The European Commission OK'd Liberty Global's sale of its German, Hungarian, Romanian and Czech Republic operations to Vodafone, Liberty said Thursday. It said the deal announced 14 months ago (see 1805090005) now has met all regulatory conditions and is expected to close by month's end.
Tech cheered the appointment of former German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen as European Commission president. In her political guidelines, von der Leyen pledged to present legislation on artificial intelligence within 100 days and a "digital services act" to upgrade EU rules on digital platforms, services and products, the Computer & Communications Industry Association noted. CCIA Vice President Christian Borggreen urged the EC "to develop smart and evidence-based policies to build a thriving European Digital Single Market." Guido Lobrano, Information Technology Industry Council vice president-policy for Europe, welcomed von der Leyen's "early commitment to digitalization in Europe" and asked her to advance "future-proof tech policies."
Chinese companies lead the world on 5G R&D and are poised to continue that trend, China Briefing reported. China has other advantages, including a dense fiber network, the report said. China’s domestic market is huge, the report noted: “China has the world’s largest end-user base -- over 800 million internet users” and estimates of 576 million 5G users by 2025 “or more than 40 percent of the global total. Their demand may lead to a flood of 5G applications.”
AT&T wants a three-year extension of its waiver of the benchmark rate for telecom traffic between the U.S. and Cuba. In an FCC docket 10-95 posting Tuesday, it said the extension would renew just the commercial relationship between it and Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba (ETECSA). It said it hasn't negotiated a reduction in termination rates with ETECSA, but progress is being made.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative set deadlines and a hearing for its Trade Act Section 301 investigation into France's digital services tax (see 1907110033). Request to appear by noon Aug. 12 for the Aug. 19 hearing that starts at 9:30 a.m. that day, USTR said. The regulations.gov docket is USTR-2019-0009. Aug. 26 is when post-hearing submissions are due.
Israel officials said they'll hold a 5G auction, with the goal of announcing winners by December and launching next year. Israel plans to auction frequencies ranging from 700-2100 MHz, already used for 4G services, to 2600-3800 MHz, which is set aside for 5G, The Times of Israel reported Monday.
ICANN wants input on policy recommendations for protecting domain name acronyms used by international governmental (IGOs) and non-governmental organizations (INGOs). IGOs want a system that would allow them to protect and challenge misuse of their identifiers (see 1810240001). Domain names protected by international treaties rather than trademark law, such as those for the World Health Organization or UN, can't use ICANN mechanisms such as the uniform dispute resolution policy. The Generic Names Supporting Organization Council just approved recommendations for addressing the problem, ICANN noted Friday. They include: (1) No substantive changes to existing rights protection mechanisms for INGOs. (2) No specific new dispute resolution procedures for IGOs. (3) Clarified policy guidance for IGOs filing complaints under the existing process. Comments are due Aug. 20.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will begin a Section 301 investigation of France’s new digital services tax, which just passed the French parliament, USTR said: The 3 percent tax’s structure “as well as statements by officials suggest that France is unfairly targeting the tax at certain U.S.-based technology companies." A Federal Register notice will follow with instructions on how to comment on or testify, USTR said Wednesday. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., praised the investigation’s launch. “The United States would not need to pursue this path if other countries would abandon these unilateral actions and focus their energies on the multilateral process that is underway at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development,” they said. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, Information Technology Industry Council and Computer and Communications Industry Association welcomed the investigation, in statements through Thursday. French President Emmanuel Macron hadn't yet signed the bill, also passed Thursday.
The Commerce Department is reviewing export license applications to sell to Huawei to “mitigate as much of the negative impacts of the entity listing as possible” and hopes to have decisions “soon,” said Nazak Nikakhtar, Commerce undersecretary-industry and security. Nikakhtar, speaking Tuesday at Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security’s annual export controls conference, briefly discussed Huawei after Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told the conference Huawei won't be removed from BIS’ entity list, confirming July 3 comments from a spokesperson (see 1907050003). Commerce is planning to roll back some restrictions on export licenses to Huawei and evaluate applications based on their U.S. national security impacts. White House Chief Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow said at a Tuesday CNBC event that some Huawei “general merchandise” sales will be permitted. Commerce’s altered approach came from recent feedback from U.S. companies, said Nikakhtar. “We’re moving forward cautiously by recognizing that the right approach is one that allows U.S. businesses to grow while we don’t stifle innovation but importantly while we also protect national security,” she said. President Donald Trump initially made the announcement at the G-20 Summit in Japan, saying the U.S. and China had agreed to resume trade talks (see 1907020060). Nikakhtar said BIS “recognizes the impact our entity listing has on U.S. exporters” and urged companies to make use of the 90-day temporary general license the agency issued in May. She said BIS hopes U.S. industries “consider shifting towards other sources of equipment, software and technology.” Huawei’s inclusion on the entity list “was not taken lightly,” Nikakhtar said. “We should not, nor should we ever, fail to take action because of a company's size or our dependence on export sales.”
Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf and AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson were among 41 business leaders at a Monday dinner that President Donald Trump held at the White House for Qatar Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and his delegation, the White House press pool said. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow also attended.