On February 4, New America's Open Technology Institute (OTI) filed comments to guide the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in successfully disbursing funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). In the comments, OTI urged NTIA to ensure its administration of the program results in the equitable deployment of broadband and improved access to affordable, quality broadband service. The IIJA, signed into law by President Biden after Congress passed the legislation with bipartisan support, tasks NTIA with disbursing more than $48 billion in broadband funding. The bulk of the money is dedicated for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. OTI’s comments argued that NTIA should promulgate rules that ensure that BEAD-supported networks are:

1. Affordable
2. Competitive
3. Transparent
4. Rigorously evaluated
5. Community driven

The Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) tasks the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) with developing rules for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. Next Century Cities (NCC) submitted comments to the NTIA encouraging the agency to work closely with local governments and community-based organizations that support new collaborations and build public awareness. Further, the comments reflect direct feedback from local officials who see the need to embrace both traditional and non-traditional partnerships, including those in collaboration with municipally-owned, nonprofit, and cooperative networks. These organizations should be able to compete for deployment opportunities in their communities. NCC also urged the NTIA to collect information on broadband speeds actually delivered by BEAD-funded programs. Subscription data in areas previously classified as unserved and the number of consumers who have enrolled in a BEAD sponsored low-cost program will be critical for assessing whether the BEAD program is meeting the broadband goals outlined in the IIJA. Finally, local leaders recommended that BEAD funding should be used to support digital literacy and digital skills training. Too many households lack the tools to fully utilize an Internet connection; a connected device and skills training are essential complements to digital infrastructure.

INCOMPAS, the internet and competitive networks association, filed comments with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) urging the Department of Commerce to enshrine competition laws into the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act implementation to ensure all Americans have access to faster speeds and future proof networks at more affordable prices. The INCOMPAS filing details a road map to help NTIA deliver on the promise of connecting all Americans to better internet services while creating jobs, attracting investment and unleashing innovation. “Simply put, our members have proven that competition works and monopolies fail. Markets with multiple providers, wholesale access and new fiber builders have faster speeds and the lowest prices. Access to competition helps families save and small businesses grow, and we urge NTIA to build on competition laws and results as it formulates the rules and policies for these broadband infrastructure programs,” INCOMPAS writes in its NTIA filing. The filing also highlights competition laws and policies have a proven track record of success, and urge NTIA to make rules and policies that are congruent with other Federal Agencies and the White House Executive Order on Competition.

The phase-out of the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program (EBB) and the transition to the new Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) represents an opportunity to take stock of the EBB program’s impact, and adjust key parameters to enhance the impact of the ACP. This policy brief seeks to contribute to this goal by evaluating the EBB program along three dimensions: 1) whether the program reached those in most need; 2) whether program uptake was higher for households with characteristics unrelated to the eligibility criteria; 3) whether local area factors affected opportunities and incentives for program participation. Ultimately, the goal of this study is to inform the design and support the implementation of the ACP program in ways that enhance its impact and cost-effectiveness.

Overall, the findings of this study suggest there is significant room to improve program targeting and outreach efforts, as well as to facilitate enrollment procedures for key groups of potential beneficiaries. Critically, the findings suggest that the primary impact of the EBB program was to alleviate the cost burden for households that were already connected pre-pandemic, with only modest impact in bringing new households online. A key task for ACP is to significantly expand coverage, particularly in areas with low residential connectivity pre-pandemic.

New America's Open Technology Institute (OTI) wrote and submitted a letter—alongside Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, MediaJustice, and Public Knowledge—requesting the Federal Communications Commission commit resources and energy to ensure communities beyond English speakers are made aware of the opportunity provided by the Affordable Connectivity Program. The letter recommended that the FCC review media and outreach materials promoting the Affordable Connectivity Program for translation accuracy and readability, and that they employ translators fluent in how that language is used by those situated within US communities. "We especially urge the Commission to review its website, marketing materials, social media, outreach kits, and other publicity resources for language translation accuracy, and request that they consider hiring native or near native speakers who understand American context and vernacular to review all materials for translation accuracy, but also readability," said the groups. "It’s also important that those responsible for translations are not just fluent in the language, but fluent in how that language is used by those situated within US communities. Technically accurate translations may not be recognizable or accessible to people who speak that language in the United States and thus translators should be fluent in how that language is used by those within this country."

February 4 was the deadline for written public input on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act broadband programs that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will administer. Much attention is rightly being paid to the many billions of dollars NTIA will distribute to states in the coming months to ensure broadband networks reach everyone in America. However, there's been less attention given to a provision in the new law creating a new vehicle for broadband deployment: private activity bonds. State and local governments issue debt for most large public capital projects such as new schools, public buildings, and roads. On occasion, state and local governments will issue debt for projects whose purpose is less public in nature, such as privately owned and operated multifamily residential housing. Nevertheless, these projects are often afforded the same tax privilege as debt issued for strictly government-owned and -operated projects. Congress limits the use of tax-exempt bonds for private activities because of concern about the overuse of tax-exempt, private activity bonds. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. (See, now I have your attention.)  Specifically, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act amends Section 14(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, creating a new category of "exempt facility bond": "qualified broadband projects."

[Kevin Taglang is Executive Editor at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society.]

The Air Force plans to enable and demonstrate a space internet that the military can use to connect and communicate via constellations of commercial spacecraft operating in various orbits. In a presolicitation released by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), officials confirmed intent to award two to five contracts worth up to $40 million each for “multi-band, multi-orbit communication experiments.” The work would span a couple years, and AFRL already has sights set on some use cases of interest. Another application the lab is exploring is for airborne communications. These experiments mark the latest component of the lab’s Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet, or DEUCSI program, which originally launched in 2017. Specifically, the service aims to connect military platforms through multiple commercial space internet constellations in different orbit regimes—such as low-, medium-, and geosynchronous earth orbits using the emerging “common user terminal” capabilities. Ideally, military users would be able to tap into services from different providers or orbits, depending on their needs.

Both T-Mobile and Verizon have made quite a big deal about their new fixed wireless access (FWA) offerings. They’re tapping unused capacity on their nationwide wireless networks to offer FWA for home broadband. These offerings will help to provide broadband in underserved areas, and they also give T-Mobile and Verizon a means to steal share from wired telco and cable providers. At the end of December 2021, T-Mobile had 646,000 home internet customers, and Verizon had about 223,000 subs. But AT&T has been relatively quiet on the topic of FWA for the past couple of years. Therefore, it was surprising when Wave7 Research's new FWA report showed that AT&T is among the top 12 fixed wireless providers in the US. The Wave7 report was based on numbers from BroadbandNow, which indicate that AT&T’s FWA offering covers 5.7 million people. AT&T offers an FWA point-to-point service, similar to that provided by wireless internet service providers (WISPs) where a device is installed on the outside of the customer’s home, which receives a signal from a nearby FWA transmitter. And AT&T also offers an FWA point-to-multipoint service with a device in the home that receives the mobile signal from its macro network. He said AT&T is planning an FWA announcement for later in 2022, but he wouldn’t provide any specifics now, other than to say it would offer more choice.

Spectrum announced the launch of Spectrum Internet, Mobile, TV and Voice services to more than 140 homes and small businesses in the Pittsville (MO) area. Spectrum’s newly constructed fiber-optic network buildout in Johnson County (MO) is part of the company’s approximately $5 billion investment in unserved rural communities, which includes $1.2 billion won in the Federal Communications Commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction. The company’s RDOF expansion will provide broadband access to approximately 1 million customer locations as estimated by the FCC across 24 states in the coming years. Spectrum Internet Gig, with download speeds of 1 Gbps, is now available throughout the buildout area. Spectrum Internet offers starting speeds of 200 Mbps, with Spectrum Internet Ultra providing download speeds of 400 Mbps. For small and medium-sized businesses, Spectrum Business Internet offers download speeds of 200 Mbps, 600 Mbps and 1 Gbps. Spectrum Internet Assist, the company’s low-cost broadband service for qualifying families and seniors, is also available, offering 30 Mbps speeds for just $17.99 per month. All Spectrum Internet plans have no data caps, modem fees or contracts and are eligible for Affordable Connectivity Program credits for qualifying households.