June 2021

House New York Launches Affordable Housing Broadband Initiative

House New York (HNY), an affiliate of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing (NYSAFAH), and the Broadband Equity Partnership are launching an initiative to create a comprehensive dataset of building-based connectivity solutions that will support the City and State in achieving universal broadband adoption in its affordable housing stock. The Affordable Housing Broadband Initiative (AHBI)–the first of its kind in the nation–is made possible by support from the Ford Foundation and Schmidt Futures.

Appropriations Committee Releases Fiscal Year 2022 Financial Services and General Government Funding Bill

The House Appropriations Committee released the draft fiscal year 2022 Financial Services and General Government funding bill which provides annual funding for the Department of the Treasury, the Judiciary, the Executive Office of the President, and other independent agencies, including the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. For fiscal year 2022, the draft bill includes $29.1 billion in discretionary funding, an increase of $4.8 billion over 2021. 

President Biden Announces Support for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework

President Biden and Vice President Harris announced their support for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework, the largest long-term investment in our infrastructure and competitiveness in nearly a century – an investment that will make our economy more sustainable, resilient, and just. The $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework is a critical step in implementing President Biden’s Build Back Better vision.

Mobile marketing booms, but consumer privacy concerns remain

The Mobile Marketing Association and WARC's new joint "State of the Industry" report found that while mobile marketing budgets boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic, connsumer privacy concerns remain a significant barrier to growth. The top-line finding of the report is that two out of three marketers boosted their mobile marketing budgets over the past year, at least partly due to the acceleration of ecommerce following the pandemic. And while marketers appear to be more optimistic about almost every potential barrier to further mobile marketing budget growth, consumers' concern over their p

FCC Acting Chairwoman Rosenworcel Expands Focus of Diversity Advisory Committee

Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced that the Federal Communications Commission will re-charter the Advisory Committee for Diversity and Digital Empowerment under a new name–the Communications Equity and Diversity Council. The Council’s mission will expand from its initial focus on the media ecosystem to review critical diversity and equity issues across the technology sector. This Committee is charged with providing recommendations to ensure that underserved communities are not denied the wide range of opportunities made possible by next-generation networks.

Unused Funds Increase Rural Health Care Program Funding for Year 2021

The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) projects that, $379.97 million in unused funds is available for use in future Rural Health Care (RHC) Program funding years beginning in 2021. The Federal Communications Commission directs USAC to carry these unused funds over to satisfy funding year 2021 RHC Program demand. The overall RHC Program funding cap for 2021 is $612,016,418.