POLITICO Morning Tech: Strap in for a big day of antitrust
WHAT BIDEN SOUGHT IN THE 5G DRAMA — President Joe Biden donned the jersey of Team Delay on Wednesday, making it clear he had pushed for airlines to get more time to account for certain kinds of legacy aviation equipment.
— “What I’ve done is pushed as hard as I can to have the 5G folks hold up and abide by what was being requested by the airlines until they could more modernize over the years, so 5G would not interfere with the potential of a landing,” Biden told reporters at a news conference. He spoke the same day AT&T and Verizon began launching their new 5G service — and as the Federal Aviation Administration continued to work out details of what planes can safely land where.
— Expect a bigger reckoning: This latest wireless squabble was public and messy enough to add pressure for the administration to smooth the interagency process for handling airwaves controversies in the future, as your MT host reported. That could mean anything from a national spectrum strategy to an updated memorandum of understanding between the FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
Congressional Spectrum Caucus co-chair Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) told MT the occasion underscores why “Congress can and must play a role in developing a more collaborative process that allows career experts to negotiate solutions based on sound engineering and provides agencies with a structured avenue for voicing concerns when they arise.”
— Biden, meanwhile, didn’t mention any of these potential government fixes, telling reporters the 5G spat was a collision of “two private enterprises” — wireless and aviation. “Anything that happens that’s consequential is viewed as the government’s responsibility,” he added.
— Despite hiccups, crisis averted (for now): Air traffic moved relatively smoothly amid Wednesday’s deployment. AT&T said Wednesday’s introductionsstarted with C-band 5G in “limited parts of 8 metro areas across the U.S.,” with plans for “rapid expansion” later this year. A defense official on Wednesday said the Pentagon is “studying whether 5G technology will scramble instruments aboard fighter jets,” POLITICO’s Lee Hudson reported for Pros.
— Don’t panic: T-Mobile, which also won some C-band licenses in last year’s FCC auction, is cautioning people not to worry about it downing planes: Its service won’t go live until next year.
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