Wireless Telecommunications

I commend the US-India Business Council (USIBC) for launching this Webinar series on 5G. I’ve been asked to begin with an update on the Federal Communications Commission’s efforts to promote the development and deployment of 5G. This is something we’ve spent quite some time on, to say the least. We call our strategy the 5G FAST plan, and it has three key components: freeing up spectrum, promoting wireless infrastructure, and modernizing regulations to encourage fiber deployment.

On June 4, eight senators wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai about Ligado's spectrum license. The senators asked for answers to 13 questions about the FCC's decision to modify technical aspects of Ligado's license. On June 12, Chairman Pai answered the questions. 

T-Mobile and Sprint completed their merger on April 1. And now — no surprise to the deal’s opponents — the merged company is already reneging on some of conditions regulators imposed to approve the deal. Most recently T-Mobile has moved to overturn several conditions imposed by the California Public Utilities Commission, including at least one the company specifically promised Atty. Gen.

T-Mobile has applied for instant spectrum leases with Channel 51 License Company and LB License Co. to lease 600 MHz spectrum in a number of major markets, including Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, New Orleans, St. Louis, San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta, and Seattle, among others.

The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council -- joined by more than two dozen national organizations -- says the Federal Communications Commission should make sure that the initial tranche of its $9 billion in rural 5G subsidy funding goes to help those furthest from digital equality, which includes impoverished African American and Hispanic communities. The groups say that the FCC should prioritize funding according to poverty, not population density.

Trump administration officials have talked about inserting the federal government deep into the private sector to stiffen global competition against Chinese telecom giant Huawei. The ideas -- discussed intermittently with US tech giants, private-equity firms, and veteran telecom executives -- include prodding large US technology companies like Cisco to acquire European companies Ericsson or Nokia.

The Federal Communications Commission has been working throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that critical communications infrastructure projects continue to proceed at a time when so many Americans are relying on high-speed Internet services. On June 25, the FCC announced a process that has been developed in coordination with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation that will further expedite the process for reviewing those infrastructure builds.

“The Republican Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee have put together a smart and comprehensive set of infrastructure reforms. Their thoughtful reforms would bring families across the digital divide and further extend America’s leadership in 5G by helping to accelerate the build out of high-speed Internet services. Their ideas, including legislation that would tackle the permitting delays that persist for Internet builds on federal lands, would make an immediate difference for rural communities across the country.

The Justice Department and a coalition of state attorneys general are taking the first steps toward launching an antitrust probe of Apple, turning the iPhone-maker into the latest Silicon Valley giant to face legal jeopardy in Washington. Antitrust officials have spoken to several companies unhappy with Apple’s ironclad control of its App Store, the source of frequent griping by developers who say the company’s rules are applied inconsistently — particularly for apps that compete with Apple’s own products — and lead to higher prices and fewer choices for consumers.