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February 2021

Colorado AG leads push to use federal internet discounts to help students get online at home — not just at school

Nearly five years after the Boulder Valley (CO) School District asked the Federal Communications Commission to let it use federal funds to help students on the wrong side of the digital divide, the district finally got a response — in a roundabout way. The Boulder Valley district wanted to fix the “homework gap” faced by students who spend the day at school and then head home to no broadband service. In 2013, the district began sharing its internet with a local neighborhood that had none.

ISPs Prepare for Flood of Broadband Billions

The Federal Communications Commission is creating the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program with $3.2 billion allocated by Congress. Not surprisingly, broadband service providers are focused on making sure they can access as much of that money as possible. That means leveling the playing field with current participants in the FCC’s Lifeline program. Ninety percent of Lifeline participants are wireless carriers, NCTA–The Internet & Television Association VP and general counsel Steve Morris told the FCC at a roundtable on the new subsidy.

Impact of mobile operator consolidation on unit prices

We evaluate the impact of mobile operator mergers on the unit price of data and voice by using country-level observations on retail revenue for data, cellular data traffic, retail revenue for voice, and outgoing voice minutes. Using a difference-in-differences estimation strategy, we estimate the effect of operator merger by comparing the difference between the non-merging countries and the merging countries before and after the introduction of the operator merger.

States couldn't afford to wait for the FCC's broadband maps to improve. So they didn't

Some states are starting to move with more urgency to solve the broadband gap. It's a problem that affects millions of Americans and is particularly urgent in light of a pandemic that has forced most interactions, from classes to weddings, to go online. While the federal government works to allocate $20 billion on top of billions of dollars in funding already earmarked for unserved communities, there remains a lack of understanding of where the problems lie.

Sponsor 

Broadband Breakfast

Date 
Wed, 02/24/2021 - 12:00

Antitrust is on a roll. Major new lawsuits have been introduced against tech platforms Google and Facebook by the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission, and state attorneys general. And Congress is considering a revamp of the law. Undergirding much of the discussion and debate is this question: What role should the consumer welfare standard play in assessing harm to competition?

Panelists include:


Greg Walden and Alpine Group Form Alpine Advisors

Greg Walden, former Chairman of both the House Commerce Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee, announced the creation of Alpine Advisors, a new policy and strategic advisory firm. Alpine Advisors is a partnership between Walden and the Alpine Group, a leading Washington government affairs firm. Walden will serve as Chairman of Alpine Advisors, which will service a wide range of clients, with a particular focus on the energy, technology, telecommunications and health care sectors. The Alpine Group is consistently ranked one of the top lobbying firms in Washington.

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