The House Democratic Plan to Connect All Americans to Affordable Broadband Internet—an updated and expanded version of the broadband provisions of House Democrats’ Moving America Forward Framework—is the product of significant collaboration between the Rural Broadband Task Force, the Commerce Committee, and many Members of the House Democratic Caucus. 

Invest in Internet Infrastructure

• Deploy High-Speed Broadband – Invests $80 billion over five years to deploy secure and resilient broadband infrastructure to expand access for communities nationwide, connecting unserved and underserved rural, suburban, and urban areas across the country while prioritizing persistent poverty communities
• Offer Low-Interest Financing for Broadband Deployment – Invests $5 billion over five years for low-interest financing of broadband deployment through a new program that would allow eligible entities to apply for secured loans, lines of credit, or loan guarantees to finance broadband infrastructure build out projects
• Dig Once – Promotes the installation of broadband conduit during the construction of any road receiving federal funding to facilitate the building of broadband network infrastructure
• Invest Federal Funds Efficiently – Establishes the Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth within the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, responsible for coordinating with other federal agencies to streamline the application processes for broadband funding programs; ensure that broadband-related support is being administered in an efficient, technology-neutral, and financially sustainable manner; and track all federal money used for construction and use of broadband infrastructure

Ensure Internet Affordability

• Promote Competition – Gives preference in awarding funding to broadband builds that will provide open access to new infrastructure to allow additional providers to use taxpayer funded infrastructure on fair terms to provide more options to consumers
• Require an Affordable Option – Requires internet service providers whose networks are built with new federal funding to offer at least one affordable option
• Enhance Payment Support – Increases existing payment support for consumers, expands eligibility for and applicability of support, and eliminates barriers to helping low-income and recently unemployed Americans afford broadband access
• Protect Local Options – Guarantees the right of local governments, public-private partnerships, and cooperatives to deliver broadband service, which has lowered prices in many communities
• Gather Pricing Data – Directs the Federal Communications Commission to collect data on prices charged for broadband service throughout the country and make that data widely available with appropriate privacy protections
• Learn More Information – Directs the Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth to conduct a study on the extent to which cost remains a barrier to broadband adoption and the feasibility of providing additional targeted federal subsidies to offset costs for low-income households

Enable Internet Adoption

• Promoting Broadband Adoption and Digital Skills – Provides over $1 billion to establish the State Digital Equity Capacity Program, an annual grant program for states to create and implement comprehensive digital equity plans to help close gaps in broadband adoption and digital skills. Also establishes the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program to further support these efforts through digital inclusion projects undertaken by individual organizations and local communities.
• Lend Mobile Hotspots – Provides for the rapid deployment of mobile hotspots and other internet-connected devices to enable students without internet at home to participate in remote learning and complete homework assignments requiring an internet connection
• Connect School Buses – Authorizes funding for Wi-Fi on school buses so that students can be connected, especially in rural areas where long bus rides are common

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced the extension of his Keep Americans Connected Pledge until June 30, 2020. While the FCC encourages all providers that have signed the pledge previously to extend their commitments to June 30, we understand that some providers, particularly those in small markets and rural areas, may not be able to do so as a result of financial challenges. Those providers should contact KACpledge@fcc.gov by May 12 if they wish to opt out of the extension. The FCC encourages consumers to contact their service provider directly to make them aware of their specific circumstances and to discuss options.

Last month, more than 700 broadband and telephone service providers committed for 60 days to (1) not terminate service to any residential or small business customers because of their inability to pay their bills due to the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic; (2) waive any late fees that any residential or small business customers incur because of their economic circumstances related to the coronavirus pandemic; and (3) open their Wi-Fi hotspots to any American who needs them. Chairman Pai is now asking providers to extend these offerings to consumers and small businesses until the end of June. Earlier this week, the Chairman held calls with providers representing the vast majority of broadband and telephone subscribers in the United States as well as trade associations to relay this request.

Akamai Technologies maintains a major international content delivery network. Alex Balford, Akamai’s senior manager for media product marketing, said, “Traffic increased 30% between the end of February and end of March, 10 times greater than the normal month-to-month growth rate that we normally see. To put that into perspective, we saw roughly a year’s worth of growth in a month’s time frame.” In addition to sharply increased traffic, Balford noted something else about COVID-19 data traffic. “Beyond just the sheer volume of traffic is the fact that the increases are both downstream and upstream,” he said. “Normally, when we talk about a big traffic event, it’s a big sporting event or game download being distributed to large audiences. In the case of the pandemic, with so many people working from home in general and people socializing via videoconferencing, traffic is flowing at heightened volumes both ways across the internet.”

Internet service providers are the ones that deliver the last mile of data to homes and businesses, so there has been a lot of concern about their systems being overloaded with the sudden increase in work-at-home traffic and streaming of high-quality broadcast programming to homes. Tony Wener, president of the Technology, Product, Xperience organization within Comcast Cable, said that Comcast has increased its network buildout activities, with 1,700 system work orders one recent week compared to a typical 400-500. These activities include installing more fiber and adjusting system settings to max out the capacity of the network.

We know from the experience in the United States that the fiber and cable networks providing from tens up to 1,000 Mbps speeds are holding up well as traffic has increased. The problem arises at DSL, a technology that allows several Mbps data connections over copper wires, often can only support 15 Mbps or less over short distances from a central office. Next-generation VDSL can provide up to 200 Mbps over distances of less than 200 yards from a central office. The problem is that central offices are generally further apart than 200 yards and speeds fall off dramatically. American telecommunications providers have invested heavily in moving beyond DSL and continue to invest heavily to expand their broadband offers. Congress and the Federal Communications Commission have dedicated billions more to improve access for every American at every point in the network, from last mile to the radio access network. This has not been the case in Europe. A good proxy for the quality of a country’s broadband infrastructure is how much money the carriers have invested in the technologies and networks on a cumulative basis. 

[Roger Entner is the founder and analyst at Recon Analytics]

A group of local governments and private partners, led by Northwest Colorado Council of Governments (NWCCOG), recently completed the first phase of Project THOR, a middle mile fiber network that will enable better connectivity in the participating towns, cities, and counties. The network, owned by NWCCOG, provides backhaul to local governments looking to connect public facilities, schools, hospitals, and other community anchor institutions. It’s also available to Internet service providers (ISPs) to serve residents and businesses. Project THOR brings much needed redundancy to the region’s broadband infrastructure, where previously a single fiber cut could take entire communities’ health and public safety services offline. It also promises great cost savings for localities and ISPs. Perhaps most importantly, the new network gives communities the necessary leverage to improve local connectivity beyond begging the incumbent providers for better broadband.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons made phone calls and some video visits free for inmates in early April, as the COVID-19 pandemic forced a suspension of visits. The change was overdue, and Congress should make the policy permanent. Yet the federal government operates only one relatively small piece of the nation’s jail and prison system. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, which tracks jail and prison phone call systems, not many cities, counties or states have followed the federal lead. That means thousands of prisoners and their families will be hard hit simply for staying in touch. Calling from a state prison can be shockingly expensive, and from a local jail even more so. Now that covid-19 has eliminated in-person visitation in many places, jails and prisons should end extreme pricing. And those that have announced temporary policies easing or, ideally, eliminating costs should make them permanent.

The ICANN Board made the decision to reject the proposed change of control and entity conversion request that Public Interest Registry (PIR) submitted to ICANN. After completing extensive due diligence, the ICANN Board finds that withholding consent of the transfer of PIR from the Internet Society (ISOC) to Ethos Capital is reasonable, and the right thing to do. Factors that were considered in determining reasonableness include, but are not limited to:

• A change from the fundamental public interest nature of PIR to an entity that is bound to serve the interests of its corporate stakeholders, and which has no meaningful plan to protect or serve the .ORG community.
• ICANN is being asked to agree to contract with a wholly different form of entity; instead of maintaining its contract with the mission-based, not-for-profit that has responsibly operated the .ORG registry for nearly 20 years, with the protections for its own community embedded in its mission and status as a not-for-profit entity.
• The US$360 million debt instrument forces PIR to service that debt and provide returns to its shareholders, which raises further question about how the .ORG registrants will be protected or will benefit from this conversion. This is a fundamental change in financial position from a not-for-profit entity.
• There are additional uncertainties, such as an untested Stewardship Council that might not be properly independent, or why PIR needs to change its corporate form to pursue new business initiatives.
• The transaction as proposed relies on ICANN as a backstop for enforcement of disputes between the .ORG community and the registry operator in an untested manner.

When schools around the country began to close this spring because of the spread of the coronavirus, millions of students had the resources to transition to online learning — but not in Detroit (MI). Some 90 percent of the 51,000 students in the high-poverty Detroit Public Schools Community District did not have access to Internet services or the technology at home required for online learning. Teachers sent home packets of lessons on paper instead.

A coalition of businesses and philanthropic organizations in the city is working to provide every student, kindergarten through 12th grade, with a tablet computer and high-speed Internet access. The program — called Connected Futures and led by DTE Energy, Skillman Foundation, Quicken Loans, the city of Detroit and the school district — is spending $23 million in what Superintendent Nikolai Vitti hailed as “an unprecedented investment to immediately address an unprecedented crisis.” The Detroit project is only one of many around the country aimed at trying to close the digital divide, which puts millions of students who are already marginalized at even further disadvantage. It is estimated that up to 12 million students — and some of their teachers — don’t have Internet access at home, and many of the 13,000 U.S. school districts don’t have the resources to provide what is needed without outside help.

Stay-at-home policies have made the web critical for tasks such as schoolwork, applying for unemployment benefits, and consulting with doctors. But millions of Americans lack reliable broadband access. Libraries, schools, and businesses are taking creative steps to expand Wi-Fi networks in underserved neighborhoods. These measures are effective but temporary, and can't serve everyone in need of internet access, advocates say.  "One of the many things we have quickly learned as millions of Americans have shifted to working, providing childcare, and learning from home is the absolute necessity of a reliable internet connection," says Jonathan Schwantes, senior policy counsel at Consumers Reports.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), awarded $20 million to increase telehealth access and infrastructure for providers and families to help prevent and respond to COVID-19. The funds will increase capability, capacity and access to telehealth and distant care services for providers, pregnant women, children, adolescents and families, and will assist telehealth providers with cross-state licensure to improve access to health care during the pandemic. HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) awarded a total of $15 million to four recipients. Each award supports a key area in maternal and child health: pediatric care, maternal health care, state public health systems and family engagement for children with special health care needs.

The Federal Communications Commission announced that it has adopted under delegated authority a request by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for a waiver of the  FCC’s rules for unlicensed devices to permit the certification and marketing of its WiTrack system. WiTrack is a wall-mounted system that allows caregivers to remotely monitor the health and safety of patients and senior adults without physical contact. It wirelessly monitors physiological characteristics such as gait, breathing, heart rate, and sleep, and is designed to detect potentially life-threatening events, such as falls.