The Commerce Department extended until Jan. 10 the deadline for comments its proposed new procedures for reviewing transactions, including imports, that involve information and communications technology and services and are seen as a potential threat (see 1911260044), says Monday’s Federal Register. Industry groups requested the extension beyond the original due date of Dec. 27.
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The Senate passed several telecom measures Thursday, including the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act (S-151). House Commerce Committee Democratic leaders called the bills part of a series of 2019 tech and telecom successes. They also noted some policy priorities for 2020.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said wireless carriers must transmit enhanced wireless emergency alerts to subscribers. After delays, major carriers are expected to immediately be able to transmit the new, improved alerts on their WEA platforms, industry officials said Thursday. Last week, the commission announced the Federal Emergency Management Agency told the FCC the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System wasn’t ready to support wireless emergency alerts by what was to be the Dec. 13 deadline (see 1912130059). The original deadline in a 2016 FCC order was May 1. The FCC also made the requirement official.
ARRL said the FCC should take no action is response to a New York University petition for a declaratory ruling that Section 97.113(a)(4) of FCC rules prohibits the transmission on amateur radio frequencies of “effectively encrypted or encoded messages, including messages that cannot be readily decoded over-the-air for true meaning.” The use of encrypted Winlink Global Radio Email by amateur radio operators has been a long-standing dispute (see 1904010034). “The League does not support limiting experimentation and use of digital techniques in the Amateur Service without a clearly demonstrated need for doing so,” said reply comments posted Wednesday in docket 16-239. “Any such limitation would be unique to the United States. There is no public interest in prohibiting or limiting experimentation with digital techniques in this country.” NYU said few of the comments opposing its petition “appear to originate from licensed amateur radio operators.” It said it doesn’t seek to “halt, harm, or disable operation of Winlink” or similar services. It seeks clarity “to ensure that transparency and openness are assured for all data modes and networks in the amateur radio service, present and future.”
The FCC’s NPRM on the 5.9 GHz band, approved by commissioners 5-0 last week (see 1912120058), underwent changes from the draft circulated by Chairman Ajit Pai three weeks earlier, based on our side-by-side comparison Wednesday when it was released in the Daily Digest. The NPRM proposes to reallocate the 5.9 GHz band for Wi-Fi and cellular vehicle to everything (C-V2X), while potentially preserving a sliver for dedicated short-range communications (DSRC). Officials said last week the item had been tweeked. Draft language that tentatively concluded "no additional provisions are needed to protect non-federal incumbent operations in the 5.9 GHz band from new C-V2X operations” was changed to proposing only. The draft said, “Promoting traffic safety and other [intelligent transportation system] benefits remains a critical priority of the United States, and we support the development and widespread use of these technologies and services.” The final NPRM said, “We continue to recognize the importance of ITS, and are committed to a regime that enables the provision of ITS.” The final notice recognized more explicitly importance of bands beyond 5.9 GHz for ITS, saying the spectrum is “part of a larger transportation and vehicular safety-related ecosystem that also includes spectrum outside of the 5.9 GHz band.” The final document adds language on the importance of ITS. “We note that a primary purpose of the original DSRC band was to provide valuable vehicular safety of life applications to the public,” the final wording said: “We propose that ITS in this band continue to provide safety of life services. ... Additionally, we seek comment on whether there are actions that we should take, or requirements that we should adopt, to promote rapid and effective deployment of ITS.” The final NPRM includes questions not in the draft on 5G Automotive Association assertions C-V2X needs 60 MHz to evolve to include 5G. “Is it necessary to plan for such systems?” the final NPRM asked: “If so, can 20 or 30 megahertz support 5G automotive applications?” The NPRM casts a wider net. “We propose that U-NII-4 devices meet an [out-of-band-emission] limit of -27 dBm/MHz at or above 5.925 GHz, which is the same limit required for U-NII-3 devices at this frequency,” the draft said. The final notice added “or devices that operate across a single channel that spans the U-NII-3 and U-NII-4 bands.” And “autonomous vehicles are already being deployed and clearly cannot be relying on DSRC because it is not widely deployed and would not be for many years even under favorable predictions” changed to “autonomous vehicles are already being tested and deployed using applications and technologies other than DSRC for vehicle-to-vehicle communications or other transportation or vehicular-safety.”
The assets Dish Network would gain through DOJ’s “remedy” with T-Mobile/Sprint would be a “catalyst” to building out a 5G network “faster” than otherwise possible, testified Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen Wednesday at the T-Mobile/Sprint bench trial in U.S. District Court in lower Manhattan. “We’re going to need 5G to compete against the big three incumbents,” including AT&T, Verizon and the new T-Mobile, said Ergen. “We can’t wait” to compete against T-Mobile, he said.
The assets Dish Network would gain through DOJ’s “remedy” with T-Mobile/Sprint would be a “catalyst” to building out a 5G network “faster” than otherwise possible, testified Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen Wednesday at the T-Mobile/Sprint bench trial in U.S. District Court in lower Manhattan. “We’re going to need 5G to compete against the big three incumbents,” including AT&T, Verizon and the new T-Mobile, said Ergen. “We can’t wait” to compete against T-Mobile, he said.
The Senate voted 86-8 Tuesday to pass the compromise FY National Defense Authorization Act. S-1790 includes language targeting Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers Huawei and ZTE. The House approved the measure last week 377-48 (see 1912120061). President Donald Trump tweeted last week he intends to sign. The conference version includes a modified text of House-side anti-Huawei language originally sought by Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., to modify conditions for the Commerce Department to lift Bureau of Industry and Security addition of Huawei to its entity list (see 1906190054). It includes Gallagher’s proposal to direct the president report to Congress on ZTE compliance with a 2018 agreement that lifted Commerce's ban on U.S. companies selling to ZTE (see 1807130048). The measure includes a Senate-cleared proposal from Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., for the director of national intelligence report on how much "global and regional adoption” of foreign-made 5G technology affects U.S. national security. The NDAA includes language from the Authenticating Local Emergencies and Real Threats (Alert) Act to give the federal government sole missile threat alert issuance authority (see 1802070052).
The House passed both FY 2020 federal appropriations “minibus” bills (HR-1158 and HR-1865) Tuesday, taking another step toward averting a government shutdown and funding the FCC, FTC and other agencies through June 30. The Senate must vote before the bills head to President Donald Trump. The House voted 280-138 to pass HR-1158, which allocates $339 million to the FCC and its Office of General Counsel and $331 million to the FTC. The FCC figure is on par with Congress' allocation to the commission in the FY 2019 spending bill but up from the $335.6 million the administration proposed for FY 2020 (see 1903180063). The FTC figure is exactly halfway between the House-proposed funding level of $349.7 million and the Senate Appropriations Committee-cleared level of $312.3 million. HR-1158 also allocates $40.4 million for NTIA, $1.03 billion for the National Institute of Standards and Technology and $3.45 billion for the Patent and Trademark Office. The NTIA funding figure is $2 million below what House and Senate appropriators originally allocated, while the PTO figure is on par with what lawmakers originally envisioned. The House voted 297-120 for HR-1865, which includes Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization language (see 1912160061) drawn from the House Commerce Committee’s Television Viewer Protection Act (HR-5035) and a modified version of the House Judiciary Committee-cleared Satellite Television Community Protection and Promotion Act (HR-5140). HR-1865 also allocates $465 million to CPB beginning in FY 2022 and $659.5 million to the Rural Utilities Service. The CPB figure is $20 million above what it received in annual funding over the past 10 years but $30 million below the amount the House originally allocated, as sought by America’s Public Television Stations (see 1903190033). “While we have appreciated steady funding through 10 years of budgetary austerity, we have been under increasing pressure to do more with less in recent years,” said APTS CEO Patrick Butler. “Technology, viewer habits and our public service missions have changed dramatically during this time, and this increase in funding to $465 million will enable local public television stations to educate more children, protect more lives and property, and equip more well-informed citizens.”
As governments increasingly seek to control aspects of the internet, debate is growing over what they're trying to achieve. Some argue countries such as China and Russia aim for a technical break from the global domain name system (DNS). Others said nations are seeking to align the internet with their jurisdictional boundaries. The issues came up in recent academic writings and a Nov. 27 Internet Governance Forum (IGF) session.