Howard Buskirk

CTIA, the Ohio Telecom Association, USTelecom, NCTA, the Wireless ISP Association and other ISP groups asked the 6th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court to stay the FCC’s net neutrality order (see 2406100044). The FCC wants to move the case to the D.C. Circuit and has declined to stay the order, which takes effect July 22. The agency “has asserted total authority over how Americans access the Internet,” according to a joint motion filed Monday (docket 24-3450). “That is not hyperbole,” the groups said. The order “is only the latest jolt in a decade of regulatory whiplash for ISPs,” the associations said. After nearly 20 years of a light-touch approach to regulating the internet, in 2015 the FCC asserted for the first time authority over high-speed internet access service under Title II of the Communications Act, the filing said: Before the U.S. Supreme Court “could weigh in, a new Administration reverted to the traditional light-touch approach. Now, after another change in Administration, the Commission is back to a heavy hand, promising to make even more aggressive use of its claimed powers.” The court should stay “the latest flip-flop pending judicial review” since “petitioners are overwhelmingly likely to succeed on the merits,” the ISPs said. They argue that the order should be rejected under the Supreme Court’s evolving major questions doctrine. “Because the Commission cannot point to clear congressional authorization for applying common-carrier regulation to the Internet, the Order is unlawful,” they said.

The FCC urged the 6th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court Friday to move the challenge to the FCC’s net neutrality order to the D.C. Circuit (docket 24-3450). The FCC also issued an order declining to stay the rules, which take effect July 22, pending judicial review.

DOD Chief Information Officer John Sherman, who has led the department’s work on opening the lower 3 GHz band for 5G, is leaving government for academia. He will become dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. But industry experts agree that the personnel change likely won’t prove disruptive because Leslie Beavers, principal deputy CIO, will replace Sherman on an acting basis.

Selection of the 6th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court to hear industry challenges to the net neutrality order may bode well for industry. Still, many questions remain, including which judges will hear the case and whether arguments are ultimately held in the Ohio-based court, industry experts said Friday.

Momentum is growing behind the launch of stand-alone 5G networks, Heavy Reading analyst Ruth Brown said during a Light Reading webinar on service assurance Thursday. The wireless industry remains in a transitional stage, she said. Carriers are “very eager to start monetizing 5G” and offer “long-awaited advanced 5G services,” she said. “Operators are still working through this long investment cycle,” she said. Carriers feel increasing pressure to ensure they can monitor network operations and “respond dynamically, in real time, to service needs,” Brown said. Moving to the cloud will require service assurance changes and orchestration and life-cycle management, she said. Support “really needs to move to this dynamic, real-time model” and “we need to think about how we’re going to get there.” Brown said automation will be critical, but most carriers report they are already automating their networks. Providers' top priorities are tools for developing and testing software network functions and network diagnostics and the resolution of problems, she said. Cloud native and virtual networks are becoming “more normal” for carriers, said Mark Watts, a member of the Verizon technical staff. “We essentially look at each individual application and whether it fits into the cloud-native” environment, he said. Software-based applications are more nimble than legacy, hardware-based applications, he said, stressing the importance of testing. Verizon prides itself on its reliable network “and that starts with service assurance,” Watts said. “Software testing is … more and more important as we’re embarking on this cloud-native journey,” he said. “Ongoing monitoring” of the cloud-based system “continues to be a very high priority" for Verizon and operators across the globe, Watts said. As carriers introduce different hardware and software into their networks, interoperability is also critical to ensure “the longevity and ongoing reliability of the network,” he said. 5G slicing remains “a hot topic,” as is ensuring that the service offered through slices is automated and “supported more quickly and in a more nimble manner.” Slicing could offer increased security, better gaming, high-throughput or ultra-reliable services beyond what is typically available on Verizon’s network, he said.

The FCC on Thursday approved 3-2 a three-year, $200 million cybersecurity pilot program for schools and libraries. Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington dissented, as some had predicted (see 2406040039). The two cited concerns with the FCC using E-rate program funds for the effort. Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Anna Gomez indicated changes were inserted into the pilot rules at their request.

The future is bright for the tower sector, despite a slowdown in major carriers' 5G deployments (see 402290050), American Tower CEO Steve Vondran said Wednesday at a Raymond James financial conference. The U.S. is seeing 20%-30% annual growth in mobile data “and while that's a little bit lower than the 30% to 40% we saw in 4G, the base is exponentially larger,” Vondran said. “I'm excited for the next decade and the demand for the goods and services we sell has never been more certain than it is today,” he added. Vondran said when he started in the business 24 years ago, consumers viewed cellphones as a luxury and even a few years ago there was speculation about when demand would stop. Carriers will continue to deploy 5G and eventually 6G, he said: “This is a good business, not just historically, but today and going forward.” Crown Castle Chief Financial Officer Daniel Schlanger said at the conference that new CEO Steven Moskowitz is “getting his arms around things” following the company's recent proxy fight (see 2405220071). Unlike other recent CEOs, Moskowitz has an operational background, which the board wanted, Schlanger said. One of the biggest challenges for the tower sector is that no one wants macro towers in their backyard, he said: “They're ugly. … Most people look at them and say, 'I don't want that anywhere near me.'” Small cells can help meet growing data demand, he said, and he discussed the effects of consolidation, most recently T-Mobile’s buy of Sprint. “There has been rationalization of the networks because when two customers come together, they don't need all of the equipment to do everything that they did separately,” he said.

AI is moving beyond the hype as a technology for telecom providers, Ahmed Hafez, Deutsche Telekom vice president-technology strategy, said during a TelecomTV forum Wednesday on digital support systems. Other executives said carriers continue mulling how they will use AI.

Investors aren't concerned with much that regulators do, but some are closely watching the FCC's reimposition of Title II net neutrality rules, discrimination rules and the agency’s bulk-billing proposal, said former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, now a partner at private-equity firm Searchlight Capital. Pai spoke during a Free State Foundation webcast posted Tuesday. Also joining the webcast was former Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, who served with Pai.

Industry experts are hopeful the FCC will make several changes in a proceeding on draft rules for a proposed $200 million cybersecurity pilot program for schools and libraries (see 2405160076). While commissioners are expected to approve the order Thursday, officials said dissents are possible from Republican Commissioners Brendan Carr or Nathan Simington.