Ownership

Two of the Federal Communications Commission’s top priorities are closing the digital divide in rural America and advancing United States leadership in 5G, the next generation of wireless connectivity. The commitments made today by T-Mobile and Sprint would substantially advance each of these critical objectives.

As we’ve made our case for the New T-Mobile, we’ve been listening to the Federal Communications Commission and many others. We submitted a set of commitments to the FCC around the New T-Mobile to address what we’ve heard. Ultimately, the commitments are about our shared goal to put the US at the forefront of 5G innovation, driving massive economic growth, helping bridge the Digital Divide, creating more competition, and of course, giving consumers and businesses more for less.

A Q&A with Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR).

The law in question is Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, written by Sen Wyden and former Rep Chris Cox (R-CA). It protects internet companies from being held liable for the content posted by their users and says they’re platforms, not publishers. It also gives them the space to police their sites and restrict and take down material as they see fit. 

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), whose House Commerce Subcommittee is leading efforts to craft privacy legislation, raised the prospect of tackling concerns over competition and data protection at the same time. Asked about next steps on privacy legislation, Chairwoman Schakowsky said the question is where to limit the “scope” of a bill. “You can really get into a whole lot of things,” she said. “There’s talk about breaking up the big tech companies. Is that a part of this? Is that a separate [issue]?

As calls mount to break up big tech companies or limit their power, their legal fate will hang on how judges and regulators define their markets. "The social networking category" is a way to define this market that most readily casts Facebook as a monopoly. But if you call it "messaging," then Apple, Snapchat, and the cellphone providers all look like hearty competitors. Similarly, in many countries, Google looks to have a monopoly in the search market.

AT&T has cut more than 23,000 jobs since receiving a big tax cut at the end of 2017, despite lobbying heavily for the tax cut by claiming that it would create thousands of jobs. AT&T in Nov 2017 pushed for the corporate tax cut by promising to invest an additional $1 billion in 2018, with CEO Randall Stephenson saying that "every billion dollars AT&T invests is 7,000 hard-hat jobs. These are not entry-level jobs.

The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition joined Mobile Beacon, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA), the North American Catholic Educational Programming Foundation (NACEPF), Public Knowledge and Voqal in asking the Federal Communications Commission to request additional comment on and delay its proceeding to transform the Educational Broadband Service (EBS). The letter identified several topics on which the FCC must request additional comment due to insufficient information:

The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Comcast’s one-third stake in Hulu and to take full control of the streaming service. The sale price would be at least $5.8 billion and could climb once an independent party assesses Hulu’s fair market value. The potential payout is based on Hulu’s current $27.5 billion valuation (in April 2019, it was valued at $15.8 billion). Hulu had 28 million subscribers at the end of April, a 12 percent jump since the end of last year. Although it is expected to lose more than $1.5 billion in 2019, Robert A.

Renewed trade tensions between the US and China threaten to throw Apple back into the global trade battle, putting its iPhone business at risk just as the tech giant appeared to be shoring up declining sales of its most important product. The round of tariff increases that hit May 10 don’t directly affect iPhones, iPads, Macs or Apple Watches. But President Donald Trump recently threatened a tariff of 25% on $325 billion in Chinese imports that haven’t previously been targeted by duties. Those would cover virtually all Chinese exports to the US, including Apple’s most important devices.

Apparently, T-Mobile and Sprint, fighting to win regulatory clearance for their $26.5-billion merger, are considering possible concessions to salvage the deal. Among the top options being discussed is the separation and potential sale of their “prepaid” businesses.