Steps that EU countries are taking to protect data have major implications for the telecom sector, software provider CSG's Sean Casey said Thursday during a Mobile World Live webinar. Other speakers said geopolitical considerations are playing a big role in how carriers manage their move to the cloud and regulators are forced to pay more attention to where data is stored.
Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg expressed confidence Wednesday that his company will complete its $20 billion acquisition of Frontier (see 2409050010). He told a JPMorgan conference that preparing for Frontier to become part of his company was one of the areas where he spends the largest percentage of his time. Last week, the FCC’s informal 180-day shot clock on the deal expired.
The Trump administration’s tariffs will affect the cost of network equipment used in building BEAD projects, but they aren’t the program's biggest challenge, experts said Wednesday during a Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition webinar.
NextNav on Wednesday called on the FCC to move forward with an NPRM looking at its proposal for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) in the 902-928 MHz band as an alternative to GPS. Others urged the FCC to encourage multiple alternatives as a backup to GPS. Reply comments were due Wednesday on a notice of inquiry that commissioners approved 4-0 in March (see 2503270042). Numerous commenters sharply criticized the NextNav proposal.
Open radio access networks (ORAN) and the movement to the cloud are already shaping RAN deployments worldwide, said Robert Curran, consulting analyst at Appledore Research, said during a TelecomTV virtual summit Tuesday on the future of the RAN.
States opposing the FCC’s July order implementing the Martha Wright-Reed Act of 2022 have shifted gears in part to challenge whether FCC decision-making is legitimate because of the false premise that the regulator is an independent agency. The order, which reduces calling rates for people in prisons while establishing interim rate caps for video calls (see 2407180039), is under appeal in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (24-8028).
Smartphone prices may increase for wireless customers, but AT&T otherwise faces no major challenges from higher U.S. tariffs (see 2505120050), COO Jeff McElfresh told a JPMorgan financial conference Tuesday. Handset prices are “a moving target” and are likely "going to rise,” he said. Customers “will bear the brunt” of rising costs “as they have over the last many cycles in the industry.”
Carriers concerned about rising prices for iPhones and other devices and gear from China got good news early Monday as the Trump administration struck a preliminary agreement to temporarily slash a proposed tariff on Chinese imports from 145% to 30%. “We have reached an agreement on a 90-day pause and substantially moved down the tariff levels -- both sides, on the reciprocal tariffs, will move their tariffs down 115%,” said U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Wiley's David Gross, a former top State Department official on communications, said the next World Radiocommunication Conference in 2027 will be critical, as WRCs usually are. But it’s unclear where the meeting will be held, with China making a strong bid to serve as host, he said. Gross spoke during a Free State Foundation webcast posted Friday and hosted by former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly.
The outlook on what happens next on the Digital Equity Act (DEA) is uncertain after President Donald Trump said his administration won’t fund the program. Congress approved DEA in 2021 as part of a $1 trillion infrastructure package under former President Joe Biden. In a Truth Social post late Thursday, Trump said he's canceling DEA, which industry officials predicted will lead to inevitable legal challenges and months if not years of uncertainty.