BROWSING: Policy

FCC blocks Huawei, ZTE gear from USF funding; requires rip and replace

FCC bars carriers which receive USF funding from buying ZTE, Huawei gear or services The Federal Communications Commission has unanimously moved to block the use of Universal Service Fund monies to buy telecommunications equipment and services from companies that "pose a national security threat," and...

FCC looks to divvyup 5.9 GHz band between C-V2X and unlicensed use

75 megahertz of 5.9 GHz spectrum are in play  This week U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai laid out a plan to reallocate 75 megahertz of the 5.9 GHz band for cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) communications and for unlicensed uses like Wi-Fi. The FCC will...

Increased mobile usage, 5G/Wi-Fi handoff big security risks in 2020: Report

During 2020, 25% of all breaches will happen outside the network perimeter WatchGuard has released its 2020 cybersecurity predictions, and according to the report, vulnerabilities in 5G/Wi-Fi handover and the increase of mobile device usage and remote employees will be cause for serious concern in...

Pai: C Band auction will be public, conducted by FCC

Pai tells senators that C Band auction will be conducted publicly by the FCC Federal Communications Commission Chair Ajit Pai said in a letter to Congress that the C Band auction will be public and conducted by the FCC, dashing satellite operators' hopes that they...

C Band Alliance offers up at least 30% of auction proceeds to the US Treasury

CBA says it is working on effort to put proposed C Band private auction funds toward a rural 5G network In its continued push to lead a private auction of C Band spectrum, the C Band Alliance says that it will pay at least 30%...

Tech, Wi-Fi companies back broader unlicensed use at 6 GHz; public safety and utilities balk

As the Federal Communications Commission considers whether, and how, to utilize spectrum at 6 GHz for unlicensed use, a group of tech and Wi-Fi companies that includes Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and Google has thrown its support behind providing additional room for Wi-Fi to grow. In...

Achieving network resiliency: Key recommendations from the IAC

"Emergency mitigation happens during blue skies, not during the storm." What does it take to achieve communications network resilience during a disaster?  In a new report on disaster response coordination, the Intergovernmental Advisory Committee lays out best practices and recommendations on network resiliency to the...

FCC officially approves Sprint/T-Mobile US merger and conditions

The Federal Communications Commission has officially laid out the conditions which the New T-Mobile US must meet as part of its approval of the merger of Sprint and T-Mobile US, with the three commissioners who voted to support the merger all citing its impact...

AT&T settles FTC data throttling complaint for $60 million

FTC commissioner called former AT&T practice essentially 'scammed' unlimited customers This week AT&T agreed to settle a 2014 complaint from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission that alleged the carrier "failed to adequately disclose to its unlimited data plan customers that, if, they reach a certain...

CenturyLink, West Safety Comms agree to $575,000 fine over 911 outage

Network operators CenturyLink and West Safety Communications have settled with the Federal Communications Commission over violations of FCC rules due to a 911 service outage. The two companies agreed to pay $575,000 in fines and put in place a three-year compliance and reporting plan to...

C Band Alliance ups the spectrum ante, proposes potential CBA-led auction rules

Satellite operators have sweetened the pot, offering to voluntarily clear an additional 100 megahertz of C-Band spectrum, as the Federal Communications Commission continues to mull the band's future. In a recent filing with the Federal Communications Commission, the C Band Alliance of satellite operators committed...

FCC to amend tariffing rules and expedite 800 MHz band reconfiguration

FCC meeting will address wireline competition, public safety & homeland security and media The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold an open meeting at the end of this week. The meeting will address a number of issues including wireline competition, public safety & homeland security...

Indian carriers prepare for 5G despite high spectrum prices

Indian carriers have been busy conducting trials and implementing 5G-ready equipment For some time, it was looking as if India’s 5G spectrum auctions would take place by the end of this year. However, high spectrum prices continue to throw a wrench in India’s 5G timeline....

From adaptive security to augmented intelligence – 10 trends for smart city CIOs

The policy is the technology and the technology is the policy. That is the truth of city governance in the digital age, says Gartner. Any government services delivered at scale are underpinned by various technologies, it says. The challenge is to get these technologies...

Major G20 alliance seeks to establish global standards for smart city tech

Fifteen smart city networks and tech governance groups, representing 200,000 public and private sector organisations in the smart cities space, have joined together to establish global policy standards for the use of connected devices in public spaces.  Their objective, they said, is to ensure cities...

Consumers want to retain some call-blocking control, TNS survey finds

Only about 40% of mobile phone users want their carriers to automatically block all calls from numbers not in their contacts list -- but that number nearly doubles for calls highly suspected to be spam, according to a new survey from Transaction Network Services. TNS...

DC Circuit court largely upholds net neutrality repeal, but FCC can’t preempt net neutrality state laws

FCC commissioners react to ruling that largely upholds the repeal, but strikes down preemption of net neutrality rules by states and cities A federal appeals court ruling on the Federal Communications Commission controversial repeal of net neutrality regulations for broadband providers was mostly a win...

FCC proposes PAL auction rules, June 2020 start date

"Hallelujah!" says Commissioner Michael O'Rielly The Federal Communications Commission has unanimously approved a proposal for rules governing the auction of Priority Access Licenses in the 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service, with a proposed auction start date of June 25, 2020. The CBRS band "holds the...

FCC investigating Sprint for massive Lifeline program mismanagement

FCC Chairman: “It’s outrageous that a company would claim millions of taxpayer dollars for doing nothing." Sprint has allegedly received tens of millions of dollars in federal Lifeline subsidies for mobile phones which were inactive and should have been un-enrolled from the program, according to...

What is Project BroadWay?

What is Project BroadWay? About a decade ago, the European Commission started having formal conversations around TETRA and the future of public safety communications networks. This led to the formation of Public Safety Communications – Europe, and subsequently to research validating what public safety users...

Huawei: Network security requires carrier, vendor and government collaboration

The Huawei network security panel highlighted equipment verification, operation transparency and global standards In what appeared to be a direct response to the U.S.’ continued suspicion of Huawei Technologies and its potential threat to U.S. network security, the Chinese equipment vendor sponsored a seminar at...

Senators urge FCC to review licenses of two Chinese carriers

FCC Chairman urged to review China Telecom and China Unicom domestic operations Two U.S. senators asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and national security agencies to review whether Chinese state-run telecom operators China Telecom and China Unicom should be allowed to operate in the United States due...

Key takeaways from NTIA’s first report on spectrum repurposing

Earlier this month, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration laid out the current spectrum landscape: what has been recently accomplished, what happening now and what is in the pipeline for potential sharing or allocation of spectrum for commercial use. The first annual Report on the...

FTC vs. Qualcomm – Support pours in for Qualcomm from all sides in its appeals process

Qualcomm got a reprieve when the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit stayed the decision of United States District Court for the Northern District of California’s (DC) in its antitrust case. Immediately after the stay, Qualcomm filed its opening brief (175 pages...