Margaret Harding McGill

Congress decimates 911's digital upgrade

Public safety officials fear the nation's 911 centers will continue to languish in the analog era, after Democrats slashed proposed funding for a digital makeover in their social spending bill.

Deploying free WiFi in apartment buildings to close the digital divide

A national nonprofit backed by Silicon Valley luminaries is proposing to set up free WiFi in apartment buildings as one solution to an intractable problem — ensuring those who have access to the internet can actually afford it.

The startup that wants to disrupt big internet providers

A new startup backed by funding from AOL founder Steve Case and Laurene Powell Jobs wants to break up broadband monopolies across the country. Underline, a community infrastructure company, began building its first open access fiber network in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in October 2021. Under the open access model, Underline builds and operates the fiber network while multiple service providers can use it and offer service to customers.

Sen Klobuchar introduces bill to provide funding for the deployment of Next Generation 9-1-1

Co-chair of the Senate Next Generation 9-1-1 Caucus Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Sen Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) announced a bill to create a $10 billion federal grant program for upgrades to the US's 911 centers (S.2754). Expanding 911 to accept more kinds of digital data would add more resiliency to a system that's still built around a copper-based telephone network. A next-generation 911 would allow the nation's 6,000 911 centers to accept texts, videos and photos.

Former US national security officials claim antitrust could hurt US in China tech race

Twelve former top US national security officials are urging Congress to hit pause on a package of antitrust bills in order to consider how breaking up tech companies could harm the US 

How the FCC got boxed out of the broadband push

As the federal government readies to spend tens of billions of dollars on broadband upgrades, the Federal Communications Commission — the agency that has traditionally doled out subsidies for internet connections — is on the sidelines. The broadband money got routed around the FCC for several reasons, according to insiders familiar with the process.

Telecommunications companies come out on top in $65 billion broadband upgrade

The White House-backed infrastructure bill moving toward Senate approval divvies up $65 billion in broadband funding in ways that largely please the big cable and telecommunications companies. President Biden's spending blueprints and talking points stoked 

New caucus shows GOP split on tech regulations

House Republicans launched a GOP caucus on Big Tech, seeking to build support for antitrust changes despite a divide among Republicans. The "Freedom from Big Tech Caucus" is co-chaired by House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee top Republican Ken Buck (R-CO) and Rep Lance Gooden (R-TX), and counts Rep Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) as a vice chair.

Net neutrality battle looms

The Biden administration is gearing up for a showdown with cable and telecommunication companies over plans to bring back Obama-era net neutrality rules.

Biden competition order will take aim at broadband

President Joe Biden will encourage the Federal Communications Commission to reinstate net neutrality rules and make it easier for consumers to comparison shop for internet service as part of a wide-ranging executive order expected to be signed July 9. The White House wants internet service providers to offer a "broadband nutrition label" detailing their internet packages to give consumers more transparency when they're buying service. The executive order will also encourage the FCC to reinstate net neutrality rules prohibiting the blocking, throttling or paid prioritization of web traffic t

Lawmakers and industry groups disagree over plans for broadband funding

Congress's record $65 billion for broadband infrastructure funding has the potential to make the White House's goal of connecting all Americans a reality—unless it gets mired in squabbling. The way the money will be divided up is still very much in flux as the Senate considers how to turn the framework into legislation.

Republicans' new plan to tax Big Tech

Key Republicans are warming to an idea that was once anathema to the party—leveling taxes on big American companies to pay for internet subsidy programs. An idea from GOP Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr to force tech companies to pay into a pool of money used to fund broadband programs is gaining steam with some key lawmakers, including GOP Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Republican support of taxing Big Tech could help shore up the struggling Universal Service Fund; Commissioner Carr argues that Congress should direct the companies that benefit from using internet networks

Lawmakers urge Department of Justice to review T-Mobile's plans for Dish

A bipartisan pair of Colorado lawmakers want the Justice Department (DOJ) to investigate T-Mobile's plans to shut down a network used by Dish customers. T-Mobile agreed to help Dish stand up its own 5G network as a condition of obtaining approval for the Sprint merger, but Dish argues that T-Mobile is putting its customers at risk with its shutdown plans.

Industry contests Biden's new broadband map

Groups representing broadband providers questioned the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's new "Indicators of Broadband Need" map, with various statements on its efficacy. Cable trade group NCTA - The Internet and Television Association argues that the interactive tool has "obscured, rather than clarified, the true state of broadband with [a] mashup of disparate, and often inaccurate, data sources." NCTA also supports federal efforts to create a "relia

Biden's push for fiber revives a Google dream

President Biden's plan to boost broadband across the country could also be a boon to Google's internet ambitions. Biden's plan emphasizes building fiber and steering funding to community-owned networks to ensure widespread connectivity and increase competition.

Internet prices kick off Washington brawl

President Joe Biden's promise to cut the price of Americans' internet bills has provoked a fierce lobbying campaign by cable and telecom companies to prove that the cost of broadband has already dropped. Internet providers are desperate to fend off any move to regulate the prices they charge, while the government is increasingly viewing connectivity as an essential service.

Trade groups go to war with New York over low-income broadband law

Trade groups representing AT&T, Verizon and other telecom companies are opening fire on a new law requiring them to provide discounted internet service to low-income households in New York. USTelecom, CTIA, the New York State Telecommunications Association, and others representing smaller companies 

What the Big Tech hearings really accomplished

The behaviors of platform and social media companies have evolved under the heat of the spotlight. Regulation takes time, and a lot of hearings, to produce tangible results. One upshot of four years of high-profile hearings is that tech companies now know how to play the game. Sometimes the goal isn't to pass a law. Congress uses the bully pulpit to force companies to self-regulate.

President Biden broadband agenda takes aim at Big Telecom

The White House wants to lower broadband prices and make the industry more competitive — a sign that President Biden's approach to the telecom sector will be much tougher than his predecessors'. The White House infrastructure package included $100 billion for broadband deployment, with plans to channel funding to government-owned, non-profit or cooperative networks and a push to reduce prices. "A very positive signal that was sent — that should send chills up the spines of the incumbents — was recognizing that the market is not competitive and Americans generally are paying too much for bro

Why cable hates Biden's $100 billion broadband plan

Some key details of the broadband measures in the American Jobs Plan have internet service providers up in arms.

7 people who'll likely drive the Biden administration's tech policy

Here are the names you'll hear a lot as Biden builds out his tech policy apparatus at the Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission:

Pandemic puts money, political muscle behind broadband

Now that the pandemic has made it clear just how essential it is to be connected to high-speed internet, lawmakers are finally putting billions of dollars into funding government programs to expand access to it. Urgency has also increased at the state level: 34 states enacted legislation or resolutions related to broadband development in 2020, per the 

The big wireless merger you've never heard of

Verizon's $6.2 billion bid to buy wireless company TracFone has raised concerns that the deal could cut off access to affordable mobile phone service. The deal has flown under the radar, but TracFone is one of the nation's largest providers of subsidized cell phone service for low income people, an especially important program during the coronavirus pandemic — and one that Verizon hasn't traditionally focused on. The Justice Department declined to dig deeper into the deal in November, signaling that it didn't raise competition concerns.

Digital divide lurks behind school reopening plans

Students without reliable in-home internet are already at an educational deficit, and many of the remote learning tools the pandemic has ushered in are here to stay.