Senate Commerce Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) is planning on moving forward with Trump’s recent nomination of Nathan Simington, a Commerce Department staffer that President Donald Trump chose to take over the seat of GOP veteran Mike O’Rielly. Chairman Wicker met with Simington Sept 23 in a meeting that a senior aide called highly detailed.
The six-hour, invitation-only event over three days will bring together nearly 1,000 industry professionals from across the U.S. for thought-provoking sessions. The goal is to help independent providers better understand the changing landscape of broadband Internet, advanced video and other technical and policy issues in a post-COVID 19 world, including in the marketplace, on Capitol Hill and at the Federal Communications Commission.
With the closure of K-12 schools, remote learning and calls to social distance, millions of American students are learning, living and playing almost exclusively online. Yet, there remain critical hurdles to access and adoption of internet solutions for many American households. Many students who normally had safe and reliable access to laptops and internet connections are in limbo. What are the barriers to broadband adoption for low-income families and how are local leaders working to address this divide with scalable solutions?
Small Business Broadband Bill
The House approved legislation that would repeal a law requiring the Federal Communications Commission to auction public-safety T-Band spectrum and would seek to prohibit the practice of state and local governments using revenue from 911 fees for purposes other than 911. Language in the “Don’t Break Up the T-Band Act” (HR 451) would abolish a mandate that the FCC auction T-Band airwaves—pockets of spectrum from 470 MHz to 512 MHz used to support public-safety LMR systems in 11 metropolitan markets—in a bidding procedure that would begin early in 2021. In addition to repealing the T-Band auc
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