The Computer & Communications Industry Association, Netflix, Huawei and Apple reported the largest percentage increases in Q1 lobbying spending among telecom and tech sector entities, based on filings Wednesday. Disney, IBM and T-Mobile reported the biggest percentage spending decreases for the quarter. Facebook parent company Meta, Amazon and CTIA were the top sector spenders for Q1. Most entities boosted their spending or stayed level compared with the same period in 2021.
5G deployment is accelerating worldwide, but COVID-19 pandemic challenges still loom, experts said Wednesday during an RCR Wireless webinar. 5G has hit the “scaling to volume phase,” with 2 billion connections expected by 2025, said Sebastien Prieur, group manager-5G transport and RF at Exfo, a testing and analytics company
The FCC approved 4-0 a notice of inquiry asking questions about standards for receivers. As expected (see 2204190053), the main change from what Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated were questions on encouraging innovation for both receivers and transmitters, added at Commissioner Geoffrey Starks' request. Commissioner Nathan Simington has made the issue one of his top focuses since he joined the FCC.
Netflix has begun studying the possible rollout of lower-priced, ad-supported tiers as one way of restoring subscriber growth, said CEO Reed Hastings in a Q1 investor interview Tuesday. Netflix blamed its dismal Q1 results on the lack of an account-sharing monetization strategy, plus “pretty high market penetration” and intensified competition, all driving lower subscriber acquisitions.
YouTube’s announcement last week that it renewed its partnership with Major League Baseball to stream 15 games live and for free this season is part of a race to claim exclusive sports streaming rights that led some sports leagues to become “increasingly fractured across services,” blogged eMarketer Monday. Under the deal, viewers in 182 countries will have access to the games.
Hasbro faces the “potential risk” of $100 million in lost sales this year to Russia, equaling about 2% of 2021 revenue, said Chief Financial Officer Deborah Thomas on a Q1 earnings call Tuesday. “We have paused shipments into Russia” in the aftermath of its Feb. 24 Ukraine invasion, she said.
Anyone looking for 6 GHz Wi-Fi hardware this year should buy 6E because it’s “far better” than a standard dual-band 2.4- or 5-GHz device, said Charles Cheevers, CommScope chief accounting officer, on Parks Associates’ virtual Connection conference Thursday. Service providers that don’t have a design in place for a new gateway, extender or retail product should skip to Wi-Fi 7 for the next iteration, he said.
Expect the FTC to quickly initiate a comprehensive privacy rulemaking after nominee Alvaro Bedoya is confirmed (see 2204150063), former officials and advocates said in interviews.
Education and service will play key roles for the smart home industry as it moves mainstream, said smart home industry members on a Parks Associates Connections webcast Thursday.
The 2022 NAB Show is projected to have about 55% of the attendance of the last in-person show in 2019, but broadcasters told us it feels like a step toward the industry getting back to where it was pre-COVID-19. The show runs April 23-27 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.