Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the New York City Internet Master Plan to achieve affordable broadband for all. Through the Internet Master Plan, New York City aims to reverse the digital redlining that has left communities of color disconnected, ensure that minority/women-owned business enterprises share in the economic growth of the broadband industry, and incentivize at scale high-quality affordable internet service options for New Yorkers. The City will reach up to 1.6 million New Yorkers in the next 36 months by using $157 million to build publicly owned, open-access broadband infrastructure. The City is also designating a wide range of companies to provide fast, reliable, and affordable connectivity options to an additional 70,000 New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) residents and 150,000 residents in the surrounding communities by early 2022. Already, the City is in the process of bringing free or low-cost internet connectivity options for up to 40,000 residents in 18 NYCHA developments by the end of 2021. This historic initiative brings newly affordable connectivity to a majority of NYCHA residents, with options to further scale affordable broadband to all neighborhoods citywide.

The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority) and its network contractor AT&T are working to bring FirstNet’s unique capabilities to areas historically prone to communication challenges. FirstNet currently provides over 2.71 million square miles of coverage and new cell sites are launching nationwide, including in Tribal communities such as the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho, the Spirit Lake Reservation in North Dakota, and the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. For the first responders serving the Yankton Sioux communities, having a new FirstNet cell site directly on the reservation is bringing much-needed coverage and capabilities to the area. “The site will not only support enhanced signal strength for data transfer in our police cars, but also public safety will be able to travel across the reservation and connect to voice and data on FirstNet devices, ultimately improving officer safety and benefiting communities across our Tribal lands,” explained Yankton Sioux Tribal Police Chief Chris Saunsoci. Tribal first responders subscribed to FirstNet also have access to the network’s fleet of deployable assets. These portable cell sites are available free of charge to FirstNet users in need of on-demand coverage. Public safety communications have drastically changed in the twenty years since 9/11, but there is still work to be done. As we look to the future, the FirstNet Authority will continue to actively engage with tribal leaders and public safety officials to ensure their needs are reflected in the network.

[Margaret Gutierrez is National Tribal Government Liaison at First Responder Network Authority.]

With little movement in the top markets and increases of only tens of millions of dollars per round in the rest of the country, the Federal Communications Commission is looking to get bidders in the 3.45-GHz midband spectrum auction off the sidelines and move toward the finish line. By round 85, the auction had raised $21,426,504,290 in gross bids. That is about 50 percent higher than the reserve price the FCC set of $14.775 billion to make sure the auction covers the price of relocating federal users of the 100 MHz of the band the Department of Defense agreed to share. The auction began Oct. 5 with 33 bidders, including AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. Cable broadband operators had argued that the way the auction was structured — specifically the license sizes — would discourage them from bidding. But the auction has still become the FCC’s third-highest-grossing sale in history, behind the C-band and AWS-3 auctions.

Republicans are lining up against one of President Joe Biden’s long-awaited picks for the Federal Communications Commission — which means the outcome of this White House priority could come down, once again, to Sens Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ). At stake are Democrats’ hopes for a majority on the five-member FCC, which has been mired in a 2-2 partisan split for all of Biden’s term. That in turn will determine whether the agency can get to work on progressives’ telecommunications priorities, including a revival of the agency’s Obama-era net neutrality rules. Biden ended months of suspense by announcing two Democratic picks for the FCC, nominating Chair Jessica Rosenworcel for a new five-year term on the commission and net neutrality activist Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at Benton Institute for Broadband & Society] to fill its open seat. Republican senators largely said they can live with Rosenworcel — but GOP leaders say they’re drawing the line at Sohn and her perceived regulatory bent toward broadband price regulation. They’re also not on board with Democrats’ push to rush the confirmations through. Democrats could still jam through Sohn’s confirmation even in the face of unified Republican opposition, but only if their entire caucus sticks together. That means the outcome could come down to Manchin and Sinema, who are on record backing Rosenworcel but have yet to say a word about Sohn.