FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks

I’m pleased to see the expansion of the Internet Essentials program throughout the Comcast footprint to include low-income households that receive government assistance like SNAP, Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income (SSI). But a good program doesn’t execute itself. Community problems require community solutions. That’s why I’m also happy to see the list of 10,000 non-profit partners enlisted to help with outreach and training on Internet Essentials throughout the country. Access to the internet impacts almost every social, political, and economic facet of our lives.

Commissioner Geoffrey Starks announced the appointment of Alisa Valentin as his Special Advisor. “I’m excited that Alisa is joining my team. She brings a strong background of leadership on the issue of internet inequality and, as a native of South Georgia, has personal experience with the impact of the digital divide on rural Americans, particularly in communities of color. I look forward to benefiting from her insights and working with her in the days ahead.”

It’s time for the Federal Communications Commission to step into the future by using artificial intelligence tools to address the continuing lack of affordable broadband to many communities—an increasingly entrenched problem of “internet inequality,” which impacts our economy and democracy and threatens the future global competitiveness of our country. By adopting more sophisticated data validation algorithms, the FCC could avoid repeating past mistakes. Such algorithms can not only automate the data validation process but also can ensure consistency and learn from previous provider submiss

Network security is national security.  The risks of having insecure equipment in our networks are alarming. Next week I will be convening stakeholders—including carriers, manufacturers, academics, and trade associations, to start crafting and developing a practical path forward. Specifically, I anticipate digging into what it will take to Find the insecure equipment, Fix the problem, and help Fund the process. Find it. Fix it.

The FCC’s Universal Service programs are among the most significant “tools in the toolkit” possessed by the federal government to ensure that all Americans have access to voice and broadband services comparable to their fellow citizens. Considering both the success of [USF] programs and the FCC’s statutory mandate from Congress, a cap on the Universal Service program’s overall budget is not the right approach. The proposal would pit deserving beneficiaries—anchor institutions, students, patients, and Americans who lack broadband—against one another in a fight for Universal Service funds.

The 2019 Broadband Deployment Report reaches the wrong conclusion. According to the report, the digital divide has narrowed substantially over the past two years and broadband is being deployed on a reasonable and timely basis. The rosy picture the report paints about the status of broadband deployment is fundamentally at odds with reality. While I would like to be able to celebrate along with the FCC’s majority, our broadband deployment mission is not yet accomplished.

The recent presidential executive order barred US companies from buying foreign-made telecommunications equipment deemed a national security risk. Although the order does not name Huawei, Congress and our intelligence agencies have voiced concern that the company’s equipment contains vulnerabilities that the Chinese government and others could exploit to spy on or harm US networks. But the executive order misses a critical problem: our networks already contain equipment from Huawei — lots of it.

When I was invited to join you today, and learned more about this gathering and its goals, I immediately thought that this would be a perfect opportunity to lay down a marker about what I think is one of the most important issues facing America – and I will say it plain, that is getting the internet everywhere.

When you signed up for cellphone service, I bet you didn’t expect that your exact location could be sold to anyone for a few hundred dollars. The truth is, your wireless carrier tracks you everywhere you go, whether you like it or not. When used appropriately, this tracking shouldn’t be a problem: location information allows emergency services to find you when you need them most.

It’s concerning when one of the nation’s largest internet and voice service providers files for bankruptcy. Windstream provides critical 9-1-1 service and I will be monitoring the situation closely to ensure that there are no disruptions. Windstream also provides broadband service to over 1 million customers across the US and it is essential that their interests are represented and protected as the company reorganizes.