Friday, January 29, 2021
Headlines Daily Digest
Just a song before he go: Ajit Pai's last broadband deployment report is same tired tune
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National Urban League Unveils New Framework To Bridge Digital Divide
GAO: How to improve the FCC's Lifeline National Verifier
These Teenagers Are Taking On Comcast To Demand Faster Speeds For Remote Learning
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Agenda
Federal Communications Commission Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced that she will convene a virtual roundtable discussion on Feb 12, 2021 to gather public input on how to structure the new Emergency Broadband Benefit Program. The roundtable will allow interested parties an opportunity to share ideas on the important public policy and program administration decisions that will shape the FCC’s approach to establishing the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program. The FCC is currently gathering comments on the program in response to a request for comment issued Jan 4, 2021. Reply comments are due Feb 16, 2021. The Wireline Competition Bureau will announce further information about the event in coming days, including panel discussion topics, and participants.
In an interview with Politico, Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR) describe his plans for the 117th Congress. Some highlights:
- Sen Wyden said he’s planning to introduce a so-called “not for sale” privacy proposal. The legislation, set to be introduced in the coming weeks, would prevent law enforcement agencies from running around the Fourth Amendment by obtaining consumers’ personal data from brokers without a warrant or court order.
- He has a two-step test for any Section 230 bill: “Any changes [to Section 230] shouldn't target constitutionally protected speech, and they shouldn't discourage moderation,” he said. “The bills I've seen so far violate one or both of those things.”
- A broadband bombardment: Wyden, who is expected to chair the Senate Finance Committee, said he’ll be pressing hard to expand internet access. “Congress has basically got to set out a lodestar that broadband on our watch is going to come to be like electrification was decades ago,” he said. “Every single infrastructure bill should have a significant broadband component."
Lifeline
FCC Has Implemented the Lifeline National Verifier but Should Improve Consumer Awareness and Experience
As of June 2020, the Federal Communications Commission required consumers nationwide to use the Lifeline National Verifier (Verifier), a centralized process and data system, to check their eligibility for Lifeline, the FCC program that provides discounts on phone and internet service for low-income Americans. The FCC created the Verifier with the stated goals of reducing fraud and costs and improving the consumer experience. But the FCC hasn't made people aware of the Verifier, or provided information tribal governments need to help people use it. Also, the FCC's document submission process is challenging, leading some eligible applicants to give up. GAO found that more than two-thirds of applicants who underwent manual review between June 2018 and June 2020 did not complete their applications.
GAO was asked to review FCC's implementation of the Verifier. GAO recommends that the Chairman of the FCC should:
- development and implement a plan to educate eligible consumers about the Lifeline program and Verifier requirements that align with key practices for consumer education planning.
- provide tribal organizations with targeted information and tools, such as access to the Verifier, that equip them to assist residents of tribal lands with their Verifier applications.
- identify and use performance measures to track the Verifier's progress in delivering value to consumers.
- ensure that it has quality information on consumers' experience with the Verifier's manual review process, and should use that information to improve the consumer experience to meet the Verifier's goals.
- ensure that the Verifier's online application and support website align with characteristics for leading federal website design, including that they are accurate, clear, understandable, easy to use, and contain a mechanism for users to provide feedback.
- convert the Verifier's online application, checklifeline.org, to a ".gov" domain
Broadband/Internet
Just a song before he go: Ajit Pai's last broadband deployment report is same tired tune
As longtime Benton readers know, since 1996 Congress has charged the Federal Communications Commission with encouraging the deployment of broadband to all Americans on a reasonable and timely basis. Congress also requires the FCC annually to initiate an inquiry concerning the availability of broadband. In conducting this inquiry, the FCC must determine whether broadband is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion. If not, the FCC is to take immediate action to accelerate broadband deployment. The FCC last released a broadband deployment report in April 2020 and, so, it was a bit of a surprise when the 2021 report was released on January 19, the day before the Inauguration and new leadership would take over at the FCC. What was the news that departing FCC Chairman Ajit Pai had to rush out the door?
The National Urban League unveiled the framework of a comprehensive agenda for leveraging the tools of the information economy to create a more equitable and inclusive society. The Lewis Latimer Plan for Digital Equity and Inclusion would:
- Deploy broadband networks everywhere in the country.
- Connect every household to broadband networks.
- Effectively utilize the networks to improve delivery of essential services.
- Create new opportunities for underserved communities to participate in the growth of the digital economy.
The plan was inspired by, and is offered in memory of, Lewis Howard Latimer, a 19th-century draftsman, soldier, scientist, and researcher whose parents were born into slavery. Working with Alexander Graham Bell on the development of telephones and Thomas Edison on electric lighting, Latimer made groundbreaking contributions that changed the course of human history. The Latimer Plan would require companies that benefit from federal investment to improve access to economic opportunity, and it would direct the Department of Commerce and the Federal Communications Commission to collect information that allows the government and the public to understand and evaluate how the private sector is improving diversity, equity, and inclusion.
As remote learning dragged on through 2020, the coronavirus pandemic pitted Comcast against an unlikely opponent: a group of teenagers. Baltimore-based student activists have been waging a campaign for faster internet speeds and arguing that Internet Essentials isn’t always fast enough for successful distance learning. Comcast has repeatedly insisted that its speeds meet the Federal Communications Commission standard for high-speed broadband — but now, a former employee who quit his job in frustration has come forward to say that, based on his experience, Internet Essentials isn’t providing the service students need to learn. “If it was working technically and that was enough, there wouldn’t be so many people calling with problems,” said former Comcast employee Chase Roper. He quit Comcast in part because of how difficult it was for him to tell Internet Essentials customers who were struggling to get online that the only way to improve their speeds was to upgrade to a more expensive service. “Why offer a thing that meets the bare minimum technical requirement when that’s not going to be enough?” said Roper. “Why not say, ‘You qualify for this kind of assistance; let’s give you an upload speed in the double digits so your kid can access their education’?”
In response to Comcast imposing a data cap on Massachusetts residents, state lawmakers have proposed a ban on data caps, new fees, and price increases on home-Internet services for the duration of the pandemic. The legislation was filed on Jan 26 by Democratic state representatives Andy Vargas and Dave Rogers. MA State Rep Vargas called the bill a "response to Comcast Internet data cap plans," while MA State Rep Rogers said the goal is "to push back at Comcast and any other service providers who try to raise prices or fees during a pandemic." Verizon FiOS and RCN also provide Internet service in Massachusetts but do not impose data caps.
Comcast's 4th-quarter profits rose, boosted by continued growth at its broadband business. The company added 538,000 new subscribers during the quarter. While 2020 was a banner year for Comcast's broadband results, executives on the earnings call noted that it was somewhat of anomaly due to the pandemic. Comcast had been building broadband momentum in prior years, and for that reason 2019 is a better measuring stick going forward into 2021, according to Comcast execs. Comcast's increase in broadband subscribers were the result of taking market share from telco's DSL, wired and wireless services as well as an expanded market.
The time is long past for Congress to adopt outgoing Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai’s recommendation: Move the universal service program on-budget, which will shore up its precarious financial state and cure many of the real or perceived problems with the existing program. Some have suggested expanding the revenue base to include broadband access. An alternative proposal floated by state utilities commissioners would have replaced the existing surcharge with a per-number tax on residential lines and a revenue-based tax on commercial telephone revenue. But perhaps the simplest and most elegant solution is also the most revolutionary. Rather than tinkering at the edges of an archaic off-budget program, Congress should simply fund universal service through a direct appropriation, like most other entitlements.
An on-budget program would make it easier for Congress to monitor the program directly through inquiries and hearings. Second, a direct appropriation would avoid the market distortion of trying to tax some goods but not others (substitutes) in order to fund the program. Third, the program would be subject to a hard budgetary cap on annual expenditures. Finally, moving on-budget gives Congress a chance to overhaul the program. Designing a new, on-budget USF program would invite a fresh, critical assessment of these programs rather than giving in to bureaucratic inertia.
[Daniel Lyons is a professor at Boston College Law School]
Benton (www.benton.org) provides the only free, reliable, and non-partisan daily digest that curates and distributes news related to universal broadband, while connecting communications, democracy, and public interest issues. Posted Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are factually accurate, their sometimes informal tone may not always represent the tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang (headlines AT benton DOT org) and Robbie McBeath (rmcbeath AT benton DOT org) — we welcome your comments.
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