Sens Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) led a bipartisan and bicameral group of 45 lawmakers in calling for the extension of expanded coverage of telehealth services to be included in must-pass legislation in February 2022. Provisions from the Schatz-authored CONNECT for Health Act were included in previous COVID-19 relief legislation to allow Medicare beneficiaries in all areas of the country, and in their homes, to utilize telehealth services and to expand the types of health care providers eligible to provide telehealth. But these provisions will expire following the pandemic unless congressional leaders act to extend those measures or make them permanent. “We strongly support permanently expanding Medicare coverage of telehealth and removing other barriers to the use of telehealth because of its ability to expand access to care, reduce costs, and improve health outcomes. While Congress prepares to enact permanent telehealth legislation, we urge you to include an extension of the pandemic telehealth authorities in must-pass government funding legislation in February,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Sens Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

"Last year, Congress passed the [Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act], which includes more than $42 billion in grants to states and territories focused on funding high-speed broadband deployment to households and businesses that currently lack access to these services," said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to the National Governor's Association. "States will soon have access to initial planning funds, which will help inform a five-year action plan. We need you to start preparing for this program now. Think strategically about the best location for your broadband program within your government, including where you can leverage expertise and shared services such as grants management." Secretary Raimondo also encouraged governors and state leaders to plan for digital equity solutions, saying, "The law includes nearly $3 billion in funding for the Digital Equity Act. Some that funding will used to promote digital inclusion and equity for communities that don’t have what they need to take advantage of broadband connections. Earlier this month, we released a request for comment on many of the broadband programs in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Please make your voices heard so that we know what’s really happening on the ground as we design these programs."

A coalition of telecommunications industry lobbyists wants the Biden administration to waive “Buy American” requirements in the recent bipartisan infrastructure law for certain information and communications technologies. The new campaign, led by the Telecommunications Industry Association, argues that the available choices for US-made telecomunications equipment are insufficient to meet the law’s goal of building new, affordable broadband networks in underserved or hard-to-reach regions. “Americans without access to broadband cannot wait for a domestic supply chain to be developed out of whole cloth,” reads the letter sent January 31 from the industry coalition to Commerce Secretary Raimondo, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The lobbyists say a limited opt-out provision for “Buy American” requirements would be similar to previous waivers the telecommunications industry received as part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. "We believe that a limited, programmatic waiver is a necessary precondition to effective and efficient investment in broadband and will help ensure that every American has access to the digital infrastructure of the future consistent with the ultimate objectives of the IIJA," they said.

The recently named director for Missouri's Office of Broadband Development has been advocating for increased internet connectivity for years. Formerly working as the Missouri Farm Bureau's director of state and local legislative affairs, BJ Tanksley has witnessed the effects the lack of broadband has on thousands of Missourians firsthand. Tanksley was named director of the office in the Missouri Department of Economic Development (DED) in mid-January 2022 and will lead the state's efforts to implement Gov Mike Parson (R-MO)'s plan to invest more than $400 million in broadband. Tanksley and other members of the office are working on a gap analysis that is studying the current need for broadband and how to bridge those gaps across the state. He expects the analysis to be completed in late February 2022. A large chunk of the funding would go toward infrastructure with additional funds going toward increasing digital literacy, affordability and more. Along with increasing internet connectivity across the state, the investment in broadband would allow farmers to reduce the amount of resources they use and expand on animal and crop care, Tanksley said.

Data from Ookla's Speedtest Intelligence shows exactly how much C-band has already affected 5G performance in the week following its launch on January 19, and how that might impact Speedtest Global Index Market Analysis rankings. Ookla saw a week-over-week increase in median 5G download speed of 13 percent when looking at all operators combined. AT&T and T-Mobile both had slight increases (1 percent) in median download speed over 5G for all operators when comparing the seven days starting January 12 and ending January 19, with AT&T rising from 68.43 Mbps to 70.46 Mbps and T-Mobile increasing from 181.99 Mbps to 187.11 Mbps. This coincides with AT&T’s very selective rollout of C-band in eight markets and the fact that T-Mobile did not add new spectrum on January 19, though they did launch their 5G carrier aggregation that same day. Verizon Wireless saw the greatest performance gain of 50 percent after the C-band rollout, from 76.51 Mbps during the week starting January 19 to 116.29 Mbps at the end of the week. This massive improvement in speed shows the power of Verizon’s widespread deployment of C-band spectrum and C-band’s ability to deliver fast speeds. If Verizon continues to capitalize on their C-band rollout and add additional deployments, we could well see an upset in the US market rankings by the time of our next Speedtest Global Index Market Analysis.

[Isla McKetta is Head of Content at Ookla.]