House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and leading committee Reps Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Mike Doyle (D-PA), and Bob Latta (R-OH) wrote to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting a review of how improved interagency coordination can help streamline broadband deployment and close the digital divide, as well as what progress agencies are making toward these efforts. "Closing the digital divide remains a shared, bipartisan goal," said the letter. "As leaders on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, we have been focused on finding ways to remove unnecessary barriers that impede broadband deployment so that all Americans have access to affordable high-speed broadband service." The representatives included the following four questions in their request to the GAO:

1. “How are the relevant federal agencies planning to implement NTIA’s recommendations from October 2020 and what is the status of their efforts?
2. “How is NTIA overseeing the efforts of the relevant federal agencies and coordinating with them on implementing these recommendations? 
3. “What challenges do NTIA and the relevant federal agencies face in implementing the recommendations, and how are these challenges being addressed?
4. “To what extent have broadband providers faced additional, federal permitting or siting costs in areas where federal permitting processes have not been streamlined, and what is the extent of those costs?” 

To secure a future of prosperity for America’s rural communities, we need to completely bridge the digital divide and ensure every American has access to the digital technologies that support success in our modern world. Substantial positive investments toward achieving the national goal of bridging the digital divide through broadband deployment, financial support for broadband service and digital skills training are included in the bipartisan Infrastructure and Jobs Investment Act recently passed by the US Senate. Now, America’s rural communities are counting on the US House of Representatives to swiftly pass this package, including the $65 billion down payment on closing the broadband gap. Nationwide, nearly one-fourth of Americans in rural areas still don’t have access to broadband, and rural adults are less likely to have multiple connected devices. As many as 29 percent of American farms still lack broadband access. The challenge is also not limited to rural areas — and substantially impacts every American community that lacks broadband access for all. House lawmakers cannot delay in passing the urgently needed package. Every American community is counting on Congress's leadership to bridge the digital divide.

[Betsy Huber is President of the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry.]

A vocal proponent of Open RAN in wireless, Vodafone is now looking to apply the same principle of disaggregation to the broadband network gateway (BNG). The operator teamed with Nokia, Cisco, Casa Systems and Benu Networks on what it claimed was the first test of the Broadband Forum’s TR-459 standard, and said it was able to validate a disaggregated BNG system which let it use software and hardware from multiple vendors as well as run core control functions for the gateway in the cloud. Within the network, the BNG acts as the portal through which subscribers gain access to the internet, sitting at the juncture between aggregated network traffic flows and the individual subscriber session. With a disaggregated BNG, operators can deploy the control and user planes in a new way, centralizing the former and distributing the latter to reap myriad benefits. Vodafone argued disaggregated BNGs would also enable “greater technological innovation from a more diverse supply chain” by lowering development costs for new and existing ecosystem players. A Vodafone representative stated there are already commercially available products for disaggregated BNGs and the next step toward deployments in the network is "to move from lab tests to network proof of concepts. This is planned to take place in the coming months."

With broadband now as important as electricity was in the last century, affordable connectivity is more critical than ever. Through the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) program, which provides free or discounted internet service of up to $50 a month ($75 on tribal lands) toward the cost of a consumer’s internet bill for people who qualify, Congress has made it clear that affordable connectivity is a top priority with bipartisan support. The benefit tackles an important racial and economic injustice: About 10 percent of both Black and Hispanic Americans and 13 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives have no internet subscription compared to 6 percent of White households. Without affordable technology, communities of color are unable to access health care or educational and job opportunities. The EBB program is an important watershed moment — but it is only the first step. The current bipartisan infrastructure bill includes funding to extend the life of the EBB program under a new name and at a slightly lower subsidy level. A rapid and bold effort to support a permanent broadband benefit and digital inclusion program is necessary to meaningfully address the serious gaps in broadband adoption and ensure all families, no matter their color or zip code, can benefit equally from advances in technology.

[Wade Henderson is the interim president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.]

The Federal Communications Commission launched a rulemaking proceeding to improve the reliability of communications networks and help ensure that the public can communicate when disasters strike. Disaster recovery efforts in the wireless industry are currently supported by the Wireless Network Resiliency Cooperative Framework, a voluntary industry agreement to promote resilient communications and situational awareness during disasters through roaming agreements, mutual aid, and other measures. The FCC adopts a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that seeks comment on potential improvements to the framework, including evaluating what triggers its activation, its scope of participants, whether existing framework elements can be strengthened, any gaps that need to be addressed, and whether the public would benefit from codifying some or all of the framework in the FCC’s rules.

To keep pace with increasing wireless connectivity demands, the Federal Communications Commission continuously examines spectrum needs and tries to ensure that our rules enable spectrum users to conduct their business and everyday activities. In adopting the 6 GHz Report and Order, the FCC expanded spectrum access for unlicensed devices to promote competition, innovation, and more widespread and robust connectivity. The new rules made broad swaths of the 6 GHz band (5.925–7.125 GHz) available for unlicensed broadband operations. Under the 6 GHz rules, standard-power devices are required to check an automated frequency coordination (AFC) system prior to operating to avoid causing harmful interference to incumbent operations. The FCC hereby begins the process for authorizing standard power unlicensed operations in the 6 GHz band by inviting proposals from parties interested in operating an AFC system in accordance with the 6 GHz Report and Order.  This Public Notice summarizes the requirements for AFC systems as set forth in that order, describes the information that must be provided with proposals to operate an AFC system, and describes the procedures for designating AFC system operators.

Online issues such as personal privacy, marketplace competition, and misinformation only become greater challenges in the metaverse. Rather than being distracted by the shiny new bauble, policymakers need to focus on the underlying problems of the digital revolution, which won’t go away with new technological developments. As Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained, “you can think about [the metaverse] as an embodied internet that you are inside of rather than just looking at.” According to the Washington Post, Facebook is “meeting with think tanks to discuss the creation of standards and protocols for the coming virtual world.” The threshold question is whether the new quest for standards is more than a strategic deflection from a company beleaguered by regulatory and judicial attacks and weakening support from the general public. The development of government-overseen behavioral standards protected consumer, workers, and competition in the industrial revolution—while simultaneously enabling a vibrant and growing economy. The digital revolution requires similar government-overseen standards. It is good that Facebook is discussing behavioral standards for the metaverse, but it is not sufficient. We must not be distracted by the shiny new metaverse and forget that we have yet to resolve the challenges in the current online universe—problems that will simply metastasize into the metaverse if we don’t deal with them now.

[Tom Wheeler is a visiting fellow in Governance Studies at The Brookings Institution. Wheeler was Chairman of the FCC from 2013 to 2017.]

The drumbeat of advocacy for universal internet access in the US became louder during the Covid-19 pandemic and was amplified by President Biden early in his presidency as he laid out a New Deal-like vision for the future of infrastructure and connectivity. Unfortunately, though, an agency responsible for carrying out the specifics of that vision has been paralyzed by a baffling situation that could inadvertently put Republican appointees of former President Donald Trump in the driver’s seat. More than eight months into his term, Biden still hasn’t nominated an official leader of the Federal Communications Commission or filled the FCC’s other vacancy. The FCC is supposed to have five commissioners, but if Biden doesn’t act, it could soon be left with just one Democrat, two Republicans and two vacancies. The implications of a lame-duck FCC are painfully far-reaching. The agency has important work to do after the pandemic laid bare the US digital divide, which continues to contribute immensely to the country’s enduring racial and economic inequalities. It’s not as if Biden doesn’t have a clear choice; Jessica Rosenworcel, who was widely expected to lead the FCC, is the acting chair, and her agenda aligns with that of the administration. Unless she is nominated and confirmed, however, she will have to leave at the end of 2021. Without a permanent FCC chair, the push to make internet access fairer for all Americans will remain just another talking point.

[Tara Lachapelle is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the business of entertainment and telecommunications.]