Wireless Telecommunications

In written testimomny before the Senate Committee On Appropriations' Subcommittee On Financial Services And General Government, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai outlined the commission's priorities for the next year:

On March 14, 2019, Sen John Kennedy (R-LA) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai with concerns about a proposal made by a consortium of foreign-owned satellite providers known as the C-Band Alliance (CBA). On April 25, Chairman Pai wrote Sen Kennedy saying, "In the C-band proceeding, we are aiming to balance a number of interests. One of those interests is American leadership in 50, the next generation of wireless connectivity. C-band spectrum could provide significant benefits as we enter the world of 5G.

Members of the 4Competition Coalition met recently with Federal Communications Commissioners Brendan Carr, Michael O’Rielly, and Geoffrey Starks, as well as advisers to Chairman Ajit Pai and other FCC officials, to reiterate their opposition to the proposed merger. The 4Competition Coalition consists of Dish Network, AFL-CIO, Common Cause, Rural Wireless Association and more than a dozen other entities. Their meetings come as several Wall Street analysts have lowered the odds that the deal will go through.

The Justice Department weighed in on a years-long legal battle between the Federal Trade Commission and Qualcomm, warning that the outcome in the case could hurt the ability of US companies to compete in 5G wireless technology. The Federal Trade Commission first sued Qualcomm in Jan 2017, claiming the maker of mobile phone technology violated antitrust rules in its licensing agreements with phone manufacturers. Qualcomm fought the charges at trial in Jan 2019, and US District Judge Lucy Koh has yet to make a ruling in the case.

House Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) confirmed that anxiety over Chinese telecom giants’ wireless advances could creep into House lawmakers’ must-pass defense policy legislation. “There might be a couple things on 5G that we include,” said Chairman Smith.

To safeguard the privacy and safety of American consumers, Commissioner Rosenworcel sent letters to major phone companies to confirm whether they have lived up to their commitments to end location aggregation services. The FCC needs to do more to protect the privacy and security of American consumers. It needs to do more to provide the public with basic information about what is happening with their realtime location information.

As the head of the Federal Communications Commission, I’ve been working for the past two-plus years to advance a market-based strategy to promote US leadership in 5G. As part of what we call our 5G FAST Plan, the FCC finished its first 5G spectrum auction in Jan, and we’re holding a second right now that’s already generated almost $2 billion in bids. The recipe for US leadership in wireless technology is proven and simple: Free up airwaves to accommodate the increase in wireless traffic. Get rid of the red tape that slows the deployment of wireless infrastructure.

As the House Commerce Commerce settles in after the latest recess, Telecommunication Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA) has been talking up Democrats’ near-term tech and telecom policy plans. He and Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) both reaffirmed their plans to soon bring in Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission commissioners before their respective subpanels for separate hearings (the telecom panel was eyeing May 15 for an FCC oversight hearing).

Nearly five dozen rural, wireless internet service providers (WISPs) signed letters sent to the Federal Communications Commission to "express [their] enthusiastic support for the Commission to make available new Educational Broadband Service (EBS) licenses to educators via priority licensing windows." The small ISPs also "strongly oppose auctions of EBS spectrum before educators have had an opportunity to obtain new EBS licenses."  In an April 25 letter to the FCC, six rural operators argued for a requirment that EBS spectrum licensees and their partners have a local presence and adhere to

While there was a great need for more spectrum for advanced wireless systems, finding unencumbered frequencies has always been a long-standing battle. Thankfully, then came along the innovation of the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) framework and requisite technology. [March's] announcement that you are working on 5G CBRS specifications, called CBRS Alliance Release 3, proved a lot of people wrong.