On May 14, the US Department of Agriculture made its final funding announcement under the round one of the ReConnect Program. Since October 2019, USDA has invested $744 million to bring high-speed broadband e-Connectivity to approximately 172,000 households, 19,000 rural small businesses and farms, and more than 500 health care centers, educational facilities, and critical community facilities located in 34 states.

On April 20, 2020, USDA announced the Department has received 172 applications for $1.57 billion in round two of the ReConnect Program. The second round will enable USDA to implement innovative new solutions to rural connectivity by leveraging financial options with our partners and continue the success of the first round of funding. The application window for round two closed on April 15. USDA received 11 round two ReConnect Program applications that are eligible for the $100 million Congress allocated to the program through the CARES Act. USDA is reviewing applications and announcing approved projects on a rolling basis. Additional investments in all three categories will be made in the coming weeks.

Efforts from the Federal Communications Commission to expand both fixed-wireless and mobile broadband across rural America will require more granular data to reach their full potential, but deployment efforts shouldn’t be delayed any longer, according to industry stakeholders and legislators testifying at a Senate hearing. The FCC has acknowledged that its data-collection processes are fundamentally flawed as carriers have overstated coverage in their self-reported map data. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced earlier that a new, more granular “Digital Opportunity Data Collection” process will eventually replace its outdated methodology, but commissioners disagree on how long that will take to implement. Chairman Pai said in March that he didn’t know how long it would take the FCC to improve its maps, while fellow FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel estimated it would take three to six months.

Steven Berry, chief executive of the Competitive Carriers Association, said choosing between accurate maps and expediting infrastructure funds is a “false choice” that FCC Chairman Ajit Pai laid out when he testified at a hearing in March that the FCC wouldn’t be able to improve its coverage maps in a matter of months. “We can walk and chew chewing gum at the same time,” Berry said. “I think we can identify where the holes are by gathering the data. It’s a matter of months to get the data, not years.”

The nation’s internet service providers, both for fixed and mobile services, are beginning to see the economic impacts from their pledge to not disconnect customers during the COVID-19 crisis. US Telecom CEO Jonathan Spalter told the Senate Commerce Committee, “As the first billing cycle since the outbreak of COVID-19 comes to an end, many are starting to see that doing the right thing (maintaining service, in some cases without payment) is coming at a substantial cost.” He applauded the move by a bipartisan group of senators who’ve introduced a bill that would appropriate $2 billion for small broadband providers to recompensate them for providing free broadband services. The bill is endorsed by NTCA—the Rural Broadband Association, WTA – Advocates for Rural Broadband and the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA).

The big mobile operators haven't asked for any kind of recompensation due to their Keep Americans Connected pledge. But they have reported a spike in bad debt. Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg said that about 2.5% of Verizon’s customers, or about 800,000, were unable to pay their bill because of financial problems they were experiencing related to COVID-19. AT&T’s CFO John Stephens said, “As a result of COVID, we anticipate an increase in bad debt expense across the various businesses, and accordingly, have recorded a $250 million incremental reserve in anticipation of that.”

Lifeline is a Federal Communications Commission program that provides subsidized phone and internet services to low-income people and families. Those who use the program are provided with a landline phone, cellphone, or at-home broadband for free or at a discounted rate. But many lawmakers say the government is not promoting the service aggressively enough. More than 140 senators and representatives wrote a letter to the FCC asking the agency to work with the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services to notify people who qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid that they can also receive discounted phone or broadband services. Legislators are also asking the FCC if it knows the number of individuals who are newly eligible for the program since the COVID-19 outbreak and if it knows how many of those potential users have actually enrolled. Advocates say not enough people know about the program, that there needs to be better outreach and marketing. Many say that the program must also evolve to meet today’s broadband demands. 

As the coronavirus pandemic lays bare America’s digital divide, some advocates argue that now is the time to make a big, bold investment in the country’s broadband infrastructure. So far, some critics argue, federal aid to rural areas — and federal money for rural broadband in particular — has fallen short. The $2 trillion CARES Act, which Congress passed in late March, included money for states, big cities and large counties, but it did not directly funnel cash to communities with fewer than 500,000 residents. Fourteen states, including hard-hit Iowa, Louisiana and Mississippi, have no urban or rural counties that qualified for those direct payments. And given the revenue losses to state budgets across the country, it’s unclear how much of the federal money states can afford to give to local governments.

Some states are considering using some of their CARES Act money to expand broadband to underserved areas. If their efforts are successful, rural areas will be among the biggest beneficiaries. In Vermont, which is one of the states considering using its federal aid to invest in broadband, it’ll take three months from the time the state receives the money and approves the necessary legislation to even choose a contractor, according to the Vermont Department of Public Service, which would oversee the project. It will take at least three years to complete the work.

Co-Chairs of the Congressional Native American Caucus Deb Haaland (D-NM) and Tom Cole (R-OK), and Sen Martin Heinrich (D-NM), announced the introduction of the COVID-19 DISASTER in Indian Country Act to unleash emergency access to broadband internet in Indian Country. The bill will direct the Federal Communications Commission to grant Indian tribes emergency special temporary authority of available spectrum on tribal lands so they can immediately deploy broadband networks on tribal lands during this pandemic. The bill has more than 200 endorsements from across the country, including more than 100 Tribe and Native Hawaiian communities. Specifically, the COVID-19 DISASTER in Indian Country Act will deploy wireless networks in Indian Country by:

• Granting Tribes emergency temporary authority of available spectrum support wireless networks on tribal lands
• Creating new emergency COVID-19 tribal funding through the US Department of Agriculture's Community Facility Grant Program:
  • $297,500,00 for immediate deployment of tribal broadband networks — including repairs to existing damaged infrastructure and backhaul costs; and
  • $3,000,000 for technical assistance and training for immediate tribal broadband deployment
• Setting new 10-day FCC timeline to designate emergency spectrum authority within 10 days of receiving request
• Extending Emergency Special Temporary Authority of spectrum on tribal lands to operate for at least 6 months

With most of the US under orders to stay at home, many people are relying on their phones and computers to stay connected to the outside world through the internet. The roughly 550,000 homeless people in the US also need these services but are struggling to protect phones from thieves, keep them charged and connect them to the internet. And many people who aren't homeless still don't have an internet connection where they live. As a result, people can't access quick information about unemployment benefits, the status of their stimulus check and other vital services millions of people are relying on as the economy reels. People with children are also struggling to keep kids connected to school.  Social services, city governments and libraries are trying to fill the gap by providing tech, internet connections, and important updates about the virus to people who need it. People are accessing Wi-Fi from outside library buildings or with borrowed Wi-Fi hotspots. Electricity is available in some city-sanctioned encampments and at public charging stations. 

The National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Better Business Bureau says that Verizon's claims in TV ads that it is "building the most powerful 5G experience for America" is not supported by the evidence and recommended that it discontinue or modify that claim. AT&T had complained about the ads, which promote 5G service in sports venues, to the NAD, which is the investigative unit of the ad industry's self-regulatory unit. NAD singled out the implied claim that Verizon is currently delivering that "most powerful 5G experience," and "unqualified superiority claim" in the present tense that is not supported by evidence, NAD concluded.

Sen Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel encouraged Lewis County High School students to submit broadband speed tests while they are learning from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sen Manchin will send these speed tests to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to advocate for the FCC to create a public feedback system and fix their broadband coverage maps, which determine where federal funding goes to expand broadband coverage. “Everyone in West Virginia knows that many areas of our state lack reliable broadband coverage and the COVID-19 pandemic has made this disparity even more clear. Commissioner Rosenworcel and I are teaming up with the students of Lewis County High School to submit tests to the FCC to prove that their broadband coverage maps are plain wrong and need fixed before millions of dollars are incorrectly distributed to expand broadband coverage,” said Sen Manchin. “I look forward to working with the students of Lewis County High to push the FCC to fix their maps so that all students in West Virginia have reliable broadband access to complete their schoolwork during this crisis and beyond. And thank you Commissioner Rosenworcel for continuing to be a great ally to West Virginia and our efforts to expand reliable broadband. If you would like to submit a speed test, please visit https://www.manchin.senate.gov/speedtest.”

The Senate adopted a package of surveillance reforms its backers say will help rein in abuses, following an inspector general report that found fault with the FBI’s handling of an investigation into a former Trump campaign aide. The 80-to-16 vote paves the way for final House passage of the bill to renew the USA Freedom Act. The Democratic House leadership is assessing when to take it up, apparently. The law expired in mid-March, leaving the FBI without several surveillance tools it considers crucial, but the bureau was able to continue to use those powers in investigations that had already been opened. At the same time, liberals, who have been critical of the surveillance process since long before the Carter Page controversy erupted, have seen the bill as a vehicle to push for deeper surveillance reforms to protect civil liberties.

The House had passed the original package in March, but when the Senate finally took it up this week, it amended the bill to strengthen third-party oversight of the process used to obtain court approval for wiretaps and searches in espionage and counterterrorism investigations under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. The House must now take up the Senate version.

Even during a pandemic, governments have a legal obligation to provide all students equal access to an adequate education, the American Civil Liberties Union and over 25 ACLU state chapters warned in letters to state and local leaders nationwide. To help meet this obligation during the COVID-19 pandemic, the ACLU is demanding Congress and state and local governments ensure all students have equal access to the technologies that make effective remote learning possible, and that strong and uniform privacy safeguards are in place to protect students in the virtual classroom. The ACLU is also calling on Congress to provide billions of dollars in funding as part of the next COVID-19 relief package to meet the broadband access and technology needs of students and other impacted individuals.

In its letter to Congress, the ACLU is urging members to provide $2-3 billion per month for the duration of the crisis and for at least 30 days after the crisis ends for an emergency benefit to make broadband services available to all eligible low-income households and all households experiencing hardship as a result of the pandemic. To help students further, the organization is also calling on Congress to provide $4 billion for an Emergency Connectivity Fund, proposed by Rep Grace Meng (D-NY) and Sen Ed Markey (D-MA), that would cover immediate assistance for students and library patrons that need access to technology to engage in remote and distance learning in their homes.

Facebook’s investment in an enormous underwater internet cable circling Africa will move forward with help from partners in China, Saudi Arabia and Europe. The 2Africa internet project, called Simba in its planning phase, would link 16 African countries with cable routes to Europe and the Arabian Peninsula. The 2Africa system would involve a massive investment even by Silicon Valley standards. The 23,000-mile network is designed to provide more capacity than all of Africa’s existing submarine cables combined, more than doubling the continent’s potential bandwidth. Other investors include units of China Mobile Ltd., South Africa’s MTN Group Ltd., France’s Orange SA, Saudi Telecom Co., Telecom Egypt, U.K.-based Vodafone Group PLC and WIOCC, a telecom company controlled by several African carriers.