The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) and the Office of Economics and Analytics (Office) announced the 2024 reasonable comparability benchmarks for fixed voice and broadband services for eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) that are subject to broadband public interest obligations. These ETCs include incumbent local exchange rate-of-return carriers, Rural Broadband Experiment providers, CAF Phase II Auction (Auction 903) winners, Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Auction (Auction 904) winners, and Enhanced A-CAM providers.  In addition, the FCC announced the posting of the fixed voice and broadband services data collected in the most recent urban rate survey, and explanatory notes regarding the data, on the FCC’s website at https://www.fcc.gov/economics-analytics/industry-analysis-division/urban....  The Bureau and Office also announced the required minimum usage allowance for ETCs subject to public interest obligations for fixed broadband.

• Based on the survey results, the 2024 urban average monthly rate is $34.27
• The rate for 25/3 unlimited broadband is $87.83
• 100/20 unlimited is $92.26

The American Library Association (ALA) Public Policy and Advocacy Office and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) announced a new Digital Inclusion Working Group for library workers to exchange knowledge around digital equity work taking place in all library contexts. The working group will meet monthly, facilitated by PPA staff members Megan Janicki and Emily Durkin. Meeting topics will be driven by the digital inclusion discussion generated in the group and will include regular digital equity and inclusion policy updates. The first meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 30, at 4 p.m. EST. To join the working group, click here.

A third US Appeals Court has concluded that the Federal Communications Commission is on sound constitutional footing when it comes to delegating oversight of the billions of dollars in government advanced telecommunications subsidy money it hands out annually with a big assist from the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the FCC is within its authority to delegate administration of those funds through a private company—USAC—because the government regulator maintains control and oversight. That follows similar findings by the appeals courts in the 5th and 6th circuits. Some groups had challenged the constitutionality of the USAC under the nondelegation doctrine, the legal principle that holds that Congress cannot delegate legislative powers to other entities. The ruling found that a government agency may delegate authority to private entities without violating the private non-delegation doctrine, so long as the entity “function[s] subordinately” to the agency and the agency retains “authority and surveillance over the activities” of the private entity. And the court found that USAC is “subordinate to the FCC and performs ministerial and fact-gathering functions.” The Eleventh Circuit maintained that the USAC cannot make policy or interpret unclear provisions or rules, because where there is confusion about how USAC should act, it must seek direction from the FCC.

Louisiana’s approved Volume 2 illustrates where the key areas of flexibility that has been granted to states in deploying BEAD intersects with the guardrails Congress and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) have set. We'll take a closer look at three key points of the Louisiana plan:

• Low cost requirement: The Louisiana low-cost option has a baseline $30 per month plan, with an evidence-based waiver process for providers to follow in order to charge up to $65. The state will also allow the provider’s low-cost plan to increase each year based on the Consumer Price Index, up to a max of 3 percent to account for inflation. Critically, the Louisiana plan also mentions it will use up to 20 percent of its nondeployment funding to create a new monthly subsidy program to work in tandem with the Affordable Connectivity Plan, conceivably covering the cost increase for customers on any low-cost options that are allowed to exceed the $30 rate. 
• Project areas: Broadband offices must detail how they’ll be able to solicit for bids on every eligible location in their state. Louisiana plans to meet this requirement by pre-defining “sub-project areas” to ensure individual homes and businesses are not left out of the bidding process. The state will then incentivize providers to include “economically disadvantaged” sub-project areas. The sub-project areas will be released for comment along with a pre-qualification process for providers.
• Scoring: Louisiana’s plan puts a heavy emphasis on infrastructure resiliency, an understandable priority given the state’s painful history with hurricanes. An eighth of each project’s score will be based on the applicant’s commitment to bury at least 90 percent of its fiber, including burying 100 percent of the network that connects any community anchor institution. As part of the broadband office’s initial screen of weather and climate hazards based on past and future risks, the office has identified specific sub-project areas that have “critical resiliency needs” where there is a “lack of minimal mobile broadband service.” To increase connectivity and offer redundancy for emergency communications, applicants proposing to build networks in these locations will be awarded additional points if they include infrastructure to deliver enhanced mobile service.

US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo addressed Tribal leaders at the 2023 White House Tribal Nations Summit. Secretary Raimondo reiterated the Department’s commitment to working and coordinating with Tribal Nations to ensure Tribal communities have the needed resources for economic growth. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the Commerce Department has unprecedented money and resources to invest in communities nationwide—including in infrastructure, job training, broadband access, and regional economies. To date, the Department of Commerce has awarded nearly $2 billion to more than 220 tribal entities to expand high-speed internet access, including network deployment and digital skills, to close the digital divide. In her remarks, Secretary Raimondo reiterated an announcement from July 2023 that another $1 billion in funds are available for that program.

Already the Federal Communications Commission’s busiest docket, the effort to restore network neutrality rules saw a rush of new comments on December 14, the deadline for initial submissions by interested parties looking to affect the outcome of the proceeding. Replies to those comments are due January 17, 2024, after which the FCC can schedule a vote on a final rulemaking. A majority of FCC Commissioners support restoring the rules by reclassifying internet access as a Title II telecommunications service subject to FCC regulation as a common carrier. With three out of five votes for restoring the rules, they are likely to return in the new year after the regulator has collected public input on the proposed rulemaking. NCTA: The Internet & Television Association was mincing no words in its opposition. “[A] bare majority of FCC Commissioners are proposing, for no reason other than partisan politics, to impose the most intrusive and overbearing regulatory framework on one of the most dynamic technologies in the history of communications — the internet.” WISPA, which represents fixed wireless internet service providers, said reclassification would hurt small internet service providers and their communities. On the other side, INCOMPAS, which represents competitive carriers and some high-profile edge providers, said the FCC should definitely reclassify internet access as a telecommunications service and reinstitute net neutrality rules “to ensure that residential and small business customers throughout the United States have access to an open internet so that they can access the lawful online content, applications, and services of their choice.”

Around 1.9 million people are currently incarcerated in the United States, and an estimated 45 percent of Americans have at some point experienced the incarceration of an immediate family member. For many years, prisons have largely been tech bunkers, keeping incarcerated people isolated from the world outside. But things have started to change. In some cases, they changed because prison leaders recognized the need to connect incarcerated people to their communities. In other cases, they changed because, in relationship with private companies, prisons found a way to profit. The pandemic accelerated this trend. Activities like visitation and education programs were paused and in many cases replaced by video calls, e-messaging, and other virtual activities, facilitated in part by glitchy, specially made tablets distributed by private companies. As a result, things like tablets and e-messaging—which may seem trivial to those of us on the outside but can be transformational on the inside—are now popular in prisons and jails across the country. Time, Online, a new package from Future Tense, attempts to document this moment. Through a series of essays that were (with one exception) written by currently and formerly incarcerated people, we’ll examine how tech is changing what it means to be in prison. The essays and art in this series paint a vivid portrait of how technology has altered and shaped the lives of incarcerated people. Tech will define the future of prisons and of the communities connected to them. It’s worth understanding how.