Comment (14)It's not very clear what impact Donald Trump's surprising ascendancy to the US presidency will have on the telecom sector and on technology in general, although they will certainly be affected by general economic performance under his watch.
The one clear Trump target during the campaign -- he called net neutrality an attack on the Internet -- could be at risk under his Federal Communications Commission (FCC) , but it doesn't seem to be high on the Trump agenda.
As noted by Light Reading and others, Trump said very little during the campaign about telecom policy or about how he would address things such as the broadband gap, research and development funding or the need for skilled workers. (See Trump's Telecom Policy? Who Knows?)
He has called for a cybersecurity review, to determine vulnerabilities in the US infrastructure, and establish a defense, but hasn't said much about how he'll provide that protection.
He has also railed against the proposed AT&T acquisition of Time Warner, promising to block the deal and other mega-mergers, particularly in the media business. (See Trump: Dump AT&T/TW & Comcast/NBC.)
In the wake of Trump's election, a couple of tech issues rose immediately. The Canadian immigration website crashed as US votes were being counted and it became apparent Trump would win, as noted in this BBC report. Stock futures, the US dollar and European markets all reacted negatively to the news, though there was small bounce-back after Trump's acceptance speech.
There is concern that research funding and the science community in general will suffer under a Trump administration, as this Ars Technica report notes.
More than likely, the telecom and tech sectors are going to have to play the same waiting game as the rest of the US economy as the reality of a Trump administration takes hold and it becomes clearer what some of his plans for the future are, and who some of his advisers will be.
— Carol Wilson, Editor-at-Large, Light Reading
