Research

CTIA’s Annual Wireless Industry Survey finds the industry beginning the transition from 4G to 5G wireless networks with significant growth in cell sites and data-only devices. That growth and continued demand for everything wireless contributed to Americans using an unprecedented amount of mobile data in 2017. The key wireless trends in this year's survey:

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) provides quarterly statutory reports to Congress on the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). This report covers activities from January 1 to March 31, 2018. NTIA continues to protect taxpayer investments by proactively engaging with these grant recipients to monitor project activities and grant compliance. Each quarter, the active BTOP recipients also report their financial and project performance. NTIA analyzes these reports closely to monitor progress and compliance.

Privacy policies from companies including Facebook, Google and Amazon don’t fully meet the requirements of th European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), according to the pan-European consumer group BEUC. An analysis of policies from 14 of the largest internet companies shows they use unclear language, claim “potentially problematic” rights, and provide insufficient information for users to judge what they are agreeing to.

The  Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act (CSEA) requires annual reporting on federal agencies’ progress to relocate radio communications systems from spectrum or share spectrum that has been reallocated to commercial use. This report provides details on two separate spectrum auctions conducted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that included: 1) the 1710 to 1755 megahertz (MHz) band, and 2) the 1695-1710 MHz and 1755-1780 MHz bands. This report covers the period from January through December 2017.

Technology experts and scholars have never been at a loss for concerns about the current and future impact of the internet. Over the years of canvassings by Pew Research Center and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center, many experts have been anxious about the way people’s online activities can undermine truth, foment distrust, jeopardize individuals’ well-being when it comes to physical and emotional health, enable trolls to weaken democracy and community, compromise human agency as algorithms become embedded in more activities, kill privacy, make institutions less secure, open u

An economic assessment of zero-rating offers in the context of mobile internet access services and draw six lessons:

In the midst of an ongoing debate over the power of digital technology companies and the way they do business, sizable shares of Americans believe these companies privilege the views of certain groups over others. Some 43% of Americans think major technology firms support the views of liberals over conservatives, while 33% believe these companies support the views of men over women, a new Pew Research Center survey finds.

In the wake of the government’s setback in the AT&T/Time Warner case, it’s natural enough to ask: what will be that case’s impact on the government’s ability to challenge vertical mergers in the future? I think the answer is “very little if anything.” The government could take steps to build an even stronger foundation for the review of vertical mergers in the future. Here are some suggestions. First, the current 1984 guidelines on the treatment of vertical (technically, non-horizontal) transactions should be withdrawn. Second, new vertical guidelines should be created.

The Senate Commerce Committee approved eight bills including the Measuring the Economic Impact of Broadband Act of 2017 (S.645), and four nominations, including Geoffrey Starks to be a Member of the Federal Communications Commission. S.645 would require the Secretary of Commerce to conduct an assessment and analysis of the effects of broadband deploymnet and adoption on the economy of the United States.