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  2. March 2021

March 2021

AT&T, Verizon Vow to Boost Sales Before 5G-Fueled Debt Comes Due

Cellphone carriers that spent years promoting their blueprints for new fifth-generation wireless networks devoted the past week to explaining how they plan to pay for them. AT&T and Verizon said they would spend billions of dollars more in the coming years on cellular-tower equipment, fiber-optic lines, and other infrastructure to use new wireless spectrum licenses they acquired through a federal government auction. T-Mobile said it would put the new licenses to use without increasing its capital budget.

House Commerce Democrats Introduce the LIFT America Act

All 32 Democratic members of the House Commerce Committee introduced the Leading Infrastructure For Tomorrow’s America Act, or LIFT America Act. The sweeping legislation will modernize the nation’s infrastructure, rebuild the economy, combat climate change, and protect public health and the environment. The legislation invests more than $312 billion in clean energy, energy efficiency, drinking water, broadband, and health care infrastructure. Support for Expansion of Broadband Internet Access Nationwide:

AT&T to Offer Emergency Broadband Benefit to Customers

March 12, we are filing our application to participate in the Federal Communications Commission’s Emergency Broadband Benefit program so we can offer low-income customers additional options for discounted broadband services. We appreciate the Commission’s efforts to move swiftly to implement this program and we look forward to its official launch date. While the EBB will help address the immediate broadband connectivity needs of many low-income Americans, we will continue to work with Congress and others to identify permanent and sustainable funding solutions.

American Rescue Plan: Broadband and the Social Safety Net

On March 11, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan, the latest effort to address the continued impact of COVID-19 on the economy, public health, state and local governments, individuals, and businesses.

National Efforts to Close the Digital Divide Require Local Empowerment

Universal broadband is the 21st century equivalent of electrification, foundational to equity and economic prosperity in urban and rural communities alike.

Spectrum: The pathway of the 21st century

As a Commissioner during the Trump administration, Federal Communications Commission Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel called out the disarray resulting from the lack of a national spectrum policy. “We are heading into our wireless future with something less than a fully coordinated effort,” she warned. The Biden administration has not repeated the failure to prepare with transition planning.

Timing of $7 Billion E-Rate Expansion Has Education Advocates Eyeing Long-Term Connectivity Planning Over Quick Fixes

The latest COVID-19 relief package includes over $7 billion to expand E-rate to better tackle students’ at-home internet needs. But with the dollars doled out so far into the crisis and the end of the school year fast approaching, expectations for how the additional funding will be spent have shifted among school officials and advocates from getting quick fixes, like mobile hotspots, to more long-term projects that will ensure that schools can sustain the progress they’ve made to become more digital-learning friendly.

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