Roll Call
Spectrum authority lapse impinges on broadband, 5G plans
It's been nearly four months since Congress let the Federal Communications Commission's authority to auction spectrum lapse, potentially hindering the deployment of broadband or expanding 5G capabilities.
FCC’s spectrum auction authority nears March expiration
The top Republican and Democrat on the House Commerce Committee are working to avert a lapse, in March 2023, of the Federal Communications Commission’s authority to auction spectrum as Congress seeks a more lasting plan that could pay for a number of telecommunications priorities. Auctions of the spectrum have been a financial boon for the government.
Gaps in broadband access is backdrop to Sohn’s FCC nomination fight
In parts of Oklahoma’s 3rd Congressional District, more than half of the state’s rural residents don’t have access to a broadband connection, said House Science Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK), who represents the district in Congress. Oklahoma is not alone. Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH), echoed that view at a House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology hearing: “It’s clear traveling in my district [that] too many Americans still lack access to the internet." Even as House Republicans call for more internet access in rural areas, their counterparts in the Senate are holding up the confirmation o
Senate’s internet access plan rests on better broadband maps
The Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure bill makes a $42.5 billion bet that the government will overcome an obstacle that has long plagued efforts to connect most Americans to the internet: notoriously inaccurate maps showing where they can get a signal – and where they can’t. That’s the amount of grant funding that the legislation would provide to states to fund broadband projects in areas currently considered unserved or underserved. To qualify, proposals would have to comply with new broadband maps drawn by the Federal Communications Commission.
Let’s promote all broadband technologies to speed help to all Americans
The House should waste no time in passing the badly needed infrastructure bill while expanding its scope to include support for all viable broadband technologies demanded today by consumers. Fixed wireless is an efficient, competitive and popular high-speed alternative to fiber, particularly in more remote areas. With the massive investments going into the deployment of 5G wireless technologies by both national and local broadband internet service providers, fixed wireless capability is only getting better.
In rural South Carolina, a groundbreaking broadband project takes root
In Allendale (SC), a local public Wi-Fi network project has expanded to offer residential broadband service for families with school-age children, many of whom have struggled to keep up with school throughout the pandemic because they cannot participate in online learning.
Is broadband infrastructure? Republicans used to think so
The debate in Congress over President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion-plus infrastructure plan has featured a clean, simple attack line from Republicans: Most of the money wouldn’t really go to infrastructure. Of course, that depends entirely on how you define infrastructure.
Next infrastructure bill aims to end ‘digital divide’
Democratic lawmakers are beginning to focus on the next big-ticket item on their legislative agenda, a massive infrastructure package, and the broadband money they plan to include in it.
Broadband funding caught up in debate over reopening schools
The debate over reopening schools amid the ongoing pandemic is spilling into negotiations over billions of dollars in new money to help students who lack home internet access. As Democrats in Congress push forward with a plan to provide $7.6 billion for a program that provides discounted laptops and Wi-Fi hotspots to schools and libraries, Republicans are questioning whether the funding is necessary when President Joe Biden has said he wants to reopen a majority of public schools in the coming months.