The days of Dish and T-Mobile playing nice may be coming to an end. On March 13, during the height of the coronavirus crisis, Dish lent its portfolio of 600 MHz spectrum to T-Mobile at no cost for 60 days in order to bolster wireless capacity during the pandemic. Recently, T-Mobile asked Dish for an extension of its 600 MHz spectrum loan until June 30. T-Mobile says the continued use of Dish’s spectrum is necessary to support the needs of customers who are still working and learning from home. It says usage of smartphones for hotspot tethering is up 57% on T-Mobile’s network, often for laptop and tablets used for schooling at home. Dish responded with a letter to the Federal Communications Commission, saying it was unwilling to grant T-Mobile’s request for continued free use of its 600 MHz licenses until June 30. Dish cited a number of reasons for refusing the request. It said granting the extension could interfere with the Department of Justice’s evaluation of a commercial lease between the parties related to the terms of the Sprint/T-Mobile merger. Dish said the parties have not yet stuck a commercial lease agreement deal for Dish’s 600 MHz licenses.

It's 2020, and a coronavirus pandemic has underscored how crucial broadband service is to the lives of Americans for work, entertainment, and school. Internet service is a necessity, and yet it isn't regulated as a utility. But back in 2014 (when this story was originally published) and 2015, there was a hot debate over whether the Federal Communications Commission should treat broadband service like a utility—or, more precisely, as a Title II common-carrier service—in order to impose net neutrality rules. Ars Technica is resurfacing this article from December 2014, which examined the cable industry's argument that utility-style regulation would hurt broadband users and broadband providers. Ultimately, the FCC did reclassify broadband to enforce net neutrality in 2015, but never imposed strict utility regulations like price caps or network unbundling. Broadband users enthusiastically supported the rules and internet service providers (ISPs) admitted to investors later that the extra regulation didn't harm their businesses. But FCC Chairman Ajit Pai deregulated the broadband industry anyway, eliminating net neutrality rules and other consumer protections such as a prohibition on hidden fees. Since Pai's decision, the top ISPs have been decreasing network investment despite operating in the mostly regulation-free environment they sought, and the FCC has relied on ISPs' voluntary promises instead of real rules to keep customers online during the pandemic.

The state’s goal to get 92% of rural Colorado connected to decent broadband by June will miss the mark. No single factor was to blame — and it had nothing to do with the coronavirus pandemic. But an overall reason is that determining the figure is a crapshoot. “There’s no place for us to go to get more accurate information,” said Anthony Neal-Graves, executive director of the Colorado Office of Broadband, which is focused on getting rural Colorado coverage to 100%. ”Even the (Federal Communications Commission) admits that the data they have is awful.” Internet access in the state’s rural communities has barely budged in 12 months. It’s now at 87.1%, up from 86% last June. The state updates the numbers twice a year based on surveys sent to internet service providers. Responding is not required by law and nearly a quarter of the 90 ISPs surveyed failed to share an update. That’s not stopping Neal-Graves, though. He said the state has awarded nearly $20 million in grants in the past year to local governments and private internet providers to improve service in rural communities.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, on behalf of the executive branch, particularly the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Transportation (DoT), respectfully petitions the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider or, in the alternative, to clarify its Order and Authorization. NTIA also requests that the FCC rescind its approval of the mobile-satellite service (MSS) license modification applications conditionally granted to Ligado Networks, which will cause irreparable harms to federal government users of the Global Positioning System (GPS). Separately, NTIA is seeking a stay in the proceedings to prevent Ligado from deploying its network until this petition is addressed and harmful interference concerns are resolved.