Daily Digest 3/5/2021 (Emergency Broadband Benefit Program Update)

Benton Institute for Broadband & Society
Table of Contents

Digital Inclusion

Initial Milestone Dates for the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program  |  Read below  |  Public Notice  |  Federal Communications Commission
Benton Foundation
Emergency Broadband Benefit Program: From Here to Launch in 60 Days  |  Read below  |  Kevin Taglang  |  Analysis  |  Benton Institute for Broadband & Society
To close digital equity gaps, US should endow a private Digital Futures Foundation  |  Read below  |  Michael Calabrese, Lester Salamon  |  Op-Ed  |  Boston Globe
Mayor de Blasio Announces Major Next Steps to Close the Digital Divide in NYC  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  Office of Mayor Bill de Blasio
Broadband, Local Economies, & the Age of COVID  |  Craig Settles

Infrastructure

Senators Urge Biden Administration to Create Modern, Unified Federal Broadband Standard  |  Read below  |  Sen Michael Bennet (D-CO), Sen Angus King (I-ME), Sen Rob Portman (R-OH), Sen Joe Manchin (D-WV)  |  Letter  |  US Senate
The New York City Internet of Things Strategy  |  City of New York

Wireless

Concerns grow over Verizon’s acquisition of TracFone  |  Read below  |  Monica Alleven  |  Fierce
FCC Commissioner Carr Visits Mississippi to Promote 5G Jobs Agenda  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission

Platforms

Apple Faces U.K. Antitrust Probe Over App Store Rules  |  Wall Street Journal
Trump Is No Longer Tweeting, But Online Disinformation Isn't Going Away  |  National Public Radio
Google’s FLoC Is a Terrible Idea  |  Electronic Frontier Foundation
TikTok Played a Key Role in MAGA Radicalization  |  Wired
Jack Dorsey's Square acquires majority of Tidal, Jay-Z’s streaming service, in $297 million deal  |  New York Times
How interoperability could end Facebook’s death grip on social media  |  Fast Company
Editorial: Google renounces web tracking, but protecting privacy will take much more  |  Los Angeles Times

Education

NPR/Ipsos Poll: Nearly One Third Of Parents May Stick With Remote Learning  |  National Public Radio

Labor

Google’s approach to historically Black schools helps explain why there are few Black engineers in Big Tech  |  Washington Post

TV

Major Pay-TV Providers Lost About 5,120,000 Subscribers in 2020  |  Leichtman Research Group
FCC Reminds Low Power Television and Television Translator Stations of July 13, 2021, Digital Transition Date  |  Federal Communications Commission

Company News

Windstream moves to tap into FCC's Emergency Broadband Benefit and Rural Digital Opportunity Fund money  |  Read below  |  Dan O'Shea  |  Fierce
T-Mobile unveils T-Mobile WFX: home office internet is a separate cellular-based Wi-Fi network for enterprise customers  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  T-Mobile

Policymakers

President Biden Confronts Trump-Era Inertia in Trying to Shift Agency Acts  |  Bloomberg
Message from the 40th Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo  |  Department of Commerce
NTIA Seeks Nominees for Board of the First Responder Network Authority  |  National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Today's Top Stories

Digital Inclusion

Initial Milestone Dates for the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program

Public Notice  |  Federal Communications Commission

To participate in the Federal Communications Commission's new Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, broadband providers must submit information to the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau and the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). Accordingly, the Bureau announces the following milestone dates for the provider application and election processes. For providers that haven't previously participated in federal assistance programs, a portal to file applications will open on Monday, March 8. Applications must be received by March 22.  For providers that have previously participated in federal assistance programs, they can begin to let USAC know if they will participate in the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program starting March 11. 

Emergency Broadband Benefit Program: From Here to Launch in 60 Days

Kevin Taglang  |  Analysis  |  Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

On March 4, we got a tad bit more information about the timeline of the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program—at least for the companies that are interested in providing the discounted broadband services. Broadband internet access service providers that have previously participated in federal assistance programs (these companies are known in wonkspeak as eligible telecommunications carriers or ETCs), can begin to let USAC know if they will participate in the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program starting March 11. For providers that haven't previously participated in federal assistance programs (known as non-ETCs), a portal to file applications will open on Monday, March 8. Applications must be received by March 22 if these companies want to be eligible to participate in the program when it launches. But this week's announcement was just one small step in a series of behind-the-scenes efforts needed to get the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program up and running. Last week, the FCC commissioners voted, if you will, on the bones of the program. It is up to staff to flesh it out—and to do that very quickly. For advocates will concerns and ideas, then, there is still time to impact how the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program will run. As we were reading last week's order, we collated a list of decisions to be made and actions to be taken. As of now, there's no timeline for addressing this list although the Wireline Competition Bureau will announce, at a later date, administrative deadlines and milestones, such as when the EBB Program will begin and when providers may begin enrolling subscribers in the program.

To close digital equity gaps, US should endow a private Digital Futures Foundation

Michael Calabrese, Lester Salamon  |  Op-Ed  |  Boston Globe

A high-stakes auction of government-owned airwaves to mobile broadband providers is set to drop a record windfall exceeding $80 billion into the US Treasury. Two additional auctions of wireless frequency bands, called spectrum, are on tap for 2021 and slated to follow the same course. The nation has become painfully aware of the digital divides that are widening inequality, slowing productivity, and impeding innovation. So, is dumping the proceeds from the privatization of the public airwaves into the federal Treasury, as is now routinely done, the best use of our nation’s precious resources? The answer is decidedly no. A Digital Futures Foundation, endowed with a meaningful portion of spectrum auction revenue, could fund the development of innovative digital software, such as new low- or no-cost interactive learning tools. It could pioneer applications of emerging artificial intelligence and augmented reality technologies for health care, energy conservation, smart city services, and more. And it could foster robust public-service digital media applications and content. By designating a portion of the tens of billions of dollars of spectrum auction proceeds recently generated and expected over the coming years to endow a private Digital Futures Foundation, Congress can take a giant step toward bridging America’s triple digital divide and setting us on a more reliable, economically sensible, and just digital course.

[Michael Calabrese directs the Wireless Future Project at New America. Lester Salamon directs the Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies.]

Mayor de Blasio Announces Major Next Steps to Close the Digital Divide in NYC

Press Release  |  Office of Mayor Bill de Blasio

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced next steps on the City’s efforts to achieve affordable and universal broadband. With a historic $157 million capital investment, the City is releasing a Request for Proposals that invites the telecommunications industry to create new affordable broadband service options through a first-ever coordinated system of access of up to 100,000 City assets, prioritizing areas identified by the Task Force on Racial Inclusion and Equity. The Mayor also announced the City will accelerate the buildout of 5G by making an unprecedented 7,500 City street poles available for mobile carriers to build out their networks, mainly in underserved areas. Combined, these initiatives will reach millions of New Yorkers across all five boroughs, expanding access to quality, high-speed, and reliable internet at home or on the go.

Infrastructure

Senators Urge Biden Administration to Create Modern, Unified Federal Broadband Standard

Sen Michael Bennet (D-CO), Sen Angus King (I-ME), Sen Rob Portman (R-OH), Sen Joe Manchin (D-WV)  |  Letter  |  US Senate

In a letter to the Biden Administration’s top officials for federal broadband policy -- including Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Acting Chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Jessica Rosenworcel, and Director of the National Economic Council Brian Deese -- the senators called on federal agencies to update broadband program speed requirements to reflect existing and anticipated uses, from two-way video conferencing to smart grids to artificial intelligence. The senators also urged the officials to work together to align the definition of what constitutes high-speed broadband across federal agencies to replace the patchwork of standards that exist today. The senators called on the administration to invest limited federal broadband dollars in faster and more reliable networks capable of supporting modern and future uses. Specifically, they urged the administration to set a goal of supporting networks wherever practicable and cost effective that provide, at a minimum, symmetrical speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) such that all members of a typical family can be online simultaneously without issue.

Wireless

Concerns grow over Verizon’s acquisition of TracFone

Monica Alleven  |  Fierce

TracFone is the largest wireless reseller in the U.S., with about 21 million subscribers and prepaid brands including Straight Talk and Simple Mobile. Verizon announced in September that it plans to acquire TracFone from América Móvil in a deal worth up to $6.9 billion, which still must pass regulatory approval. Boost Mobile founder Peter Adderton suggested that the Federal Communications Commission require the divestiture of TracFone subscribers who are currently served by third-party networks. According to Adderton, doing so would curb the potentially costly disruptions to these consumers by allowing them to remain on the AT&T or T-Mobile networks. “Moreover, imposing such a condition would serve the public interest by allowing an independent (mobile virtual network operator) to achieve the scale necessary to compete with the major facilities-based carriers and their affiliated prepaid brands.” Adderton “doesn’t believe for a second” that T-Mobile and AT&T are going to let Verizon use their networks to make money, meaning millions of customers will be looking for new services. That’s on top of all the customers who will be affected if T-Mobile shuts off the its (formerly Sprint's) 3G network earlyin 2022, as it has informed current Boost owner Dish Network it plans to do.  

FCC Commissioner Carr Visits Mississippi to Promote 5G Jobs Agenda

Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission

Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr is in Mississippi for events focused on his 5G jobs initiative, which centers on standing up community college and trade school programs so that Americans earn the skills needed to land good-paying jobs in the tower and telecommunication industries. Those programs have already been launched in SC, SD, NC, and OK. His visits will also focus on telehealth, infrastructure builds, and enhanced use of technology in K-12 classrooms. At these events, he will join Dane Maxwell, Chairman of the Mississippi Public Service Commission, as well as members of NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association, including MillerCo.

Company News

Windstream moves to tap into FCC's Emergency Broadband Benefit and Rural Digital Opportunity Fund money

Dan O'Shea  |  Fierce

Windstream is looking to leverage funds from two Federal Communications Commission programs as it expands broadband Internet and related services to new markets and customers. Kinetic, Windstream’s community broadband business, announced that it plans to participate in the FCC’s $3.2 billion Emergency Broadband Benefit program. “As soon as the FCC is ready to take this program live, we are ready to implement it so any eligible customer in our 18-state footprint who needs internet service can get and stay connected,” said eff Auman, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Kinetic. Windstream also announced this week that it submitted an application to the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund in hopes of accessing $147 million over 10 years to deliver fiber-to-the-home internet services to more than 48,000 locations in Georgia.

T-Mobile unveils T-Mobile WFX: home office internet is a separate cellular-based Wi-Fi network for enterprise customers

Press Release  |  T-Mobile

T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert announced T-Mobile WFX (work from anywhere), three solutions designed to help businesses and their employees meet the remarkable changes they face in tomorrow’s radically-transformed, post-pandemic, work-from-anywhere world. T-Mobile WFX includes: T-Mobile Enterprise Unlimited, wireless plans with unlimited 5G; T-Mobile Home Office Internet, home broadband designed to give remote employees the bandwidth and security needed to get work done; and T-Mobile Collaborate, a suite of mobile-first, cloud-based tools for business calling, messaging and conferencing from virtually any device, anywhere.

For employees who work from home, there’s the daily battle for bandwidth with the rest of the family and the hourly struggle to stay productive while waiting for videos to buffer and meetings to unfreeze. Companies face the thankless task of cobbling together a patchwork of regional service providers with different plans and service level agreements. Then there’s the risk that comes when employees use poorly secured personal Wi-Fi to access and share critical business information. T-Mobile Home Office Internet delivers a separate, high-security connection for employees working from home designed specifically to solve these problems. With Sprint now part of T-Mobile, the Un-carrier’s new 5G network is so powerful it makes replacing broadband in the home a reality for millions of people with blazing fast speeds.

Submit a Story

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.


© Benton Institute for Broadband & Society 2021. Redistribution of this email publication — both internally and externally — is encouraged if it includes this message. For subscribe/unsubscribe info email: headlines AT benton DOT org


Kevin Taglang

Kevin Taglang
Executive Editor, Communications-related Headlines
Benton Institute
for Broadband & Society
727 Chicago Avenue
Evanston, IL 60202
847-328-3040
headlines AT benton DOT org

Share this edition:

Benton Institute for Broadband & Society Benton Institute for Broadband & Society Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society All Rights Reserved © 2021