Wireless Telecommunications

Cities across the US are trying to become “smart cities,” as they invest in digital technologies to help monitor the environment, enhance mobility, and improve the delivery of municipal services. An examination of several cities which have sought to embrace smart city technology while keeping equity in the forefront shows that:

The Federal Communications Commission is renewing the charter of the Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment for a two-year period. The purpose of the Committee is to make recommendations to the FCC on how to empower disadvantaged communities and accelerate the entry of small businesses, including those owned by women and minorities, into the media, digital news and information, and audio and video programming industries, including as owners, suppliers, and employees.

A group of attorneys general from 10 states filed a federal lawsuit in a bid to block a proposed merger between the wireless carriers T-Mobile and Sprint, a $26 billion deal that has yet to receive the Justice Department’s approval. The lawsuit, led by Letitia James of New York and Xavier Becerra of California, contends that competition will suffer and consumer prices will rise if the companies combine. Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Virginia and Wisconsin joined the complaint, which was filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan.

Within the next five years, 5G networks will generate more than one quarter (26%) of wireless service revenue, according to new research from Strategy Analytics. But despite the expected impressive technical performance of 5G, the overall 5G revenue impact globally on the wireless service providers will be stagnant, the research firm added. The latest research also shows that any growth in 5G will be slow for the next 18 months before the technology gains strong momentum in 2021 as network coverage improves, phone prices fall, and use cases mature.

The chatter about 5G is everywhere. Lost in the glowing headlines is the fact the US is making choices that will leave rural America behind. These choices will harm our global leadership in 5G and could create new challenges for the security of our networks. 

Unlike many of the distinguished panelists and engineers in this room who will be actively involved in planning and deploying the next-generation networks, smart cities, and connected transportation systems of the future, the Federal Communications Commission’s role is to provide the environment that will allow much of the relevant technology to happen.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which administers the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) through which all Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) are authenticated, validated, and delivered to participating Commercial Mobile Service Providers, has informed the Federal Communications Commission's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau that IPAWS will not be ready to support certain improvements to WEA as of June 10, 2019, as previously expected. Accordingly, until such time as IPAWS will support and deploy the State/Local WEA Tes

Google has warned the Trump Administration it risks compromising US national security if it pushes ahead with sweeping export restrictions on Huawei, as the technology group seeks to continue doing business with the blacklisted Chinese company. Senior executives at Google are pushing US officials to exempt it from a ban on exports to Huawei without a licence approved by Washington. Google is concerned it would not be allowed to update its Android operating system on Huawei’s smartphones, which it argues would prompt the Chinese company to develop its own version of the software.

The Federal Communications Commission voted to make clear that voice service providers may aggressively block unwanted robocalls before they reach consumers. The FCC approved a Declaratory Ruling to affirm that voice service providers may, as the default, block unwanted calls based on reasonable call analytics, as long as their customers are informed and have the opportunity to opt out of the blocking. This action empowers providers to protect their customers from unwanted robocalls before those calls even reach the customers’ phones.

Twenty-five states, including NY and CA, have not adopted the Federal Communications Commission’s new rule regarding the deployment of new small cell equipment. And, a couple of states are appealing the FCC’s rule in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which is taking up the question of whether the FCC has authority in the matter. Now, Sens John Thune (R-SD) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) have introduced a bill that would codify many parts of the FCC’s rule.