Jimm Phillips

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s Wednesday testimony to the Senate Appropriations Commerce Subcommittee that the FCC will “possibly” have its revised broadband coverage data map ready in November (see 2205110073) “is correct,” an FCC spokesperson emailed us. “We’ve been working together closely on these efforts.” Raimondo emphasized on Thursday the coming maps’ importance to NTIA’s plans for disbursing its $48 billion in broadband money from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. She spoke during a House Appropriations Commerce Subcommittee hearing on the Commerce Department’s FY 2023 budget request.

Some Senate Democratic backers of FCC nominee Gigi Sohn defended the Biden administration’s handling of her stalled confirmation process (see 2205050050) in interviews this week amid renewed criticism from some communications policy stakeholders. Some Sohn supporters found new cause for concern in the White House’s decision to hold a Monday event highlighting 20 ISPs’ commitment to offer low-income households broadband plans with download speeds of at least 100 Mbps at no more than $30 per month (see 2205090060) given the providers’ opposition to the nominee.

The FCC is “forecasting” it will have its revised broadband coverage data maps “possibly” in November, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said during a Wednesday Senate Appropriations Commerce Subcommittee hearing. Raimondo urged swift conference committee action to marry elements of the House-passed America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength Act (HR-4521) and Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260). She also touted her role in drumming up international support for U.S.-backed ITU secretary-general candidate Doreen Bogdan-Martin.

The Biden administration’s Monday announcement (see 2205060046) that 20 ISPs committed to offer low-income households broadband plans with download speeds of at least 100 Mbps at no more than $30 per month got a mixed reception among communications policy stakeholders. All of the participating ISPs -- which include Altice, AT&T, Charter, Comcast, Cox, Frontier, Mediacom and Verizon -- were already part of the FCC’s affordable connectivity program that subsidizes qualifying households’ broadband up to $30 per month. The White House said the participating ISPs cover more than 80% of the U.S. population.

FCC nominee Gigi Sohn’s Senate confirmation process may remain indefinitely in limbo despite recent heightened pressure from the nominee’s supporters and opponents on three undecided Democratic senators, said political experts and communications policy observers in interviews. The three Democrats -- Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Mark Kelly of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia -- remained firmly on the fence Thursday.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told the Senate Commerce Committee Tuesday he “had dialogue” with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson on collaborating to ensure there aren’t future interagency spectrum policy disputes on the scale of the 5G C-band rollout fracas earlier this year among the FCC, FAA, NTIA, wireless carriers and the aviation industry. Senate Commerce members focused almost no attention on the issue, which also came up during a Senate Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee hearing last week (see 2204280064). Buttigieg repeatedly backed Senate Commerce members’ calls for legislation to set up a national autonomous vehicle regulatory framework, which has been on the backburner in recent years.

The aviation safety concerns the FAA and airlines voiced about top U.S. wireless carriers’ use of 5G on the C band “won’t be completely resolved by this summer,” though ongoing “dialogue and collaboration” between all parties means “we’re on a better path” now, said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg during a Thursday Senate Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee hearing. Buttigieg’s assessment of the current situation kicked off a new case of heartburn among some communications sector stakeholders.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and some Senate Commerce Committee members used a Wednesday hearing on the Commerce Department's FY 2023 budget goals (see 2204210059) as a platform to press Congress to quickly reach agreement marrying elements of the House-passed America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength Act (HR-4521) and Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260). Committee members also pressed Raimondo on NTIA’s plans for distributing $48 billion in broadband money from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and how to improve interagency spectrum coordination.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association, Netflix, Huawei and Apple reported the largest percentage increases in Q1 lobbying spending among telecom and tech sector entities, based on filings Wednesday. Disney, IBM and T-Mobile reported the biggest percentage spending decreases for the quarter. Facebook parent company Meta, Amazon and CTIA were the top sector spenders for Q1. Most entities boosted their spending or stayed level compared with the same period in 2021.

Democratic FCC nominee Gigi Sohn’s difficult confirmation process and the partisan divisions during the Senate’s 2020 approval of Republican Commissioner Nathan Simington (see 2012080068) don’t necessarily guarantee future commission nominees will face similarly contentious fights, lawmakers and communications policy stakeholders said in interviews. Some observers cited the Senate’s December 68-31 confirmation vote for FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel (see 2112070029) and its 2019 unanimous consent to approve Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks to their current terms as signs that bipartisan consensus on some nominees remains possible.