Analysis

On January 20, John G. Roberts, Jr., the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, swore in President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. In the (few) hours since, President Biden has been very busy. On Thursday, we learned who will be heading the key agencies with jurisdiction over broadband as President Biden named the acting leaders of the Federal Communications Commission, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and the Federal Trade Commission. Here's a look at all three.

The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund is looking more and more like one of the most wasteful projects in Federal Communications Commission history. Critiquing the FCC for awarding more than $2 billion to unproven companies using questionable technologies to serve questionable areas is fully valid. So is raising concerns about awards to a bankrupt incumbent. These two critiques can coexist. Yet FCC Chairman Pai views them as the bread of a “job well done” policy sandwich.

For the past four years, the Federal Communications Commission's Lifeline program has been dogged by neglectful leadership and repeated attacks from the commission under Chairman Ajit Pai. As the COVID19 pandemic and a persistent digital divide exacerbate income, racial, and geographic inequities, this program has been stifled at a crucial time. In this paper, we review the myriad attacks that Lifeline has endured during the Trump Administration—and build a blueprint for a better path forward.

Wireless carriers clearly believe their own press about 5G. And they are wagering a huge sum to prove it. The latest auction of wireless spectrum licenses by the Federal Communications Commission ended on January 15 with a total of $80.9 billion.

In August 2015, CenturyLink accepted Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase II support to deploy broadband service to over one million locations in thirty-three states. Using that support, CenturyLink has now enabled broadband service at speeds of at least 10/1 Mbps to more than 1.1 million customer locations in CAF II census blocks in those states. On a state-by-state basis, CenturyLink’s current year-end data reflect that it met or exceeded the program’s December 31, 2020 milestone in ten states. CenturyLink may not yet have reached the 100% deployment target in the other states.

Shortly after the election, it appeared that Republicans in the Senate hoped to gum up the Federal Communications Commission and potentially block Biden from filling it out. In early December, the Senate rammed through the nomination of Nathan Simington, a person handpicked by President Donald Trump to serve on the FCC whose selection 

Over the last three years, Le Sueur County (MN) has assembled a task force of citizens, local officials, and business leaders which have succeeded in dramatically improving broadband for thousands of residents who previously had poor or no connectivity.

The emerging model presents a scalable option for communities that lack the expertise or interest to operate networks or act as ISPs themselves but want to own and control the core communications assets in their communities as a means of securing the benefits of broadband internet. Here’s a look at the model’s business case, technical elements and risks.

With great drama, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 became law on December 27, 2021. The $2.3 trillion COVID relief and government spending bill extended unemployment benefits and ensured the government can keep running. The $900 billion COVID relief provision includes over $7 billion to help improve connectivity in the U.S.

Each of the big social platforms handled the challenges of the Trump presidency in its own unique way, scrambling to address or neutralize various urgent and contradictory concerns from users, advertisers, lawmakers and occasionally the president himself.