on privacy discussions that will lay the groundwork for future hearings. But privacy advocates said the snub reflected a lack of regard for consumers.

AT&T Gives 3G Service Three Years to Live

AT&T plans to stop providing service to devices that use third-generation wireless technology in early 2022 as it makes room for more powerful standards. The decision follows rival Verizon Communications' warning that it will disconnect old 3G cellphones at the end of 2019. The companies are driven by necessity. Cellphone users with unlimited data plans stream more video on the go, testing the limits of what service providers can handle. Getting customers off 3G allows carriers to free up wireless frequencies for 4G signals over broader swaths of the radio spectrum.

Behold the Ides of March: March 2019 FCC Meeting Agenda

On March 15, we’ll aim to make progress on many of the issues core to the Federal Communications Commission’s mission: promoting US leadership on 5G, closing the digital divide, advancing public safety, modernizing our media rules, helping rural consumers, and more.

Sponsor: 

Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee

House Commerce Committee

Date: 
Tue, 02/26/2019 - 16:00
Sponsor: 

Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers

Date: 
Fri, 02/22/2019 - 17:45
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to keynote


Sponsor: 

Inside the FCC

Date: 
Sun, 02/17/2019 - 23:30 to Tue, 02/19/2019 - 22:00

An incisive look at the key issues and developments at the FCC. Invited speakers include CEOs, Wall Street analysts, Senior Officials and Commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission.



Tall Tales and Title II

At a House hearing on net neutrality, the claims of Joseph Franell — the general manager and CEO of Eastern Oregon Telecom (“EOT”) — stood out like a sore thumb. He said, “The application of Title II as part of Net Neutrality had a dramatic chilling effect on rural telecom in the Pacific Northwest and I suspect the same could be said about the rest of the country.” He also said that since the repeal of the 2015 Federal Communications Commission order, “investors have been much more willing . . .

Title II Is the Best Way to Protect the Internet. Period.

People actually need Title II and all of the protections it provides for internet users. Here’s why.

Partisan Rift Threatens Federal Data-Privacy Law

In 2018, Congress set the stage to pass a sweeping consumer data-privacy law in 2019, but prospects for legislation are dimming amid sharpening divides among lawmakers over how far the federal government should go in reining in Big Tech. Silicon Valley and its Republican allies are pushing for a national standard that would override state regulations—including California’s landmark 2018 law, which broadens the definition of personal information and gives consumers the right to prevent their data from being sold.