Wireless Internet

Back in 2011 Marc Andreesen famously observed, “Software is eating the world.” Fifth-generation wireless technology is part of that evolution. Amidst all the hype about 5G, what makes it different is the simple reality that it uses software to virtualize activities that were once performed by function-specific pieces of hardware. Huawei would be disadvantaged if telecommunications networks threw off their old ways and began to think like Google and other digital-age companies.

The San Jose Digital Inclusion Fund in California was established about a year ago as a mechanism for closing the digital divide in this largely affluent San Francisco Bay Area city, part of Silicon Valley.

The Federal Communications Commission's Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force proposes to release certain mobile broadband coverage data submitted pursuant to the Mobility Fund Phase II Challenge Process Order. The Task Force commences this process to allow the agency to publicly release carrier-specific 4G LTE coverage maps derived from the MF-II coverage data, consistent with FCC rules and precedent.

It's budget season. Federal departments and agencies are making their funding requests to Congress for fiscal year 2021 (starting October 1, 2020 and ending September 30, 2021). And part of the ask is reporting how well an agency did achieving its FY 2019 goals. One of the primary goals of the Federal Communications Commission is to close the digital divide in rural America.

Although T-Mobile and Sprint still have one last hurdle to clear (the California Public Utilities Commission, which is still reviewing the merger), the companies will try to close the deal as early as April 1, creating a supersize carrier (called, wait for it, T-Mobile) with more than 100 million customers. When (or if) the deal closes, T-Mobile customers will remain with the service. It is unclear what, if anything, will change for them. For Sprint customers, it’s a little more complicated. The majority will transfer to T-Mobile plans as the brand is absorbed.

At the February 2020 open meeting, the Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to vote on procedures for the 3.5 GHz Priority Access License, or PAL, auction. Having taken the lead on the issue, I'll admit that it has been a long road to get here, but this important step represents one of the last actions the FCC needs to take to make these critical mid-band licenses available for 5G and other next-generation wireless services.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the items below are tentatively on the agenda for the February Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Friday, February 28, 2020:

Here's the agenda for the Federal Communications Commission's February open meeting:

Even before Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai formally unveiled his plan for a C-band spectrum auction to reassign bandwidth for 5G wireless services, legislative and public interest forces began voicing their opposition to or endorsements for the proposal.