With a broad boost from U.S. Reps. Anna G. Eshoo and Jackie Speier (D-Palo Alto, Hillsborough), a large coalition of Western cities and counties are waging a legal showdown with a shuttered federal government in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals over control of 5G wireless installations. Eshoo's bill, H.R. 530 -- called the Accelerating Wireless Broadband Development by Empowering Local Communities Act of 2019, "essentially resets the clock on the FCC's new rules by erasing what the federal government has implemented in the under-the-wire maneuver." Eshoo noted "5G is essential for our country's communications network and economy, but it must be deployed responsibly and equitably."
Report: Fiber-based broadband will power 59% of 1.2 billion connections by 2025
The Broadband Forum and Point Topic recently predicted that there will be 1.2 billion broadband subscribers worldwide by 2025, with fiber-based broadband playing an increasingly important role. The report further predicts that 89% of the expected 1.2 billion subscribers in 2025 wi...
5G’s deployment’s downside? Dip in small cell spend
AGL Media Group reported that there may be other factors affecting small cell rollout, such as regulatory uncertainty surrounding the FCC small cell order. Crown Castle’s Scott Longhurst was quoted stating "we are in a strange 90-day window. Even though the small cell order ...
Viewpoint: D.C. needs to speed up 5G deployment
Vincent Orange, president and CEO of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, penned an op-ed in the Washington Business Journal stating "the robust development of revolutionary 5G networks throughout the city is well overdue." Orange highlighted the benefits of small cells, ranging from pub...
Georgia Senate OKs rural broadband bill
Georgia senators voted 53-1 for a bill primarily aimed at increasing broadband deployment in rural Georgia and would allow the state’s 41 electric membership corporations (EMCs) to get into the broadband business. In a statement, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan said that, "Broadband a...
PG&E faces pole attachment shot clock, as CPUC arbitrator hands Crown Castle a win
An administrative law judge "gave Crown Castle a victory of sorts in a dispute over terms for attaching fiber optic cable to utility poles that Pacific Gas and Electric owns." If the California Public Utilities Commission signs off on the finding, it will establish a 45-day "shot ...
U.S. conducting 5G security review amid hacking, Huawei concerns
The Department of Homeland Security is "conducting a broad review of risks posed by 5G technology, officials said, as the U.S. grapples with concerns about the new network’s vulnerability to hacking and the rise of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co." Ch...