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Tag Archives: FCC
U.S. FCC set to ban approvals of new Huawei, ZTE equipment -document
WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is set to ban approvals of new telecommunications equipment from China’s Huawei Technologies and ZTE (000063.SZ) in the United States on national security grounds, according to an agency document.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel last week circulated the proposed ban to the other three commissioners for final approval. The companies would not be able to sell new equipment in the United States without equipment authorizations.
“The FCC remains committed to protecting our national security by ensuring that untrustworthy communications equipment is not authorized for use within our borders, and we are continuing that work here,” Rosenworcel said in a statement Thursday.
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The FCC faces a mid-November congressional deadline to act.
In June 2021, the FCC voted to advance the plan to ban approvals for equipment in U.S. telecommunications networks from Chinese companies deemed national security threats, including Huawei and ZTE.
That came after a March 2021 designation of five Chinese companies on the so-called “covered list” as posing a threat to national security under a 2019 law aimed at protecting U.S. communications networks: Huawei, ZTE, Hytera Communications Corp (002583.SZ), Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co (002415.SZ) and Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co (002236.SZ).
Senate Intelligence Committee chair Mark Warner said he was glad to see the FCC “finally take this step to protect our networks and national security.”
The FCC said in June 2021 it was considering banning all equipment authorizations for all companies on the covered list.
This year, the FCC added Russia’s AO Kaspersky Lab, China Telecom (Americas) Corp (0728.HK), China Mobile International USA (0941.HK), Pacific Networks Corp and China Unicom (Americas) to the covered list.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said in 2021 the FCC had approved more than 3,000 applications from Huawei since 2018.
In 2019, the United States placed Huawei, Hikvision and other firms on its economic blacklist.
Also in 2020, the FCC designated Huawei and ZTE as national security threats to communications networks – a declaration that barred U.S. companies from tapping an $8.3 billion government fund to purchase equipment from the companies.
Earlier this year, the Chinese embassy in Washington said the FCC “abused state power and maliciously attacked Chinese telecom operators again without factual basis.”
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Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Jyoti Narayan in Bengaluru; Editing by John Stonestreet, Jonathan Oatis and Marguerita Choy
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
FCC reversal $885.5M Starlink award has no lawful basis, commissioner says
A Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioner, Brenden Carr, called out the FCC for denying Starlink’s $885.5 million infrastructure award. The FCC said that funding the network of Starlink satellites wouldn’t be the best use of limited broadband subsidies.
FCC Chairwoman, Jessica Rosenworcel said that the technology had real promise but that the FCC couldn’t afford to “subsidize ventures that are not delivering the promised speeds or are not likely to meet program requirements.”
Commissioner Carr highly disagreed with this move and shared his thoughts about it on Twitter. He said that its decision to reverse the $885 million infrastructure award was not only concerning, but done without legal justification. And it would leave rural Americans “waiting on the wrong side of the digital divide.”
The FCC’s 2020 award to Starlink secured a deal for the delivery of high-speed Internet service to 642,925 unserved locations.
But the FCC just vaporized that commitment and replace it with… nothing. That’s a decision to leave families on the wrong side of the digital divide.
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) August 24, 2022
In his statement, Commissioner Carr said that he was surprised to find out by an FCC press release that reversed the $885.5 million infrastructure award that SpaceX had won in 2020. He said that this move mirrored the agency’s “broader set of missteps by costing taxpayer dollars while leaving rural communities behind.”
Commissioner Carr wrote,
“As an initial matter, this is a very curious outcome because the reasons the agency offers for backtracking on this infrastructure decision do not withstand even casual scrutiny. Indeed, the reversal constitutes clear error and plainly exceeds agency authority.”
“First, the FCC’s announcement claims that the agency is acting to ‘avoid extensive delays in providing the needed service to rural areas.’ Yet, that is exactly the outcome that this decision ensures. The FCC’s 2020 award to Starlink secured a commitment for the delivery of high-speed internet service to 642,925 unserved rural homes and businesses across 35 states. By reversing course, the FCC has just chosen to vaporize that commitment and replace it with…nothing. That’s a decision to leave families waiting on the wrong side of the digital divide when we have the technology to get them high-speed service today.”
Commissioner Carr also said that the agency’s excuse that Starlink’s technology is “risky” and “still developing, has no bearing. He noted that the FCC’s own speed testing data shows that Starlink’s speed has “increased significantly year over year.”
He further called the skepticism that the FCC showed “odd” since it is in “direct conflict with the confidence expressed by the other components of the federal government–including the Air Force, which just inked a nearly $2 million deal with Starlink to deliver high-speed Internet service to military bases.”
The FCC criticized Starlink’s pricing and Commissioner Carr also brought this up. “The agency cites Starlink’s price point in denying it this universal service award. Yet right now, the FCC is providing universal service awards for far slower internet services that cost consumers far more.”
Residents in Napakiak, Alaska, the Commissioner said, are paying hundreds of dollars every month for services supported by the FCC’s universal service awards that deliver “speeds less than 1/10th of Starlink’s.”
Commissioner Carr also said that the denial was without a lawful basis since “the 2020 Commission-level decision governing the Starlink award and similar awards did not authorize staff to deny a winning bid based on equipment price point considerations–let alone based on an arbitrary one selectively applied to one winner. As such, the denial here is without a lawful basis.”
Commissioner Carr is also concerned that the FCC’s decision will hurt taxpayers.
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Almost-certain Nest Wifi appears at FCC with Wi-Fi 6E on board
Enlarge / We can’t show you Google’s likely new Nest Wifi router because it’s confidential. But “white” and “spherical” are pretty good bets.
Google has a new device awaiting approval at the FCC, and all signs point to it being an updated Nest Wifi router that not only addresses the notable lack of Wi-Fi 6 on its last model but leapfrogs ahead to Wi-Fi 6E.
In FCC documents made available yesterday, Google asked the FCC to keep confidential its schematics and operational details, including an “Internal Proprietary Antenna Solution consisting of 6 antennas.” As pointed out by Android Police, the filings also show support for the 6 GHz frequencies of Wi-Fi 6E. There are also the standard 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, Bluetooth Low-Energy, and the 2.4 GHz frequencies that smart home connection standard Thread relies upon.
The model number—A4R-G6ZUC—is akin to other Nest products, and 9to5Google says it has confirmed that this is the number for the next Nest Wifi router.
In late 2019, when Google skipped Wi-Fi 6 for Nest Wifi, citing (questionable) cost concerns, we noted that a Wi-Fi 6 router wouldn’t do much for a home mostly filled with Wi-Fi 5 and 4 (i.e., 802.11ac and 802.11n) devices. And yet, had Nest’s router and points used Wi-Fi 6, their ability to use this newly freed-up spectrum space to speak to newer devices—and especially for backhaul moving of traffic from node to node—could have benefitted homes full of noisy devices or those competing with close-by neighbors’ gear.
It’s the same story with Wi-Fi 6E. There’s a small list of devices using the relatively recent Wi-Fi 6E right now: the Pixel 6 and 6a, Samsung’s Galaxy S21 Ultra, some brand-new laptops (not including the latest MacBook Air), and any PC you upgrade yourself with a 6E card. Wi-Fi 6E also lets devices make use of the wider 80 and 160 MHz channels, opening up capacity and reducing interference.
Enlarge / Broadcom chart illustrating the difference between a noisy 5 GHz channel and a clean 6 GHz channel.
Broadcom
It’s worth noting that this FCC filing is only for a Nest Wifi router. It’s unclear whether Google will offer Nest hubs with built-in speakers, as with the previous Nest Wifi. One more notable improvement Google could latch onto new Nest hubs would be Ethernet ports, something painfully lacking from the current generation.
In our benchmark review of Nest Wifi, we were impressed with Nest’s coverage of a 3,500-square-foot, difficult-layout home but found lots of room for improvement. Given the other options available at the same price points, it seemed like an option best suited for those already enthusiastic about Google Assistant speakers.
By the time Nest Wifi arrives (likely at an October Google hardware event), there will probably be strong Wi-Fi 6E mesh competition. We’ll see if the product has the same value proposition then.
Google filing at FCC reveals upcoming Nest Wi-Fi 6E router with Thread
Google appears poised to launch an updated Nest router equipped with Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth Low Energy, and Thread mesh networking radios later this year, according to a new FCC filing. It has the model number A4R-G6ZUC, which is similar to IDs assigned to not only the previous Nest Wifi but also the Nest Mini, Thermostat, and even the Google Glass.
In June, a source confirmed with 9to5Google that a new Google / Nest router was on its way, and now the outlet says it has confirmed this is the model number for that device.
The filing’s internal and external pictures remain confidential and unlisted but break down the wireless technology onboard as well as an “Internal Proprietary Antenna Solution consisting of 6 antennas”:
- 2 x 2.4GHz / 5GHz dual band antennas for BT, Thread, 5GHz Wi-Fi Primary
- 2 x 5GHz Wi-Fi Diversity
- 2 x 2.4GHz / 6GHz dual band antennas for Wi-Fi
Unlike their Wi-Fi 6 predecessors, Wi-Fi 6E routers have a new 6GHz band — in addition to 2.4GHz and 5GHz — for compatible devices to connect to, reducing signal interference and providing faster speeds. Even if you don’t have many devices that can connect on 6GHz yet, the band can be used to backhaul local communications between access points, taking some of the noise out of the network that can increase performance for other connected devices.
While the 9.6Gbps theoretical top speed is unchanged from Wi-Fi 6, the new spectrum should allow devices to use the maximum allowed channel size and reach higher speeds in real-world situations, perhaps around 1–2Gbps with lower latency than you’re used to from a wireless connection.
Since the release of the original Nest Wifi, smart home devices like the HomePod Mini adopted Thread — a part of the smart home interoperability standard Google adopted known as Matter. Thread can create a dedicated network just for smart home devices, making them more reliable and responsive no matter the manufacturer.
It’s possible that the new Wi-Fi 6E Google / Nest router will be out by the end of the year. The current Nest Wifi package comes with a router and single mesh point and sells for $269 regularly, but the price could increase like the competition’s this time around. TP-Link’s mesh Wi-Fi 6E option, for instance, comes in a pair as well for $299, and the Eero Pro 6E from Amazon comes in at $499 for a pair.
Starlink application to provide internet to rural areas denied by FCC
Elon Musk’s satellite internet service, Starlink, recently met a speed bump after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) denied SpaceX’s bid for almost $1 billion in subsidies on Wednesday. SpaceX was looking to secure subsidies for its efforts to provide high-speed satellite internet to rural areas in the United States.
SpaceX was awarded $855.5 million in the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunities Fund in December 2020. The FCC noted that the Elon Musk-led private space company had sought funding to provide satellite internet services to almost 650,000 locations across 35 states. The subsidies were introduced as an incentive for broadband providers to bring internet service to remote areas of the country.
As noted by the FCC in a press release, Starlink and another company that was looking to secure subsidies, LTD Broadband, had “failed to demonstrate that the providers could deliver the promised service.” “Funding these vast proposed networks would not be the best use of limited Universal Service Fund dollars to bring broadband to unserved areas across the United States, the Commission concluded,” the FCC noted.
FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel explained the agency’s decision in a statement.
“After careful legal, technical, and policy review, we are rejecting these applications. Consumers deserve reliable and affordable high-speed broadband. We must put scarce universal service dollars to their best possible use as we move into a digital future that demands ever more powerful and faster networks. We cannot afford to subsidize ventures that are not delivering the promised speeds or are not likely to meet program requirements,” she said.
Rosenworcel highlighted, however, that Starlink’s technology shows a lot of promise. It’s just that in its current state, the technology is still being developed, and its costs to consumers are still fairly high. This could be quite a valid concern considering that a Starlink kit currently costs $599 and its internet service costs $110 per month.
“Starlink’s technology has real promise. But the question before us was whether to publicly subsidize its still developing technology for consumer broadband—which requires that users purchase a $600 dish—with nearly $900 million in universal service funds until 2032,” the FCC Chair added.
It should be noted, however, that Starlink’s deployment in Ukraine has shown that one satellite internet kit could serve users belonging to more than one household. As noted by officials in Ukraine, there were about 12,000 Starlink dishes that have been deployed in the country as of May. These 12,000 dishes serve about 150,000 daily users across Ukraine at the time.
The FCC’s press release can be viewed below.
DOC-386140A1 by Simon Alvarez on Scribd
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FCC denies SpaceX Starlink for nearly $1 billion broadband subsidies
A Starlink satellite terminal, also known as a dish, setup in front of an RV.
SpaceX
The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday denied SpaceX’s bid for nearly $1 billion worth in subsidies to support rural broadband customers through the company’s Starlink satellite internet network.
SpaceX, which is controlled by Elon Musk, had been awarded $885.5 million in the FCC’s $9.2 billion auction in December 2020 under the regulator’s Rural Digital Opportunities Fund.
The FCC subsidies are designed to be an incentive for broadband providers to bring service to the “unserved” and hard-to-reach areas of the United States.
In a press release, the FCC said both Starlink and LTD Broadband – another company that initially was awarded $1.3 billion in subsidies under the program – “failed to demonstrate that the providers could deliver the promised service.”
“We must put scarce universal service dollars to their best possible use as we move into a digital future that demands ever more powerful and faster networks. We cannot afford to subsidize ventures that are not delivering the promised speeds or are not likely to meet program requirements,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement.
Rosenworcel added that SpaceX’s technology has “real promise” but emphasized that Starlink is still “developing.”
SpaceX did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Starlink is the company’s plan to build an interconnected internet network with thousands of satellites, designed to deliver high-speed internet to anywhere on the planet. SpaceX has launched more than 2,700 Starlink satellites to orbit, and the service had more than 400,00 subscribers as of May. The company has raised capital steadily to fund development of both Starlink and its next-generation rocket Staarship, with $2 billion brought in just this year.
The FCC’s denial of Starlink from the RDOF program comes soon after a separate but crucial authorization for SpaceX to provide mobile Starlink internet service to boats, planes and trucks.
An FCC regulator wants TikTok removed from app stores. Here’s how a company executive responded
But a TikTok executive, in a rare interview on CNN’s “Reliable Sources” on Sunday, claimed there are no security concerns linked to the hugely successful app.
The short-form video app is the most downloaded in the world, beating Instagram with 3.5 billion downloads. Users spend an average of at least 46 minutes a day on the app, sending it storming past its competition.
On the surface, TikTok is certainly lighthearted, allowing users to share content including dance videos and cooking tutorials. But critics think something more sinister may be built into its model, claiming its power comes from its data collection and algorithms.
TikTok is owned by the Beijing-based ByteDance, which means the company is essentially under the control of the Chinese government, said CNN’s chief media correspondent Brian Stelter.
Bytedance has promised to house American data on servers in the United States to quell concerns. But an explosive Buzzfeed News report published two weeks ago revealed that, according to leaked audio from internal meetings, engineers in China were able to repeatedly access US user data.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr told Stelter lawmakers had asked TikTok directly if any data is being accessed by Beijing. Instead of being upfront, he said, the company has repeatedly said all US user data is stored in the US.
“And that’s not just a national security problem, but to me it looks like a violation of the terms of the app store,” Carr said. He has written a letter to Google and Apple asking them to boot TikTok out of their app stores, giving them until July 8 to respond.
The FCC doesn’t have jurisdiction over social media, Stelter pointed out. But Carr said the FCC has developed an understanding of how the Chinese government can take data and infiltrate communications.
The claims that TikTok is collecting browser history is “simply false,” said Michael Beckerman, head of public policy, Americas, at TikTok. He also said that while the app scans your face for filters, it does not use it to identify individuals.
Stelter asked if any Chinese Communist Party members has seen nonpublic TikTok user data. “The answer is we have never shared information with the Chinese government, nor would we,” Beckerman said, adding they have US-based security teams.
“Are TikTok’s engineers, the people that are developing this tool, creating this tool, are they beholden to China, and is that a threat to the US?” Stelter asked again.
“No, absolutely not. TikTok is not a security threat,” Beckerman said, adding TikTok is willing to be transparent and work with stakeholders.
The Buzzfeed report also said there were concerns that China could use TikTok to “influence Americans commercial, cultural or political behavior.”
“Yeah, I just I just don’t see that,” Beckerman said, saying the videos he sees are all from US creators.
Beckerman said the app does not allow political ads and it’s primarily a platform for entertainment. Stelter pointed out investigations from The Wall Street Journal that revealed “rabbit holes” users go down on topics like eating disorders. “(Harmful content) is a problem for the internet as a whole,” Beckerman said.
“It’s something that we’ve worked really hard on to eliminate our platform anything that’s dangerous or harmful, violates our community guidelines.”
FCC commissioner calls on Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores
In a June 24 letter to the CEOs of Apple (AAPL (AAPL)) and Google (GOOGL (GOOGL)), FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr described ByteDance as “beholden” to the Chinese government and “required by law to comply with [Chinese government] surveillance demands.” Citing a recent BuzzFeed News report that ByteDance’s Chinese staff had accessed US TikTok users’ data on multiple occasions, Carr said the allegations showed how TikTok is “out of compliance with the policies that both of your companies require every app to adhere to.”
Apple and Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement, TikTok called the BuzzFeed report “misleading.”
“Like many global companies, TikTok has engineering teams around the world,” TikTok said. “We employ access controls like encryption and security monitoring to secure user data, and the access approval process is overseen by our US-based security team. TikTok has consistently maintained that our engineers in locations outside of the US, including China, can be granted access to U.S. user data on an as-needed basis under those strict controls.”
In a statement, Buzzfeed News said it “stands categorically behind our reporting that US user data was accessed by China-based TikTok employees far more frequently than previously known, and we’re glad that TikTok even confirmed this in its own statement.”
For years, US officials have expressed concerns that Chinese government access to US users’ data or communications could put national security at risk. But whether Carr’s plea will work is uncertain.
The FCC plays no role in regulating internet-based services such as app stores, and prior efforts by the US government to ban TikTok from US app stores have faltered amid court challenges. Decisions about how and whether the FCC should act would require buy-in from Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, who leads the independent federal agency.
The same day as the BuzzFeed report, TikTok announced that it had migrated its US user data to Oracle cloud servers based in the United States, and that it would eventually be deleting backups of its US user data from its own proprietary servers.
Carr wrote in his letter that he was not assured by the announcement. “TikTok has long claimed that its U.S. user data has been stored on servers in the U.S. and yet those representations provided no protection against the data being accessed from Beijing,” he said. “Indeed, TikTok’s statement that ‘100% of US user traffic is being routed to Oracle’ says nothing about where that data can be accessed from.”
– CNN’s Oliver Darcy contributed to this report
Google and Apple urged to ban TikTok app by FCC commissioner
Carr referenced a recent BuzzFeed News report that revealed that Beijing-based employees of TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, had repeatedly accessed private information on U.S. users, despite company assurances to the contrary.
“It is clear that TikTok poses an unacceptable national security risk due to its extensive data being combined with Beijing’s apparently unchecked access to that data,” Carr wrote. “But it is clear that TikTok’s pattern of conduct and misrepresentations regarding the unfettered access that persons in Beijing have to sensitive U.S. user data … puts it out of compliance with policies that both of your companies require every app to adhere to as a condition of remaining available on your app stores.”
He said TikTok is far from just a funny video app for young people, calling that aspect of its business “sheep’s clothing” meant to disguise the fact that it is a sophisticated tool for mass surveillance.
TikTok was a frequent target of regulators and White House officials during the Trump administration. ByteDance eventually struck a deal allowing TikTok to continue operating in the U.S., largely through a promise to store user data in the United States.