By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 2-4-22 The FCC said that service providers have asked for $5.6 billion from the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program. Congress provided an initial $1.895 billion. That is the fund Congress created to cover the costs of ripping and replacing insecure tech from U.S. networks to better protect [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 2-4-22 The House has narrowly passed the America COMPETES (Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Preeminence in Technology, and Economic Strength) Act, which among many other things, provides $1.5 billion for securing the wireless mobile broadband market supply chain. The vote was 222-210, with only one Republican voting for the bill [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 2-4-22 In advance of this week’s hearing on aviation interference issues and the 5G C-band rollout, some spectrum policy experts and fans of 5G took aim at the Federal Aviation Administration’s efforts to delay the rollout over interference concerns. They made their case for the Federal Communications Commission in [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 2-3-22 The Senate Judiciary Committee has overwhelmingly passed the bipartisan Open App Markets Act, according to its sponsors, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.). The vote was 21-1 – Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) was the only nay – to favorably report the bill to a vote in [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 2-3-22 The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Aviation heard mostly from concerned aviation witnesses about safety issues related to the rollout of 5G wireless services in the C-band in a marathon hearing Feb. 2 titled “Finding the Right Frequency: 5G Deployment & Aviation Safety.” Federal agencies came [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 2-2-22 The FCC said broadcasters’ challenge of its new program sponsorship rule changes are wrong on all counts. That point was made in the Commission’s brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The FCC voted unanimously last April to boost disclosures for programming on airtime [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 2-1-22 Computer companies are not happy with the news that Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) have reintroduced the Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies (EARN IT) Act. That is the bill that would amend Section 230 of the Communications Act to say that the [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-31-22 The White House has released a guidebook so states and localities can get a better grasp on all of the infrastructure money available to them, including the approximately $65 billion for broadband. The guidebook plays up the half-empty view of broadband – or, in this case, the fraction [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-28-22 The FCC said that 23 broadband providers in 32 states have been authorized to receive over $1.2 billion in Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) money, the largest funding round so far, the FCC pointed out Friday. The money will provide broadband service to over 1 million locations, said [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-28-22 Most of a dozen Republican members of Congress are not happy with the way the Treasury Department has structured the final rule for handing out hundreds of billions of dollars in State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) in the American Rescue Plan, money that they can use [...]