Don’t expect the tech industry to replace the Internet Association, due to a lack of justification for the investment and to duplicative associations, tech officials told us in interviews. IA shuttered at the end of 2021 (see 2112150026).

Expect more cable operators to roll out wireless mobility service in 2022 or 2023, analysts told us. The mobile subscriber growth Comcast, Charter Communications and Altice have had since starting their services likely won't level off for some time, they said.

Voxx fiscal Q3 revenue fell short year on year, as several OEM customers temporarily halted production due to component and chip shortages, said CEO Pat Lavelle on a call Tuesday for the quarter ended Nov. 30. Revenue was $191.9 million, down nearly 5%, Voxx reported Monday.

Communications companies, like those in other sectors, are feeling the effects of the COVID-19 surge brought on by the omicron variant, experts said. How much omicron could slow 5G buildout or have other effects may not be known for several weeks. The U.S. is adding almost 700,000 reported cases daily.

A “mentor” with a passion for audio and dedication to success was how two former Denon America colleagues will remember Robert Heiblim, they told us Monday. Heiblim died Friday from complications of lung cancer (see 2201070053).

By CTA’s count, history’s first CES held in-person during a global pandemic drew an audience of “well over” 40,000 when the abbreviated show closed Friday after a three-day run.

The Senate Commerce Committee’s primary goal is to get the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260) signed into law, Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said Friday during a CES 2022 panel streamed from Las Vegas.

Thursday’s final determination by the International Trade Commission that Google devices infringe at least 17 claims in five Sonos multiroom audio patents (see 2201060065) officially terminated the Tariff Act Section 337 investigation sparked by Sonos' unfair competition complaint filed almost exactly two years ago. But the initial Google and Sonos statements reacting to the ITC’s decision suggest this fight isn’t disappearing anytime soon.

SVS CEO Gary Yacoubian wants people to imagine waking up one morning, and finding "your cost of goods just went up by 15%” overnight, he told a CES 2022 trade and supply chain workshop Wednesday on the Section 301 tariffs on finished speakers and subwoofers that SVS imports from China. Speakers and subwoofers with List 4A tariff exposure were originally dutied at 10% when they took effect in September 2019 (see 1908160014), and were later raised to 15%, then cut to 7.5% with the February 2020 enactment of the phase one trade deal with China.

The fight over the C band shows a recurring pattern on spectrum decisions, with agencies and incumbents raising new objections after the FCC makes a decision, officials said during a CES 5G panel, streamed from Las Vegas Thursday. “We shouldn’t see agencies fighting on CNN,” said Asad Ramzanali, legislative director to Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif.: “That’s not a good thing.” None of the FCC commissioners attended CES. Commissioner Nathan Simington was scheduled to speak on the 5G panel but was unable to attend, officials said.