Wireless Telecommunications

The paper stems from a platform competition research project led by Public Knowledge and supported by Omidyar Network. The paper explores the challenge of balancing the significant gatekeeper control that dominant platforms like Apple and Google have over both their operating systems and app stores, with the benefits that app stores create for both developers and users.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai presented his colleagues with draft rules to establish 988 as the new, nationwide, 3-digit phone number for Americans in crisis to connect with suicide prevention and mental health crisis counselors. The rules, if adopted by the FCC at its July 16 Open Meeting, would require all phone service providers to begin directing all 988 calls to the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by July 16, 2022.

On June 15, 2020, T-Mobile suffered a substantial outage that prevented customers from making calls, receiving calls, and in some cases, sending text messages over T-Mobile’s Voice-over LTE (VoLTE) network. According to social media reports, the outage also affected 911 calling for T-Mobile customers. T-Mobile explained in a public statement that this outage was caused by “a leased fiber circuit failure from a third party provider in the Southeast.”  When this circuit overloaded, according to T-Mobile, it “resulted in an IP traffic storm that spread from the Southeast to create significant

We’ve come together to celebrate World Wi-Fi Day, which is [June 20]. You could make the case that every day has been Wi-Fi Day since the pandemic took hold. I think it’s appropriate that the focus of this event is on the power of Wi-Fi to help bridge the digital divide—to connect the unconnected. What is the Federal Communications Commission doing to harness the power of Wi-Fi to bridge the digital divide?

On May 15, 2020, 32 senators wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to express their concerns with the Order announced by the FCC on April 20, 2020 granting Ligado's application to deploy a terrestrial nationwide network to provide 5G services.

Dish Network is set to acquire the Boost wireless business from T-Mobile US after the companies spent months hammering out the specifics of a deal reached in 2019. T-Mobile was required to offload Boost, a pay-as-you-go wireless service, as part of its acquisition of Sprint -- a deal that turned it into the No. 2 carrier in the US, based on monthly subscribers. Dish is expected to pay about $1.4 billion for Boost.

The Senate Commerce Committee held a nomination hearing on June 16 that featured Federal Communications Commissioner Michael O'Rielly. Commissioner O'Rielly's term expired at the end of June 2019, but commissioners can continue to serve until the close of the next Congress. The new term would date from July 1, 2019. 

President Donald Trump’s conversations with China President Xi Jinping reflected not only the incoherence in his trade policy but also the confluence in President Trump’s mind of his own political interests and US national interests. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and others repeatedly pushed to strictly enforce US regulations and criminal laws against fraudulent conduct, including both firms’ flouting of US sanctions against Iran and other rogue states.

AT&T Communications CEO Jeff McElfresh told investors how fiber underpins the company's wireless, broadband and streaming video services, saying it takes a lot of fiber and physical site locations with high densification in order to realize the full potential of the wireless spectrum the company owns. "I can tell you, densification of our wireless network and an increased footprint expansion of our fiber offerings is in the making for AT&T over the next several years." McElfresh said AT&T now has multiple fiber networks that serve and connect its wireless services, enterprise cu

The First Responder Network Authority Board approved the first set of investments for enhancing FirstNet, the nationwide public safety broadband network. Specifically, the Board approved more than $200 million for initial network upgrades to set FirstNet on the path to 5G and to expand the dedicated fleet of deployable assets. The Board approved $218 million for the FirstNet Authority to invest in: