Thomas Gryta

For decades, AT&T, Verizon, and other firms dating back to the old Bell System have known that the lead in their networks was a possible health risk to their workers and had the potential to leach into the nearby environment. They knew their employees working with lead regularly had high amounts of the metal in their blood, studies from the 1970s and ’80s show.

Best Buy’s Jitterbug Flip phone stopped working for some customers after the start of the new year following the planned shutdown of Verizon’s 3G network on December 31, 2022. “As a result of network updates made on January 2, [2023] some customers with a Jitterbug Flip phone are experiencing a disruption to their service,” Best Buy said.

A budding battle between U.S.

The Wall Street Journal studied the internet use of 53 of our journalists across the country, over a period of months, in coordination with researchers at Princeton University and the University of Chicago. Our panelists used only a fraction of their available bandwidth to watch streaming services including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and YouTube, even simultaneously. Quality didn’t improve much with higher speeds. Picture clarity was about the same. Videos didn’t launch quicker.

Verizon Communications will buy Straight Path Communications for about $3.1 billion, after beating rival AT&T in an unusually intense bidding war for the wireless-spectrum holder.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai he didn’t expect the agency to have a role in reviewing AT&T's $85 billion takeover of Time Warner. Chairman Pai said he understood the companies have structured the deal so that no airwave licenses would be transferred, something that would trigger a broad FCC review. “That is the regulatory hook for FCC review,” he said. “My understanding is that the deal won’t be presented to the commission.” That would leave the Justice Department as the sole federal agency reviewing the transaction. He said the FCC hasn’t had any interaction with the department concerning the deal.

The Federal Communications Commission stopped its review of wireless carriers that exclude their own video-streaming services from customers’ usage caps, closing an inquiry that began under the previous administration.

The FCC previously raised concerns about the so-called zero-rating practices by AT&T and Verizon, in which those carriers didn’t apply data used on their streaming services toward customers’ data-usage charges. The agency warned that zero-rating could harm competition by deterring consumers from using services, such as those from Netflix, that aren’t connected with a carrier. The carriers have argued that the practice complies with existing rules and benefits consumers. On Feb 3, however, the acting head of the FCC’s wireless bureau, Nese Guendelsberger, sent letters to AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile US notifying them that no further action would be taken. The action also “sets aside and rescinds” an earlier FCC report raising concerns about zero-rating, along with “any and all guidance, determinations, and conclusions contained therein.” That report will have “no legal or other effect or meaning going forward.” The FCC’s newly appointed chairman, Ajit Pai, has criticized the zero-rating investigation in the past, calling it “sad—and pointless,” and noting that any action “can quickly be undone.” On Feb 3 he said, “Going forward, the Federal Communications Commission will not focus on denying Americans free data. Instead, we will concentrate on expanding broadband deployment and encouraging innovative service offerings.”

The telecommunications industry is embracing the idea of a Trump administration. President-elect Donald Trump’s promises to reduce corporate taxes and to eliminate regulations have been welcomed by executives from an industry facing intense oversight. Four of the biggest players generate more than $340 billion in annual revenue from largely domestic operations. One key area for optimism is taxes. Verizon Communications chief Lowell McAdam recently expressed hope that the Trump administration will be able to lower the corporate rate. “We are not planning on getting into the 15% range; that would be great if it did,” McAdams said.

The US government’s massive airwaves auction again failed to move forward Dec 5 after a single two-hour round of bidding didn’t generate enough demand. The complex process will now move into its fourth stage with another cut to the supply of available licenses, and the auction which kicked off in May likely won’t conclude until 2017. This is the third time the FCC hasn’t drawn enough interest from cellphone operators like AT&T, Verizon Communications, and Comcast in buying the licenses for airwaves now used by television broadcasters. FCC officials have said the auction is designed to run multiple rounds. The FCC will now go back to television broadcasters for a fourth time, cutting the number of licenses it will buy from stations while also likely reducing the price the agency pays for those it does acquire.

The Federal Communications Commission raised new concerns about AT&T’s practice of excluding its new DirecTV Now streaming service from data charges and, for the first time, lobbed similar questions at Verizon Communications. In a pair of letters sent Dec 1, the FCC warned that so called zero-rating, which makes the data used by certain video services free for the carriers’ wireless customers, could harm competition and consumers. The agency argues the practice could deter consumers from accessing mobile-video services not affiliated with the carriers, such as those from Netflix or Hulu, which is co-owned by Walt Disney Co., Comcast Corp., 21st Century Fox and Time Warner Inc. Both AT&T and Verizon responded that the practice complies with existing rules and benefits consumers.