Mariam Baksh

Sen.

China is using the same tactics it employed to drive down the price of telecommunications equipment from Huawei to flood the US market with fiber optic cables—crucial underlying infrastructure for fifth-generation networks—a senior Commerce Department official said. "China is currently driving massive overcapacity in critical sectors including steel, aluminum and optical fiber cables,” said Nazak Nikakhtar, Commerce’ assistant secretary for industry and analysis.

Federal departments and agencies are lined up on different sides of a debate pitting the development of fifth-generation, wireless telecommunications networks against safety and national security concerns associated with the Global Positioning System. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai circulated a draft order to approve satellite communications company Ligado’s application for use of frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum that opponents say would interfere with the reliable operation of GPS applications.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai circulated a draft order for implementing a $200 million telehealth program in line with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, which President Donald Trump recently signed into law. The FCC hopes to start distributing awards within the month for projects that would help patients receive health services remotely under the COVID-19 program. Also in the draft order is final language for a pilot program that would make $100 million available for telehealth projects from the Universal Service Fund. 

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) wants to repeal the current net neutrality rules — even if it takes amending antitrust law. But economist Hal Singer says that’s not the solution. While antitrust law has typically sought to address “concrete harms” like price increases, it hasn’t recognized what he calls “mild forms of discrimination.” That includes an ISP prioritizing one set of internet content over another to promote its own interests to the detriment of its competitors.

House Communications and Technology Chairman Marsha Blackbur (R-TN) is open to using federal antitrust laws to fix the long-running debate over net neutrality. “It’s helpful to consider the complete spectrum of law shielding American consumers from anticompetitive behavior,” she said. “It’s clear that internet service providers are not the only potential roadblock standing between a consumer and his or her content of choice,” she said .