My top priority for the coming weeks is getting emergency broadband access to as many Americans as possible. If we’re successful, the Emergency Broadband Benefit will reach more disconnected low-income people and households of color than any previous Federal Communications Commission effort to close the digital divide. But Congress has—quite reasonably under the circumstances—given us just 60 days to set up the program. There are lots of details to work out, and I am focusing, most immediately, on two issues: First, how will we get the word out? The second issue is encouraging broadband providers to participate voluntarily.

We need to bring that transformative experience to millions more households, and beyond the Emergency Broadband Benefit, there are additional concrete steps the Commission should take. First, Lifeline needs an update. Second, we need to make sure that the FCC’s investments in infrastructure lead to service that American families can actually afford. Third, we need to update our E-Rate program with badly needed flexibility. Finally, I’m eager to work with congressional leaders to expand the Commission’s ability to respond to the affordability challenge. Congress should build on the bipartisan support for the Emergency Broadband Benefit and accelerate efforts to make broadband affordable.

New America's Open Technology Institute urged the Federal Communications Commission to quickly and successfully implement the Emergency Broadband Benefit, a new subsidy to help low-income people pay for broadband service during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program will provide $50 per month to qualifying low-income households and $75 in Tribal areas. OTI’s comments made the following recommendations:

1. The FCC needs to build consumer trust in the new program
2. The program should adopt a “broadband nutrition label”
3. The FCC should prioritize finishing the National Verifier
4. The FCC should maximally streamline the application process for K-12 and higher education students
5. The FCC should collect ISP pricing data to ensure program integrity
6. The FCC should prohibit ancillary fees in qualifying service plans
7. The government and providers should aggressively publicize the program, including to consumers with previously unpaid bills
8. The FCC should report weekly on program expenditures

The first phase of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) was for unserved markets, so given their high-cost nature it makes sense that affordable fixed wireless played such a large role. In the subsequent round, we expect fixed wireless to play a reduced role in underserved areas, which tend to be more densely populated. Technically speaking, with enough government support, unserved markets can be connected with gigabit speeds via fixed wireless, but execution risks and the ability to secure letters of credit (LOCs) could impede an operator’s ability to deliver on its bid. On the satellite front, awarding such a large amount of money to an unproven business model, and to SpaceX — a company that has plenty of access to capital — is a questionable decision. At the end of the day, it’s important to recognize that success is defined by the Federal Communications Commission effectively distributing Universal Service Funds that maximize the impact on bridging the digital divide. Time will tell if they pulled it off.

A new study conducted by Bento Lobo, Ph.D., head of the Department of Finance and Economics at the Rollins College of Business at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, documents $2.69 billion in community benefit during the first ten years since EPB of Chattanooga built Amerca's first Gig-speed community-wide network and used it to establish the nation’s most advanced smart grid power distribution system. Key Community Benefits from Chattanooga’s Advanced Infrastructure:

• Job creation and retention: The fiber optic infrastructure directly supported the creation and retention of 9,516 jobs which is about 40% of all jobs created in Hamilton County during the study period.
• Lower unemployment rate: Hamilton County’s unemployment rate was 4.7% in Nov which is significantly lower than Tennessee’s rate (5.3%) and two percentage points lower than the US unemployment rate (6.7%) for the same period.
• Bridging the digital divide for education: Having Chattanooga’s fiber optic network in place allowed EPB to join with Hamilton County Schools and other local and state partners in launching HCS EdConnect, a fiber optic broadband internet service provided at no charge to economically challenged families with K-12 students. Designed to continue providing the service for at least 10 years, HCS EdConnect represents a lasting solution for bridging the digital divide among students. Currently more than 12,000 students have internet access to continue their studies from home through HCS EdConnect.
• Reduced power outages: Related to the smart grid’s ability to quickly re-route power around storm damage and other problems, the study documents a 40-55% annual decrease in outage minutes providing EPB customers with an average of $26.6 million in savings each year by helping them avoid spoilage, lost productivity, and other negative impacts.
• Decreased environmental damage: The smart grid has helped EPB decrease carbon emissions by 7,900 tons through demand management and reduced truck-miles.
• $110 million in Smart City research: In 2014, the U.S. Department of Energy designated Chattanooga as a Smart Grid Living Laboratory. Since then, EPB has partnered with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and a range of other national and local research partners, like the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Center for Urban Informatics and Progress, to play a significant role in more than $110 million in Smart City Research.

House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) outlined a plan for fellow Republican members to hammer Big Tech companies. The "Big Tech Accountability Platform” serves as both a rallying cry for Republicans in the minority and an outline for some policy changes that could win bipartisan support. McMorris Rodgers suggests working with Democratic lawmakers on an agreement to sunset or establish a reauthorization date for Section 230 as a legislative starting point. Other ideas include revisiting platforms' Oct 2020 decision to limit the reach of a questionably sourced New York Post story on Hunter Biden, a nonstarter with Democrats. But some closely mirror calls Democratic lawmakers have made, such as exploring the power e-commerce giants exert in online marketplaces and pushing tech platforms to be more transparent and potentially legally answerable when it comes to moderation decisions.

A coalition of education advocates petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to close the remote learning gap for the estimated 15 to 16 million students who lack home internet access. If granted, the petition would allow schools and libraries to connect these disconnected learners using funding from the E-rate program. The petition requests that the Commission issue a declaratory ruling clarifying that the off-campus use of broadband services and equipment for the purpose of facilitating remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic constitutes an educational purpose, making those services and equipment eligible for E-rate support. The requested declaratory ruling would make it unnecessary for schools or libraries to cost-allocate between on- and off-campus uses, thereby giving them greater flexibility to use their existing broadband connections for educational purposes to connect students, teachers, and other school staff to the Internet from their homes. The declaratory ruling would also provide the legal foundation necessary to use existing financial reserves to help applicants pay for remote learning equipment and services.

Led by the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition, the coalition of education advocates includes the American Library Association (ALA), the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), the National School Boards Association (NSBA), the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), the State E-rate Coordinators’ Alliance (SECA), the Urban Libraries Council (ULC), the Wireless Future Project at New America, and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.