January 2021

Leaders to Watch in the Democratic Senate

The Capitol began processing a massive shift in the balance of power as Democrats prepare to take unified control of Congress. That means these key Democrats are primed to take the gavels on the committees overseeing technology and telecommunications issues, ranging from data privacy to 5G to antitrust:

Georgia election results sweep away tech's regulatory logjam

Georgia's election results handing Senate control to Democratic lawmakers mean the incoming Biden administration can fill key seats at the agencies that regulate tech.

FCC Democratic Commissioners Set to Move on Net Neutrality, Broadband Subsidies

  • Net Neutrality: A Democratic Federal Communications Commission will likely first move to reclassify broadband as a service under Title II of the Communications Act. That will allow it to restore rules requiring Internet service providers to treat all internet traffic equally, and take other actions to regulate broadband providers’ business practices amid the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Wi-Fi 6E, Wi-Fi's biggest upgrade in decades, is starting to arrive

Many of 2020’s new phones, laptops, TVs, routers, and more will come with support for Wi-Fi 6E, a new upgrade to Wi-Fi that’s essentially like expanding your wireless connection from a two-lane road to an eight-lane highway. It’s the biggest upgrade to Wi-Fi in 20 years, and connections should be faster and a lot more reliable because of it. The Wi-Fi Alliance, the industry-wide group that oversees Wi-Fi, is now starting to certify the first wave of products with support for Wi-Fi 6E.

How far is California from high-speed broadband Internet for all?

This study examines how far is California from the goal of making 100 Mbps broadband available to all as laid out by Governor Gavin Newsom in August 2020. The study also discusses the broadband proposals (AB-14 and SB-4) currently before the California legislature. Among the key study findings are:

FCC Adds Three Items to Jan 13 Meeting Agenda

In addition to five panels summarizing the work of the Federal Communications Commission over the past four years, the commission will consider the following --