Daily Digest 4/2/2020 (Kious Kelly)

Benton Institute for Broadband & Society
Table of Contents

Stimulus #4

Lawmakers look to infrastructure spending to help economy recover from coronavirus  |  Read below  |  Ian Duncan  |  Washington Post, New York Times
Stuart Brotman: Why Congress needs to address technology in the next relief bill  |  Hill, The

News From the FCC

Digging In for the Long Haul  |  Read below  |  FCC Chairman Ajit Pai  |  Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission
Chairman Pai Moves Forward to Establish 5G Fund for Rural America  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission
Chairman Pai Proposes New 6 GHz Band Rules to Unleash Unlicensed Use  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's 6 GHz Proposal Draws Crowd  |  Multichannel News
FCC Provides Relief That Enables Rural Broadband And Phone Providers To Immediately Waive Consumer Fees  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission
FCC Extends Key E-Rate Program Deadlines Due to COVID-19 Pandemic  |  Read below  |  Public Notice  |  Federal Communications Commission
FCC Provides Guidance on Requesting Special Temporary Authority and Waivers in Response to COVID-19  |  Federal Communications Commission

Internet/Broadband

Affordable Broadband Now and Later  |  Read below  |  Jonathan Sallet  |  Analysis  |  Benton Institute for Broadband & Society
ITIF's Daniel Castro: Coronavirus pandemic exposes why America's digital divide is dangerous  |  USA Today
Senators Call on FCC to Evaluate How Net Neutrality Repeal Negatively Impacts Public Safety, Universal Access, and Broadband Competition  |  Read below  |  Sen Ed Markey (D-MA)  |  Letter  |  US Senate
Tone Deaf: AEI's Roslyn Layton Uses COVID-19 As A Prop To Celebrate The Death Of Net Neutrality  |  Karl Bode
As life shifts to homes, calls for better internet service in South Carolina rural areas grow louder  |  Post and Courier

Education

Pandemic sparks a run on hotspot devices for students  |  Read below  |  Margaret Harding McGill  |  Axios
Colleges are racing to sign deals with ‘online proctor’ companies that watch students through their webcams while they take exam  |  Washington Post
Google Donates Laptops, 100,000 WiFi Access Points Across California to Help Students Learn Remotely  |  Wrap, The

Health

Telehealth Gets Whole New Boost From CMS  |  Read below  |  Darius Tahir  |  Politico
Telemedicine, Once a Hard Sell, Can’t Keep Up With Demand  |  Wall Street Journal

Wireless

T-Mobile Absorbs Sprint After Two-Year Battle  |  Read below  |  Drew FitzGerald  |  Wall Street Journal
What’s next for Sprint customers now that the T-Mobile merger has gone through?  |  Vox
Sprint is dead. Long live Sprint  |  Vox
Pizza Rendezvous and Odd Bedfellows: How T-Mobile Won Sprint  |  Bloomberg

Census 2020

2020 Census, starring the internet  |  Read below  |  Alexandra Levine  |  Politico
How Census Is Building a Citizenship Database Covering Everyone Living in the U.S.  |  nextgov

Civic Engagement

House Committee Chairs Request Extension of Public Comment Periods During Coronavirus National Emergency  |  Read below  |  Letter  |  House of Representatives

Company News

Frontier prepares for bankruptcy, regrets failure to install enough fiber  |  Read below  |  Jon Brodkin  |  Ars Technica
Booming Interest in Zoom Cocktail Hours Comes With a Corporate Hangover  |  Wall Street Journal

Journalism

The death of Hungary’s democracy is a worldwide press-freedom warning  |  Columbia Journalism Review
Americans’ main sources for political news vary by party and age  |  Pew Research Center
Alarm, Denial, Blame: The Pro-Trump Media’s Coronavirus Distortion  |  New York Times

Content

Cat Zakrzewski: Mask scams and misinformation still present on social media despite tougher policies  |  Washington Post
Long-term trend toward online purchases gains momentum that could last after the health crisis is over  |  Wall Street Journal

Labor

Comcast pledges $500 million to workers; executives forgo salaries  |  Los Angeles Times

Television

NCTA-The Internet & Television Association: Industry Donating $100 Million of COVID-19 PSA Ad Time, Space  |  Multichannel News
After six years, the Dodgers’ channel will be widely available in LA. What happened?  |  Los Angeles Times
Closed Captioning Becomes Hit With TV Viewers  |  Wall Street Journal

Elections & Media

‘We’ve had people panicking:’ Tech startups scramble to take the 2020 race digital  |  Protocol

Security

Marriott discloses another security breach that may impact over 5 million guests  |  Vox

Lobbying

Coronavirus Stimulus Package Fuels Boom for Lobbyists  |  Wall Street Journal
Today's Top Stories

Stimulus #4

Lawmakers look to infrastructure spending to help economy recover from coronavirus

Ian Duncan  |  Washington Post, New York Times

Leaders in Washington signaled that they are looking to steer more money to infrastructure projects as a way to help the economy recover from the damage the virus has wrought. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and key lieutenants pitched an existing five-year, $760 billion infrastructure investment plan as a recovery proposal. In a call with reporters, the speaker said the country needs “bold action to renew America’s infrastructure.” The plan is largely the same as the one that Democrats unveiled in January. But it would add $10 billion in funding for community health clinics, and Speaker Pelosi said it could be expanded further. While much of the money would be spent on rebuilding roads, bridges and transit networks, the plan also calls for investment in water and sewer infrastructure and broadband Internet.

News from the FCC

Digging In for the Long Haul

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai  |  Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission

As we continue our important work directly related to COVID-19, the Federal Communications Commission will also continue our work confronting the longer-term challenges that have been highlighted by pandemic. In particular, at our upcoming meeting on April 23, we will be voting on major initiatives to expand wireless connectivity and further close the digital divide.

  • I have proposed a set of rules to make 1,200 megahertz of spectrum available for unlicensed use in four segments of the 6 GHz band (5.925–7.125 GHz). This band is currently populated by, among others, microwave services that are used to support utilities, public safety, and wireless backhaul. So unlicensed devices will share this spectrum with incumbent licensed services under rules that are carefully crafted to protect those licensed services and to enable both unlicensed and licensed operations to thrive throughout the band. Ultimately, I expect that 6 GHz unlicensed devices will become a part of consumers’ everyday lives. For the rules we will vote on would play a major role in the growth of the Internet of Things, connecting appliances, machines, meters, wearables, and other consumer electronics, as well as industrial sensors for manufacturing. In addition to the Report and Order, we’ll consider a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to explore possibilities for very low power devices in this band.
  • A plan to establish a 5G Fund for rural America. This proposal would use multi-round reverse auctions to distribute up to $9 billion, in two phases, to bring 5G service to rural areas of our country. Phase I of the 5G Fund would target at least $8 billion of support over ten years to rural areas of our country that would be unlikely to be covered by the commitmentsPDF Download made by New T-Mobile as part of its acquisition of Sprint (including coverage of 90% of rural Americans with 5G service at 50 Mbps or greater over the next six years) and that we anticipate would not see timely deployment of 5G service absent universal service support. To balance our policy goal of efficiently and quickly redirecting high-cost support to areas where it is most needed with our obligation to ensure that we have an accurate understanding of the extent of nationwide mobile wireless broadband deployment, we seek public input on two options for identifying areas that would be eligible for 5G Fund support.
  • A Report and Order to comprehensively update the FCC’s existing rules regarding orbital debris mitigation, which were adopted in 2004. These new rules are designed to address the problem of orbital debris, while at the same time not creating undue regulatory obstacles to new satellite ventures. We would also seek comment on adopting a performance bond tied to successful spacecraft disposal.
  • We will vote on an Order to approve ViaSat’s request for market access for a constellation of 20 satellites that will provide fixed-satellite service.
  • The Commission’s rules currently require certain commercial television broadcast stations in only the top 60 television markets to provide video-described programming. I have shared a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that tentatively concludes we should expand the Commission’s video description regulations by phasing them in for an additional 10 markets each year for the next four years. The NPRM also proposes that the Commission seek further comment in 2023 on whether to expand its video description to markets beyond the top 100 after 2024.
  • A Report and Order to update our technical rules for Low-Power FM (LPFM) stations

Chairman Pai Moves Forward to Establish 5G Fund for Rural America

Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has circulated a draft Notice of Proposed Rulemaking aiming to establish a 5G Fund for Rural America, which would distribute up to $9 billion across the country for 5G connectivity. The 5G Fund would use the Universal Service Fund to specifically target rural areas that would not see timely deployment of 5G service absent support and are not likely to be covered by the T-Mobile transaction commitments. The FCC is proposing to award funding for 5G services through a reverse auction, and will vote on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at its April 23 Open Meeting.

The FCC is seeking comment on two options for identifying areas that would be eligible for 5G Fund support:

  • Under one approach for Phase I, the FCC would hold an auction in 2021 by defining eligible areas based on current data sources that identify areas as particularly rural and thus in the greatest need of universal service support. In recognition of the challenges of ensuring that 5G service is deployed to areas that lack any mobile broadband service, the proposal would prioritize areas that have historically lacked 4G LTE or 3G service.
  • The second approach would delay the 5G Fund Phase I auction until at least 2023, after collecting and processing improved mobile broadband coverage data through the  Commission’s new Digital Opportunity Data Collection.

Phase II of the 5G Fund would target support to bring wireless connectivity to harder to serve and higher-cost areas, such as farms and ranches, and make at least $1 billion available for deployments that would facilitate precision agriculture.

Chairman Pai Proposes New 6 GHz Band Rules to Unleash Unlicensed Use

Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai circulated draft rules permitting unlicensed devices to operate in the 6 GHz band. The proposed rules would make 1,200 megahertz of spectrum available for unlicensed use. Unlicensed devices would share this spectrum with incumbent licensed services under rules that are crafted to protect those licensed services and to enable both unlicensed and licensed operations to thrive throughout the band. The Chairman’s draft rules will be voted on by the FCC at its April 23 Open Meeting.

If adopted, the draft Report and Order would authorize two different types of unlicensed operations: standard-power in 850-megahertz of the band and indoor low-power operations over the full 1,200-megahertz available in the 6 GHz band. An automated frequency coordination system would prevent standard power access points from operating where they could cause interference to incumbent services. A Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposes to permit very low-power devices to operate across the 6 GHz band, to support high data rate applications including high-performance, wearable, augmented-reality and virtual-reality devices. Specifically, the Further Notice would seek comment on making a contiguous 1,200-megahertz block of spectrum available for the development of new and innovative high-speed, short-range devices and on power levels and other technical and operational measures to avoid causing interference to incumbent services. 

FCC Provides Relief That Enables Rural Broadband And Phone Providers To Immediately Waive Consumer Fees

Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission paved the way for hundreds of rural phone and broadband providers to waive fees that would otherwise be incurred by customers experiencing economic challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. These include late payment fees as well as installation and cancellation fees for consumers signing up for, or looking to switch providers of, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) broadband services in order to work from home or access remote learning. The FCC's action allows the tariff revisions waiving late payment penalties, installation and early cancellation fees to go into effect April 1.

FCC Extends Key E-Rate Program Deadlines Due to COVID-19 Pandemic

Public Notice  |  Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission announced extensions of key E-Rate service implementation and filing deadlines to provide relief to program participants affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. These extensions will alleviate administrative and compliance burdens on schools and libraries and enable them to focus on transitioning to remote learning during the pandemic. Given the disruptions caused by COVID-19, April 1’s order waives the so-called service implementation deadline for special construction for all funding year 2019 applicants and extends this deadline by one year, from June 30, 2020 to June 30, 2021. Under FCC rules, applicants must complete special construction (e.g., deploying fiber) and the network must be “lit” or in use by June 30 of the applicable funding year. With schools and libraries closed for lengthy periods of time, the order recognizes that service providers may not be allowed on the premises and may experience significant challenges in meeting this construction deadline. 

As part of today’s order, the FCC also (1) extends the service delivery deadline for nonrecurring services for funding year 2019 by one year, from Sept 30, 2020 to Sept 30, 2021; (2) grants schools and libraries an automatic 60-day extension to file requests for review or waiver of decisions by the E-Rate program administrator, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC); (3) provides applicants and service providers an automatic 120-day extension of the invoice filing deadline; and (4) gives all program participants an additional 30-day extension to respond to certain information requests from USAC. 

Internet/Broadband

Affordable Broadband Now and Later

Jonathan Sallet  |  Analysis  |  Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

Today, we face a health crisis that makes plain – again – the importance of broadband to all people in America. As Oliva Wein of the National Consumer Law Center explains, “We’re hearing stories of low-income people without broadband at home traveling to healthcare facilities, risking their health and the health of other people, including healthcare workers, with whom they come in contact. If Americans must stay home, then they need broadband at home.” In pursuit of achieving truly universal broadband service at a time when we know everyone desperately needs to stay connected at home, the Federal Communications Commission should immediately institute provide $50 per month to low-income households to subsidize fast broadband service during these crises of health and economic dislocation. But we must also look past this present emergency and think about long-term solutions for our long-standing problems. The FCC should establish a $10/month subsidy to make fixed-broadband service affordable for low-income Americans. And, as Congress considers funds for broadband deployment, it should require that federally-funded networks offer a low-income broadband service and an affordable $50 service to everyone. Here’s why.

[Jonathan Sallet is a Benton Senior Fellow]

Senators Call on FCC to Evaluate How Net Neutrality Repeal Negatively Impacts Public Safety, Universal Access, and Broadband Competition

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA)  |  Letter  |  US Senate

Twenty-eight senators wrote a letter to the Federal Communications Commission demanding that it consider how repealing net neutrality could negatively impact public safety, universal access, and broadband competition. In October 2019, the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the Trump FCC’s repeal of the Open Internet Order as lawful but also ruled that the FCC failed to adequately consider public safety, the Lifeline program for low-income consumers, and competitive broadband providers’ access to poles needed to deploy their networks. The Senators write that by repealing these net neutrality rules, the FCC also abandoned its authority to promote public safety, universal service, and broadband competition, particularly for rural communities and low-income Americans.  American consumers and broadband users suffered as a result, and the current coronavirus pandemic further underscores the need for the FCC to promote public safety in light of the Court’s opinion. 

“Without solid authority over these vital areas, the Commission has called into question its ability to carry out core Congressional mandates: namely ‘promoting safety of life and property’ and the ‘preservation and advancement of universal service’,” write the senators in their letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “Net neutrality rules that protect the free flow of ideas and commerce, along with the FCC’s power to ensure public safety and promote broadband access for communities throughout the country, are more important than ever.”

Signing the letter: Sen Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY), Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ranking Member Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Sens Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Tom Udall (D-NM), Jack Reed (D-RI), Patty Murray (D-WA), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Tom Carper (D-DE).

Education

Pandemic sparks a run on hotspot devices for students

Margaret Harding McGill  |  Axios

The coronavirus pandemic has caused shortages of life-saving equipment like masks and ventilators — and now, we could be running low on Wi-Fi hotspots, devices that use cellular signals to create local networks. There are probably fewer than half a million hotspots available from the major carriers in the US, and the Asia-based supply chains that could replenish that stock continue to face coronavirus-linked disruptions, said Evan Marwell, CEO of Education Superhighway, a nonprofit that works with schools to increase broadband access. That pales in comparison to the millions of students without broadband that school districts are looking to assist nationwide. Even some small orders of hotspots that predate the crisis are going unfilled. The best short-term solution might be to rely on secondhand or refurbished smartphones that could be used as hotspot devices, said wireless industry consultant Chetan Sharma.

Health

Telehealth Gets Whole New Boost From CMS

Darius Tahir  |  Politico

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will pay for a wider range of telemedicine services during the coronavirus pandemic including remote patient monitoring for both chronic and acute conditions, not just related to coronavirus treatment, and allowing doctors to collect Medicare payments for making phone calls to patients. CMS previously required that consultations have both audio and visual elements. Some medical groups had pushed the agency to remove that requirement, arguing that some sessions can easily be conducted over the phone.

Wireless

T-Mobile Absorbs Sprint After Two-Year Battle

Drew FitzGerald  |  Wall Street Journal

T-Mobile closed its takeover of Sprint after a nearly two-year battle with federal and state authorities. The merger, worth about $31.8 billion based on T-Mobile’s closing stock price March 31, marks the end for Sprint as a company and a brand. The once-thriving network operator spent most of the past decade losing customers after a string of engineering and marketing missteps gave the upper hand to rivals, T-Mobile chief among them. The combination turns the US’ third and fourth-largest wireless carriers into a far more substantial third place competitor to Verizon and AT&T. The company also accelerated longtime Chief Executive John Legere’s handover of the top job to his deputy, Mike Sievert, effective immediately. The switch was previously scheduled to occur May 1. Many of T-Mobile’s current executives will remain in charge, though Sprint leaders including John Saw and Dow Draper will also hold key posts in the new business.

Census

2020 Census, starring the internet

Alexandra Levine  |  Politico

April 1 marked the Census Bureau’s biggest push yet to get Americans to participate in the once-in-a-decade count. The outcome will not only determine communities' representation in Congress but will also have far-reaching implications for funding for schools, hospitals, emergency services and other institutions that have been central to the war on Covid-19. And thank God for the internet. Luckily, this is the first time Americans can respond by mail, phone or online — and the agency expects a surge in participation thanks to the latter. The national response rate was just north of 36 percent as of March 31; the bureau expects that to grow to 60.5 percent. The bureau anticipates the majority of households (a projected 58 percent) will respond online. Parts of the country with low internet access were mailed paper questionnaires in March and “at some point we’re going to have to send people door-to-door.” Roughly 500,000 census takers would be responsible for visiting the homes of people who don’t complete their forms, but that effort will be delayed until deemed safe by local health officials.

Civic Engagement

House Committee Chairs Request Extension of Public Comment Periods During Coronavirus National Emergency

Letter  |  House of Representatives

Fourteen House Committee Chairs sent a letter to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Acting Director Russell Vought requesting an immediate extension of public comment periods, hearings and meetings due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The House Committee leaders asked that OMB direct agencies to extend public comment periods by at least 45 days beyond the end of the declared national emergency.

The letter was signed by Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Oversight and Reform Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), Science, Space, and Technology Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Natural Resources Chairman Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ), Homeland Security Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot L. Engel (D-NY), Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA), Ways and Means Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA) and Small Business Chairwoman Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY), Veterans Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-CA) and Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA).

Company News

Frontier prepares for bankruptcy, regrets failure to install enough fiber

Jon Brodkin  |  Ars Technica

As Frontier Communications moves closer to an expected bankruptcy filing, the Internet service provider told investors that its troubles stem largely from its failure to invest properly in upgrading DSL to fiber broadband. The presentation for investors, which is included in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, said that "significant under-investment in fiber deployment and limited enterprise product offerings have created headwinds that the company is repositioning itself to reverse." Much of Frontier's fiber deployment was actually installed by Verizon before Verizon sold some of its operations to Frontier. Frontier Internet service is available to 14 million homes across the US, but 11 million of those are DSL-only.

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 2020. 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
847-328-3049
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 © 2019