Wireless Telecommunications

Apparently, Dish Network and T-Mobile have agreed to a divestiture deal that brings the wireless carrier a step closer to gaining government approval of its merger with Sprint. However, there are still issues the Department of Justice is actively focused on before it would allow a deal.

As the Senate geared up to pass its defense policy bill, the office of Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) unsuccessfully pushed to add language that would require that a provision mandating Pentagon-led test beds to examine sharing 5G airwaves come with a requirement that the government “solicit and consider the input of commercial wireless service providers, equipment manufacturers, and firms developing and operating spectrum sharing technologies” as part of planning. 

On June 26, the US House of Representatives passed the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act (H.R. 3351) -- an appropriations bill that provides fiscal year 2020 funding for a variety of departments and independent agencies, including the Federal Communications Commission. The massive bill passed with many amendments.

This is the paradox of 5G, the collection of technologies behind next-generation wireless networks: They require a gargantuan quantity of wires. This is because 5G requires many more small towers, all of which must be wired to the internet. The consequences of this unavoidable reality are myriad.

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a cease-fire on trade that will remove some curbs on Huawei buying high-tech equipment from the US, for the moment lifting one cloud over the global economy. Under the cease-fire, the US agreed to put off additional tariffs on Chinese goods indefinitely. In response, China will start buying large amounts of American farm products, President Trump said.

The House has passed an omnibus appropriations bill, the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, and it funds the Federal Communications Commission. But it will almost certainly need major tweaking if Senate Republicans are expected to approve it, partially due to three amendments related to FCC policy.

Rep Doris Matsui (D-CA), vice chair of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, released the “WIN 5G Act”. This draft legislation proposes a consensus-based, compromise approach to rapidly and equitably reallocating spectrum between the frequencies of 3.7 GHz-4.2 GHz, commonly referred to as the “C-band”.

Meteorologists and other experts are urging the Federal Communications Commission to drop a spectrum-sharing plan that they say could interfere with transmissions of weather-satellite imagery. The dispute is over the 1675-1680MHz frequencies and is separate from the other FCC/weather controversy, which involves the 24GHz band and has pitted the FCC against NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the US Navy. 

The Federal Communications Commission granted Verizon a partial waiver of FCC rules which prohibits Upper 700 MHz C Block licensees from “locking” handsets that are used in the band. In order to allow Verizon to better combat identity theft and other forms of handset-related fraud, this waiver will permit Verizon to lock a customer’s handset for 60 days from the date it becomes active on Verizon’s network. The FCC denied, however, Verizon’s request that the commission issue a Declaratory Ruling finding the handset unlocking rule already permits such temporary locking.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS), Committee, Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet Subcommittee Ranking Member Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Rep Doris Matsui (D-CA), and Rep Brett Guthrie (R-KY) introduced the “Supplementing the Pipeline for Efficient Control of The Resources for Users Making New Opportunities for Wireless (SPECTRUM NOW) Act”.