On March 31, the House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing called "Connecting America: Oversight of the FCC." Each of the current four Federal Communications Commissioners testified before the subcommittee, led by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and including Brendan Carr, Nathan Simington, and Geoffrey Starks. Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA) chaired the hearing. He praised the FCC's bipartisan work over the past 14 months, operating with two Democrats and two Republican commissioners. He said that he hoped the Senate will soon confirm Gigi Sohn, President Joe Biden's nominee for the FCC's open fifth seat. In his opening remarks, House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) noted how broadband and connectivity have proven essential to everyone’s lives. He stated that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress enacted a number of programs administered by the FCC to help people afford and adopt broadband service.

Charter Communications rolled out a new fixed internet plan which will effectively offer free service to customers who qualify for the Federal Communications Commission’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). The move follows similar efforts from Verizon, Comcast and Mediacom to make fixed service available at no cost to ACP customers. But the catch is that most ACP subscribers are using the subsidy money for mobile broadband. The operator’s new Spectrum Internet 100 plan includes access to download speeds of up to 100 Mbps with no data caps as well as a modem, router and in-home Wi-Fi. It costs $29.99, a sum which is entirely offset by the $30 per month subsidy available to most ACP participants. While the ACP subsidy can be applied to any of Charter’s Spectrum Internet plans, users on this tier will be able to tap access that is essentially free.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced it has awarded four grants as part of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program. These grants, part of President Biden's commitment to ensuring all Americans have access to reliable, affordable, high-speed internet, total nearly $1.2 million and are being awarded in three states – California, Washington, and Wisconsin.  These grants will fund broadband infrastructure deployment projects to expand internet access to the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians (CA), Forest County Potawatomi Community (WI), Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe (WA), and the St. Croix Chippewa Indians (WI). The Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, which was funded by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, makes $980 million available for grants to eligible Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian entities for broadband deployment, digital inclusion, workforce development, telehealth, and distance learning. President Biden’s recently enacted Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides an additional $2 billion in funding for this program.

In April 2021, State District Court Judge Matthew Wilson in New Mexico ordered school officials to take steps to provide the needed devices and broadband connections for students who are forced to attend school remotely. This ruling was made during the deepest part of the pandemic when most schools in New Mexico were shut down. His ruling was based upon complaints that The New Mexico Public Education Department was not complying with a court decision in the case of Yazzie/Martinez v. the State of New Mexico made in 2018 by Judge Sarah Singleton, who ruled that the education clause of the New Mexico State Constitution meant that all New Mexico school students were entitled to have access to programs and services that gave them an equal chance to learn and thrive. This is the only case I know where a court has said students have a right to good broadband. However, the fact that the State has not responded to the lawsuit tells you all you need to know. State legislators are not going to easily give into courts telling them they must undertake expensive spending programs. It’s always controversial when such edicts come from the federal government, but state governments are more likely to ignore such an order from a state court. I must admit that I never thought of the possibility of courts ordering jurisdictions to fix the broadband gap. It’s an interesting idea, but it’s hard to think that an order from a single judge will free the huge amounts of spending needed to solve the broadband gap.

[Doug Dawson is president of CCG Consulting.]

Will the Federal Communications Commission raise the definition of broadband to 100/20 Mbps? It looks like that probably doesn’t happen until Congress approves a fifth FCC commissioner. But we  need to understand that a 100/20 Mbps definition of broadband is not forward-looking and will start being obsolete and too slow from the day it is approved. We need a mechanism to change the definition of broadband annually, or at least more often than we have been doing. The market has already told the FCC that 100 Mbps is quickly becoming last year’s news. Within a year, when 60% or 70% of the public is buying broadband speeds of at least 200 Mbps, it will be obvious that 100 Mbps broadband is already in the rearview mirror for most Americans. Unfortunately, the definition of broadband has political and financial overtones. It determines who can win grants. A higher definition of broadband can declare that certain technologies are no longer considered to be broadband. In a perfect world, directed by the public demand for broadband, the definition of broadband would increase every year.

In this analysis, Opensignal takes its first look at the impact of AT&T and Verizon's C-band launches on the 5G mobile experience. We analyzed the 5G speeds seen on the US carriers when connected to mid-band 5G spectrum, using T-Mobile’s 5G experience on the 2.5 GHz band for comparison because T-Mobile is using 2.5 GHz for a similar purpose to C-band. However, T-Mobile has a head start as it started to deploy mid-band 2.5 GHz for 5G two years ago in April 2020. Now, Opensignal data shows that AT&T and Verizon have started using their C-band spectrum for 5G in very different ways. 5G download speeds are already much faster — three to four times — when connected to mid-band 5G on AT&T and Verizon compared to the average 5G download speeds our users experienced on the two carriers before they activated their C-band networks. Although AT&T and Verizon are still in the early stages of their mid-band 5G rollouts, these results are indicative of the improvement that users can look forward to in the coming years as the two carriers expand their mid-band 5G deployments. While it may be some time before the two carriers can challenge T-Mobile for the 5G Download Speed award — as T-Mobile has had a nearly 22-month head start with its 2.5 GHz spectrum — Opensignal data shows that Verizon and soon AT&T now have the required mid-band spectrum to start the chase.

[Francesco Rizzato is a senior technical analyst at Opensignal.]