The Capitol began processing a massive shift in the balance of power as Democrats prepare to take unified control of Congress. That means these key Democrats are primed to take the gavels on the committees overseeing technology and telecommunications issues, ranging from data privacy to 5G to antitrust:

• Maria Cantwell, Senate Commerce: The veteran Washington state lawmaker will have the power to lead negotiations on data privacy legislation, pushing for priorities like giving consumers a right to sue tech companies. She will also be crucial for any Senate overhaul of Section 230 tech liability protections. She has criticized some Federal Communications Commission decisions on airwaves, challenging efforts by both Republican and Democratic commissioners to favor commercial wireless priorities over military and transportation needs. She can also shape efforts to expand broadband, enshrine net neutrality, and foster local and diverse media.
• Amy Klobuchar, Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee: The Minnesota lawmaker recently said she’d make tackling the “outsized power” of the tech giants one of her top priorities this Congress, including pushing to make it easier to sue companies and boost the authority of antitrust enforcers. Klobuchar said other priorities will include passing a comprehensive data privacy bill, pushing to “stop election interference and the spread of disinformation online,” and advancing her bipartisan bill on transparency in online ads, the Honest Ads Act.

The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Engineering and Technology released a report on measuring fixed broadband, finding, among other things: the weighted average advertised speed of the participating broadband providers was 146.1 Mbps, representing an 8% increase from the previous year and over a 100% increase from two years prior; and for most of the major broadband providers tested, measured download speeds were 100% or better than advertised speeds during the peak hours. The report was based on data collected in September and October 2019 from fixed broadband providers, as part of the FCC’s measuring broadband America program.

• The maximum advertised download speeds amongst the service tiers offered by ISPs and measured by the FCC ranged from 24 Mbps to 940 Mbps for the period covered by this report.
• The weighted average advertised speed of the participating ISPs was 146.1 Mbps, representing an 8% increase from the previous year (Ninth Report) and over 100% increase from two years prior (Eighth Report).
• For most of the major broadband providers that were tested, measured download speeds were 100% or better than advertised speeds during the peak hours (7 p.m. to 11 p.m. local time).
• Ten ISPs were evaluated in this report.  Of these Cincinnati Bell and Frontier employed multiple different broadband technologies across the USA.  Overall 12 different ISP/technology configurations were evaluated in this report and eight performed at or better than their advertised speed during the peak hours.  Only one performed below 90% for actual-to-advertised download speed during the peak hours.
• In addition to providing download and upload speed measurements of ISPs, this report also provides a measure of consistency of measured to advertised speeds of ISPs with the use of our “80/80” metric.  The 80/80 metric measures the percentage of the advertised speed that at least 80% of subscribers experience at least 80% of the time over peak periods.  Ten of the 12 ISP/technology configurations provide better than 75% of advertised speed to at least 80% of panelists for at least 80% of the time.

To connect those most in need most often means connecting people to networks that already exist. That’s why it’s important to expose how the Federal Communications Commission’s rush to build new broadband networks has resulted in wasteful spending. Though I believe solving the rural-deployment problem is important, the roots of that problem are different from the root causes of the digital divide that plagues urban areas. We should be spending more time and, yes, money to address those issues of choice, affordability and high prices that keep tens of millions of people disconnected even when they already have an adequate broadband option in their neighborhoods.

• Feature or bug? The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund’s massive waste is a result of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s design. Based on our initial estimates, more than $700 million of the $9.2 billion in subsidies were awarded to broadband providers for deployment in non-rural areas. 
• While the FCC continues to ignore the plight of the urban poor, it’s giving Elon Musk nearly a billion in subsidies, a significant portion of it to serve urban airports (apparently, we have a massive airport digital divide), parking lots and dog parks

The Federal Communications Commission proposed fines on 10 entities for apparently failing to provide the educational services required by Educational Broadband Service (EBS) spectrum licenses they hold. The parties also apparently failed to meet their obligations to maintain local program committees to inform the use of their respective licenses in the 2.5 GHz band. Under applicable FCC rules at the time, non-local EBS licensees were required to reserve a minimum of 5% of their capacity for educational use, provide at least 20 hours of educational programming per channel per week, and establish a local program committee in each community where it did not have a local presence. The premise of the EBS licensing regime was that the opportunity to sub-lease spectrum would help incentivize licensees to continue providing educational services via their remaining capacity. The entities cited sub-leased the spectrum to their substantial financial benefit but apparently failed to meet their obligation to support the education of students in their communities of license. The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau began an investigation into the apparent misuse of this spectrum following FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr’s inquiries to the entities about their activities. The FCC recently transformed the 2.5 GHz band in which EBS licensees operated to make all of this vital mid-band spectrum available for advanced wireless services, including 5G. For the 50 years prior to this change, the FCC consistently required EBS licensees to meet educational obligations. The parties facing proposed fines —all of whom obtained their EBS licenses before the recent rule change—apparently failed to meet the obligations while they still were in effect. Enforcement of FCC rules in such circumstances is important nonetheless to ensure that licensees take their responsibilities seriously.

The proposed forfeiture amounts were based on the number of apparent violations and the number of days those apparent violations took place for each license held by a licensee.

• Clarendon Foundation, Inc. – $3,346,000
• Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network – $14,013,000
• National Conference on Citizenship – $1,590,000
• North American Catholic Educational Programming Foundation – $8,268,000
• Northern Arizona University Foundation – $5,485,000
• Rockne Educational Television, Inc. and The Learning Paradigm, Inc. – $3,975,000
• Shekinah Network – $6,377,500
• Views on Learning, Inc. – $2,745,000
• Voqal USA – $1,749,000

Many of 2020’s new phones, laptops, TVs, routers, and more will come with support for Wi-Fi 6E, a new upgrade to Wi-Fi that’s essentially like expanding your wireless connection from a two-lane road to an eight-lane highway. It’s the biggest upgrade to Wi-Fi in 20 years, and connections should be faster and a lot more reliable because of it. The Wi-Fi Alliance, the industry-wide group that oversees Wi-Fi, is now starting to certify the first wave of products with support for Wi-Fi 6E. Phones, PCs, and laptops with support should start hitting the market in the first months of 2021, and TVs and VR devices with support are expected to arrive by the middle of the year.