Antitrust Neg Supplement - Michigan 7 2024 CPSW

Antitrust Neg Supplement
Global Standard Setting Advantage Answers
Status Quo solves Telecom Innovation
Squo Solves – NTIA grants spurring key innovation and commercialization
NTIA 24 [National Telecommunications and Information Administration United States - Department of Commerce; May 7, 2024; Biden-Harris Administration Announces $420M Funding Opportunity to Promote Wireless Equipment Innovation; https://www.ntia.gov/press-release/2024/biden-harris-administration-announces-420m-funding-opportunity-promote-wireless; cpsw-gh-ib]
WASHINGTON – Today, the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that up to $420 million in funding will be made available to build the radio equipment needed to advance open network adoption in the U.S. and abroad. This is the second Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) from the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund and this NOFO aims to drive commercialization and innovation in open radio units. Radio units, which sit at the top of cell phone towers to transmit and receive signals, are the largest and most costly part of the carrier network. Making more open radio units available is critical to spur open network adoption. “To secure our telecom supply chain, America and its allies need to build more innovative, affordable, and secure wireless equipment,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “Thanks to President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, we are fueling the next generation of wireless innovation that will help ensure our national and economic security.” Funded by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, the $1.5 billion Wireless Innovation Fund that this NOFO comes from is a piece of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda, aiming to drive wireless innovation, foster competition, and strengthen supply chain resilience. By supporting the development of open radio units, this second round of funding will help to ensure that wireless technology is built by the U.S. and its global allies and partners – not vendors from nations that threaten our national security. “This $420 million investment will help shore up our supply chain and create opportunities for companies from the U.S. and our allies,” said Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson. “Open, interoperable networks will facilitate competition, make our supply chains more secure, and lead to lower costs.” This second round of funding targets two critical areas: Open radio unit commercialization: Accelerating the development of open radio units to the point where they meet the needs of wireless carriers and are ready for commercial trials; and Open radio unit innovation: Improving the overall performance and capabilities of open radio units through targeted research and development. NTIA expects to grant between $25 million and $45 million per commercialization award, and $5 million to $10 million per innovation award. Applications are due July 10. NTIA has already awarded more than $140 million to 17 grantees through the first Notice of Funding Opportunity. That initial round of investments is supporting testing research and development, and the establishment of testing and evaluation facilities. NTIA expects to start making awards from this second funding opportunity this fall. Visit the Round 2 (2024) Open RU page to find a link to the second Notice of Funding Opportunity. ### About the National Telecommunications and Information Administration The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is the Executive Branch agency that advises the President on telecommunications and information policy issues. NTIA’s programs and policymaking focus largely on expanding broadband Internet access and adoption in America, expanding the use of spectrum by all users, advancing public safety communications, and ensuring that the Internet remains an engine for innovation and economic growth.
Major grants are being rolled out in the squo – they solve the aff impacts
DOC 23 [U.S. Department of Commerce; August 8, 2023; Biden-Harris Administration Awards First Grants from Wireless Innovation Fund; https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2023/08/biden-harris-administration-awards-first-grants-wireless-innovation#:~:text=Funded%20by%20the%20CHIPS%20and,the%20first%20round%20of%20funding.; cpsw-gh-ib]
Today, the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded nearly $5.5 million in the first round of grants from the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund. The $1.5 billion Wireless Innovation Fund supports the development of open and interoperable wireless networks as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda. Open and interoperable wireless equipment will help drive competition, strengthen global supply chain resiliency and lower costs for consumers and network operators. “America’s continued leadership in wireless technology is critical to our economic competitiveness and national security,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said. “These investments in the next generation of wireless innovation will help create a more diverse and resilient marketplace and ensure that American companies and entrepreneurs, along with our allies, remain at the cutting edge of this crucial technology.” The shift to open and interoperable networks is vital for our national and economic security. The development of new, open-architecture approaches to wireless networks will help to ensure that future wireless equipment is built by the U.S. and its global allies and partners – not vendors from nations that threaten our national security. This first round of funding will support R&D and testing activities related to evaluating energy efficiency, measuring performance of interoperable equipment and testing methods for sharing spectrum. The funding totaled $5,482,052 and was awarded to projects at Northeastern University, New York University, and DeepSig Inc. Innovation Fund Director Amanda Toman announced the awards at an event with Northeastern University. “This first round of Wireless Innovation Fund awards will accelerate the transition to more open and resilient 5G and 6G wireless networks,” said Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson. “These grants will fund important research and testing to catalyze greater adoption of open wireless equipment. This in turn will promote resilience, innovation, and efficiency in the mobile networks so important to our economy.” “At Northeastern, our research enterprise is relentlessly focused on impact in the world,” said David Madigan, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Northeastern University. “This grant from the NTIA, made possible by the signing of the historic CHIPs Act, will be help us continue to pioneer critical research in wireless systems and networks, ensuring that the next generation of the Internet of Things will be a continuum of connected devices able to interact in new and exciting ways.” "This project seeks to develop testing and evaluation procedures for next-generation cellular wireless systems in the upper mid-band, a promising new frequency range that has attracted considerable interest from wireless carriers,” said Sundeep Rangan, Associate Director of NYU WIRELESS. “Systems in these frequencies will likely need to be adaptive and agile to utilize the wide bandwidth and directionally communicate. The project will investigate how this spectrum agility can be tested for both dynamic spectrum sharing and resiliency to attacks— two vital features of these bands." “DeepSig is honored to be a recipient of the NTIA's Public Wireless Innovation Fund,” said Jim Shea, CEO of DeepSig Inc. “Our effort will improve the performance and competitiveness of the Open RAN Air-Interface by leveraging DeepSig’s Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and tools for modeling and measuring the wireless environment under real world conditions. Developing new Generative AI tools for Open RAN will accelerate the adoption and performance of Open RAN for 5G, and future AI-Native 5G Advanced and 6G. We are excited to get to work!” Funded by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, the Innovation Fund will invest $1.5 billion over the next decade to support the development of open and interoperable networks. NTIA will make up to $140.5 million in grants available on a rolling basis from the first round of funding.
Research shows grants increase innovation – and that IP changes don’t
Savchuk 19 [Katia Savchuk graduated from Columbia Journalism School with a focus on magazine writing and investigative reporting. I also have an M.S. in urbanization and development from the London School of Economics and a B.A. from Harvard.; October 7, 2019; The Five Best Policies to Promote Innovation — And One Policy to Avoid; Standford Business; https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/five-best-policies-promote-innovation-one-policy-avoid#:~:text=The%20research%20is%20clear%3A%20Government,10%25%20in%20the%20long%20run.; cpsw-gh-ib]
Elected leaders around the globe often take office with promises of driving growth through innovation. But deciding which policies to champion in order to achieve this goal can prove difficult. Nicholas A. Bloom saw the challenge firsthand when he served as an advisor in the UK treasury department in 2001. “Ministers get lobbied by endless firms, academics, and other politicians. It’s hard for them to conclude what works and what doesn’t, because each group only presents evidence favoring their own policy,” Bloom says. “I remember wishing there was some overview by an independent group based on actual research.” Nearly two decades later, Bloom, now an economics professor at Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences and by courtesy at Stanford Graduate School of Business, did exactly that. Along with economists Heidi Williams of Stanford University and John Van Reenen of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he came up with an evidence-based toolkit for governments looking to spark innovation. Research shows that innovation is the main driver of a country’s long-term economic growth. At the same time, companies in free market economies are likely to underinvest when it comes to research and development, Bloom says. That’s because an individual firm bears all the costs for developing a new solution, but competitors reap some of the benefits by either imitating the invention or waiting until a patent runs out. That’s where the government comes in. The Top Five Policies for Boosting Innovation Outlined in a recent paper in the Journal of Economic Perspectives, here are five policies that Bloom and his colleagues say can effectively drive innovation: 1. Offer Tax Incentives for R&D The research is clear: Government tax subsidies and grants are the most effective way to increase innovation as well as productivity. Studies show that reducing the price of R&D by 10% increases investment in innovation by 10% in the long run. The U.S. has one of the least generous tax credit policies among developed countries, only cutting the cost of R&D spending by around 5%. Countries like France, Portugal, and Chile are the most beneficent, slashing the cost of R&D spending by more than 30%. 2. Promote Free Trade Existing evidence suggests that opening trade can spark innovation by increasing competition, allowing new ideas to spread faster and dividing the cost of innovation over a bigger market. For example, researchers who summarized the findings of more than 40 papersopen in new window in 2018 concluded that freer trade generally increased innovation in South America, Asia, and Europe (results from North America are more mixed). This policy can bear fruit in the medium run and doesn’t cost much to implement, but can increase inequality. Quote Ministers get lobbied by endless firms, academics and other politicians. It’s hard for them to conclude what works and what doesn’t, because each group only presents evidence favoring their own policy. Attribution Nicholas Bloom 3. Support Skilled Migration Even if there’s more funding for innovation, you won’t see it unless you have more scientists to do the research. The most direct way to increase the supply of researchers is to allow more high-skilled immigrants into the country. One paper showed that increasing the population of immigrant college graduates in the U.S. by one percentage point increased patents per capitaopen in new window by up to 18%. 4. Train Workers in STEM Fields Another way to increase the supply of researchers in the long term is to invest in training them domestically. One option is to promote programs that boost the number of people studying science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Another is to expose more would-be inventors from disadvantaged backgrounds to role models and mentoring. 5. Provide Direct Grants for R&D Compared to tax incentives, government grants — often to university researchers — can target projects that are likely to have the most long-term benefits. Research shows that grants to academics in turn results in more patents filed by private firms. However, it’s tough to track the impact of grants, since it’s possible that private R&D funding would have stepped up in their absence. Other Strategies That May Boost Innovation Bloom and his colleagues found that three policies may go some way toward increasing innovation, but aren’t bolstered by much evidence. 1. Providing Incentives for University Researchers Some evidence exists that academics who retain full rights over their work are more likely to patent inventions and found startups. However, there’s not enough research to make this policy a priority. 2. Engaging in Intellectual Property Reform Debates continue to rage about whether certain systemic reforms, such as curbing “trolls” who buy patents just to go after supposed infringers, would improve innovation. The researchers conclude there’s no strong evidence tying a particular IP policy change to greater innovation. 3. Embarking on Mission-Oriented Projects “Moonshot” R&D projects focused on specific sectors have led to remarkable innovations, including NASA landing a man on the moon. The researchers point out that moonshots might be needed to innovate in response to pressing crises, like climate change. But proving their effectiveness is difficult, and funding is likely to be dictated by politics rather than the most beneficial technologies. What Not to Do There’s one policy the researchers squarely warn against: Establishing patent boxes. Patent boxes involve taxing revenue based on patents at a lower tax rate than other corporate revenues. Originally introduced in Ireland in the 1970s, the policy was in use in 16 developed countries as of 2015. Bloom and his colleagues conclude that these tax breaks don’t actually encourage R&D spending, but rather incite firms to move their patents around to different jurisdictions and distort the tax system. Falling Behind in Federal Funding for Innovation In the 1960s, the U.S. spent more on innovation as a share of GDP than any other developed country. Today, it spends 2.7% of GDP, still above average among developed countries but below Germany and Japan, and federal funding for R&D has declined relative to funding from private companies, which Bloom says has slowed economic growth in the U.S. “Businesses tend to focus more on short-term but lower economy-wide payoffs, whereas federally funded R&D tends to focus on big picture stuff that takes longer but pays off big time and benefits entire industries.” If policymakers in the U.S., or anywhere, want to double down on innovation policy, Bloom has one request: “I’d love it if they could just look at this toolkit first before meeting the lobbyists.”
White house already working to increase telecom innovation through grants.
National Telecommunications and Information Administration United States Department of Commerce, 6/12/2023 – “Understanding The Difference Between Domestic And International Intellectual Property Law”, Accessed 6/29/2024, https://www.ntia.gov/funding-programs // IL TG
Over the next decade, the Biden-Harris Administration, led by the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), will work to catalyze the development and adoption of open, interoperable, and standards-based networks through the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund. Authorized under the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act and funded through the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, this ten-year grant program[to] will help drive wireless innovation, foster competition, and strengthen supply chain resilience. It will also help unlock opportunities for companies from the United States and its global allies, particularly small and medium enterprises, to compete in a market historically dominated by a few suppliers, including high-risk suppliers that raise security concerns.
Antitrust in Telecom Good - Innovation
Antitrust is key to innovation in telecommunication---AT&T’s case proves.
Massarotto ‘24 [Giovanna is an Academic Fellow at the Center for Technology, Innovation & Competition (CTIC) at the University of Pennsylvania and an affiliate of the University College London’s Centre for Blockchain Technologies; Driving Innovation with Antitrust; ProMarket; 04/10/2024; https://www.promarket.org/2024/04/10/driving-innovation-with-antitrust/; smoh]
“Innovation is like a manna from heaven,” over which policymakers have little control, according to Robert Solow’s model. Despite this, if we look at the computer industry, antitrust seems to have achieved some important results. In this article, I will briefly review how antitrust enforcement against AT&T, IBM, Microsoft and Intel spurred innovation in the computer hardware and software industries.
AT&T, probably the most famous case in United States antitrust history, is well-known for the decision in 1982 that required the telecommunication monopoly to break up into several companies. However, the AT&T antitrust story is much more complex and fascinating with clear fundamental effects on the computer economy we live in today. Historically, AT&T owned Bell Labs—also called the “idea factory”— which was the birthplace of several Nobel Prize-winning inventions. Probably the most famous invention at Bell Labs was the 1947 invention of the transistor, for which Bell Labs scientists William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956. The transistor represents the beginning of the digital age and is present in all our modern digital devices.
This part of history is well known. Less remembered is how the transistor was widely adopted so rapidly. Here antitrust comes into play. This breakthrough technology was sold under the AT&T license. In the mid-twentieth century, AT&T was in the crosshairs of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division for possible monopolistic practices. The antitrust investigation, opened in 1949, was settled by a consent decree in 1956. AT&T agreed to implement several remedies to address the antitrust concerns raised by the DOJ, including “to grant to all applicants non-exclusive licenses for all existing and future Bell System patents,” which included the transistor. The decree also required AT&T to provide, upon payment of reasonable fees, the technical information needed for manufacturing the equipment covered by the patent license.
A variety of present-day economists have conducted studies to assess the impact of this remedy on economic growth and innovation. Professors Peter Grindley and David Teece considered AT&T’s licensing policy as “one of the most unheralded contributions to economic development—possibly far exceedi

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