Google joined the 8K Association,” said the group Monday. Harmonic also is among other new members. The Samsung-originated 8KA added Allion Labs and Telecommunications Technology Associates as interoperability test labs, it said.
Country of origin cases
The FCC Public Safety Bureau approved a waiver for the Mendocino County, California, Sheriff’s Office to test the wireless emergency alert system Wednesday, starting at noon PDT. “In light of the recent proclamation of a drought emergency in Mendocino and Sonoma counties, and the timing of this exercise on the verge of wildfire season, we find Mendocino residents and alert originators face a unique and urgent need to understand how alerts are transmitted and received,” said Friday's order.
The FCC seems unlikely to backtrack on last year’s 5-0 order splitting 5.9 GHz between Wi-Fi and auto safety (see 2011180043). Commissioner Brendan Carr considers this a key early test of the commission’s resolve to stick with controversial decisions (see 2105130064). Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg expressed concerns, similar to those in the last administration (see 2103250071).
President Joe Biden’s administration reduced its broadband spending ask to $65 billion Friday in a $1.7 trillion revised infrastructure proposal responding to Senate Republicans' counteroffer, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said during a news conference. The administration originally proposed $100 billion for broadband (see 2104220067), reflecting the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act (HR-1783/S-745) and Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow's (Lift) America Act (HR-1848). “This is the art of seeking common ground,” Psaki told reporters. “This proposal exhibits a willingness to come down in size, giving on some areas that are important to the president ... while also staying firm in areas that are most vital to rebuilding our infrastructure and industries of the future.” This removed “investment in research and development to supply chain, manufacturing and small business,” shifting that money into “other efforts” like the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260), previously known as the Endless Frontier Act, Psaki said. A revised version of S-1260 under Senate consideration includes $49.5 billion to implement the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act and $1.5 billion for the Utilizing Strategic Allied Telecom Act.
The FCC proceeding on its Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act isn’t considered likely to lead to rule changes, but increased enforcement and warnings to licensees could be in the cards, said broadcast and cable attorneys. The FCC acted quickly to begin an examination after the act’s originator, Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., criticized lack of enforcement. The agency has authority to enforce the rule, Rosenworcel told reporters Thursday. Comments on the rules are due June 3 (see 2105070058).
FCC members vowed to ramp up pressure on robocallers, approving a Further NPRM 4-0 Thursday proposing to tighten secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) and signature-based handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) rules, as expected (see 2105180040). Officials told journalists there were minor tweaks to the draft and no substantial changes.
Cyberattacks such as SolarWinds and Colonial Pipeline shouldn't become a norm, said European Member of Parliament Eva Maydell, of the European People's Party Group and Bulgaria, Wednesday at a webcast on the European Commission's proposed network and information security directive update (NIS2). Maydell, who's writing the legislative response to the proposal for the Industry, Research and Energy Committee, said Europe needs a clear, robust defense and high cyber-resilience. Cybersecurity requires trans-Atlantic cooperation, she said. Asked what common ground could be explored, Cisco Head-EU Public Policy Chris Gow listed use of internationally recognized standards; investment funding for governments and industry; better cyber skills for employees; and to "go after the bad guys." If cybercrime losses were an economy, they would be No. 3, Gow said. Major incidents made people fully aware of what's at stake, said Jakub Boratynski, head of unit-cybersecurity and digital privacy policy, EC Directorate-General, communications networks, content and technology. EU cybersecurity strategy began slowly when the original NIS became effective in 2013 and it needs improvement, he said. There's a "mismatch" between the regulatory framework at the EU level and what happens on the ground, said European Network and Information Security Executive Director Juhan Lepassaar: NIS2 is an effort to catch up, and it must also capture the future. The proposal is "evolution, not revolution," Gow said: NIS2 could help create more harmonization, and a more consistent overall approach is needed.
Senate Republicans are eyeing agreeing to more broadband money in an infrastructure deal, and issues remain unresolved, Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker of Mississippi told us. He was among GOP legislators who met Tuesday with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on a GOP counterproposal to President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan, which includes $100 billion for broadband (see 2103310064). “We’re looking at” increasing the broadband spending Republicans agree to, Wicker told us. He suggested add-ons could include additional money to “speed up” FCC rollout of Rural Digital Opportunity Fund money and to “speed up” fixing its broadband coverage data maps. He’s “listening but skeptical of the administration’s position about going through NTIA” to distribute additional broadband money allocated here. Much “hasn’t been fully negotiated,” Wicker said. He and Public Works Committee ranking member Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said they were encouraged by the meeting and believe they’re getting closer to an agreement with the administration. The Republicans’ original counteroffer allocated $65 billion for broadband (see 2105180070). Buttigieg and Raimondo are “digesting what we proposed, and I think the plan is for them to react to that” soon, Capito told reporters. The White House expects to “follow up with” the Republicans “later this week,” a spokesperson said. The Eliminating Barriers to Rural Internet Development Grant Eligibility (E-Bridge) Act, which Capito and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., refiled Wednesday, would remove regulatory barriers to Economic Development Administration grants for broadband deployments in a way that would allow localities to partner with the private sector (see 2005070055).
A Further NPRM proposing to tighten secure telephone identity revisited and signature-based handling of asserted information using tokens rules is expected to be approved 4-0 by commissioners Thursday. Commissioner aides got little public feedback after the Stir/Shaken item circulated. The consensus is smaller providers likely pose a robocall problem and the FCC should investigate, agency officials said. A few changes, none major, are expected.
The FCC tariff rate of return for incumbent LECs is 9.75%, effective July 1, said a staff order Friday. Price cap and RoR incumbent LECs will be required to "tariff separate rate elements for toll-free and non-toll free interstate and intrastate originating end office access service." The commission waived rules limiting the annual access charge tariff filing to rate-level changes. ILECs that didn't "separately track toll-free and non-toll free intrastate switched access demand for the 12-month period ending June 30, 2020" got limited waiver to allow them to "make the required comparison between interstate and intrastate revenue from end office access service using total demand" from both.