Thursday, May 27, 2021
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FCC's June Open Meeting Agenda
Spectrum is forcing full-price plans on people seeking FCC benefit
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Agenda
Here's what the Federal Communications Commission will consider at its June 2021 open meeting.
- We’re expanding the Commission’s efforts to secure the nation’s communications networks beyond the agency’s universal service programs. The FCC must do all it can within its legal authority to address national security threats. So we are starting a proceeding to explore how we can update our equipment authorization rules and competitive bidding procedures to help keep insecure devices off the market. We will be voting on a plan to prevent authorizations of equipment that pose a significant threat to national security or to the safety of U.S. persons and to require additional national security certifications from applications who wish to participate in FCC auctions. We are also asking questions about how to create incentives for device manufacturers to adopt better cybersecurity processes.
- We’re speeding the development of new technologies. While we take action to limit the presence of insecure equipment in the market, we also are taking action to help speed the way for trustworthy innovation that will help advance U.S. leadership. The FCC’s equipment authorization program helps to make sure that the latest smartphones, laptops, and other gadgets work as intended and don’t create harmful interference. To help our review process keep pace with the rate of innovation, we will vote on rules to expand opportunities to import, market, and conditionally sell radiofrequency equipment, including mobile devices, prior to the equipment completing the equipment authorization process. The new rules would allow manufacturers to gauge consumer interest for new products and take advantage of new mechanisms for marketing devices, like crowdfunding, while still ensuring that the important goals of the equipment authorization system and security are not undermined.
- We’re improving emergency alerting. During natural disasters and other emergencies, a few moments of advanced warning can make all the difference. The Commission will be voting on rules to expand FEMA’s ability to send Wireless Emergency Alerts that disseminate important information during national emergencies, to improve emergency communications organization and planning at the state level, and to enable new reporting for false alerts.
- We’re cracking down again on unwanted robocalls. Our fight against robocalls continues with another step to help provide relief from unwanted robocalls. Consistent with the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (TRACED Act), we will vote to adopt a streamlined process that will allow private entities (e.g., hospitals and other institutions) to alert the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau about suspected unlawful robocalls and spoofed Caller ID attempts.
- We’re expanding access to telehealth services in the home. The Commission has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to expand the capacity of hospitals and community health centers to provide telehealth services. Our Connected Care Pilot Program supports telehealth services delivered directly to patients outside of traditional medical facilities—including the home. This June, we will vote on an order to provide guidance to selected applicants on eligible services, competitive bidding, invoicing, and data reporting.
- We’re exploring spectrum options for the fishing industry. Ships and shore stations currently rely on a maritime navigation system called Automatic Identification System (AIS) to monitor and track ships and exchange safety-related information. Congress has asked the Commission to explore whether we can safely authorize devices used to mark fishing equipment for use on AIS channels while maintaining the core purpose of these channels to prevent maritime accidents. The Commission will answer Congress’s call by considering an item that seeks comment on this issue in addition to alternative spectrum options for devices used to mark fishing equipment.
- We’re addressing diverse, local voices in the media. Last year, the Commission modified the low power FM (LPFM) engineering rules to improve LPFM reception and options for station relocation while maintaining core LPFM goals of simplicity, diversity, and localism. This June, we will address two petitions seeking reconsideration of those rule changes, which will provide clarity and finality to these rules, bringing us one step closer to opening an application window for new LPFM stations.
- We will wrap up our June meeting with an item from our Enforcement Bureau.
A sign in front of a church not far from my home has for the past many months read: “We’ll get through this together by staying apart.” As Spring is here and we awaken from more than a year of social distancing, we gather today to celebrate the people who helped their communities come together. Named for Charles Benton, the founding father of the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, the digital equity awards I present today recognize leadership and dedication in advancing the ability of all of us to fully participate in our increasingly digital society by ensuring everyone has the access and skills they need to make use of the internet. Our months combatting COVID-19 have only spotlighted this reality.
Spectrum is forcing customers who are eligible for a new federal subsidy for internet service to opt into full-price plans once the subsidy runs out. The policy appears to skirt rules set forth by the Federal Communications Commission, which is running the Emergency Broadband Benefit program. The $3.2 billion emergency broadband benefit, which launched earlier this month, gives people up to $50 off of their monthly internet bill. The stopgap funding was allocated in response to the pandemic and is expected to run out within the year. To protect people from being automatically enrolled in more expensive plans once the money runs out, the FCC required internet service providers to give consumers notice that the program is about to end and get customers' explicit consent before continuing their service at a higher price. Spectrum, however, appears to be doing the inverse. Rather than giving potential applicants the option to continue their coverage at full price, it's requiring them to do so in order to receive the benefit at all. "Yes, customers opt-in at the time of enrollment to continue receiving service once the program ends," said Charter spokesperson Rich Ruggiero. "Customers will receive notice 30 days before the program ends, and can make a decision about keeping or terminating their service."
Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg argued policymakers should focus broadband funding more on promoting affordability rather than accessibility. “I think that when it comes to accessibility, I think that all carriers are building quite extensively,” he said, adding Verizon covers “almost all individuals in this country with” its wireless network. “Now we're turning that into fixed wireless access or using our fiber-to-the-home. So we are clearly doing that, and I guess my competitors are doing the same,” he continued. Instead of accessibility, Vestberg said he thinks “the government should work on subsidy much more” to ensure families can afford broadband in the first place rather than allocating money to “building products that are actually not meeting the demands of those families.” “I'm talking about they need to be able to do remote learning. They need to be able to have telehealth. They need to be able to work from home,” he explained.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated shifts in how we communicate and magnified the importance of broadband connectivity for all Americans. We commend FCC Commissioner Carr for his remarks highlighting the urgent need to address the meltdown of the current subsidy program for low-income Americans. While we advocate for direct Congressional appropriations, Commissioner Carr’s proposal to broaden the contributions base to include companies that benefit directly from broadband networks, as well as proposed legislation to dedicate spectrum auction proceeds to the low-income subsidy program, are also possible ways to help close the digital divide. We will continue to seek a sustainable approach to broadband connectivity for low-income Americans.
President Biden’s recently announced infrastructure proposal calls for a massive, unprecedented investment aimed at connecting all Americans to the Internet, one that has led to some digital equity experts calling it a potential game changer for their work. What does Biden’s plan need to do to fully address digital equity and Internet access in the United States? Experts say: availability is goog; adoption is better.
Former Federal Communications Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and INCOMPAS CEO Chip Pickering are launching a new coalition, BroadLand, urging Congress to demand faster internet speeds as part of any multibillion-dollar broadband infrastructure initiatives. The floor should be at least 100 megabits per second for both downloads and uploads, the group says. Those speeds may sound awesome to anyone who’s tried to stream Netflix movies at home while roommates or family members conference over Zoom or attend virtual classes. But private wireless and cable providers fear that such high benchmarks could make it hard to compete against taxpayer-funded fiber projects. INCOMPAS members Google Fiber, Netflix, Crown Castle, Tilson, FirstLight, Granite, and Windstream are all behind the effort, which will also push to speed up the buildout of physical internet infrastructure by overhauling rules around siting and permitting. Pickering said the coalition wants to pitch support for a big broadband infrastructure effort in a way that’s different from rival trade groups: “There are a lot of the incumbent associations that are trying to defend slower speeds and asymmetrical services,” Pickering says. It’s also a matter of equity, Clyburn said. “We should not accept the trade-off with some kids being stuck with super-slow speeds while other neighborhoods have access to gigabit services,” she said.
Where will public broadband funding make the greatest impact? As any GIS professional will tell you, the most effective way to distribute resources is to use the power of location. Recognizing where there is need by mapping the important aspects can often be the first step to success. In order to find the areas of need first requires spatial data to be accessible.
While closing the digital divide should be a bipartisan goal, House Commerce Republicans are concerned that the Biden Administration’s proposals will waste taxpayer money without expanding broadband to unserved Americans. Instead of working to increase access to broadband for all Americans, they are prioritizing inefficient—and often poorly managed—government-run networks, providing subsidies in the absence of accurate broadband mapping data, and establishing duplicative Federal programs. In addition, the administration is creating arbitrary speed requirements that merely lead to upgrades in areas that already have service. This will delay truly unserved communities from accessing reliable, high-speed broadband. House Commerce Republicans have a better plan, the American Broadband Act, which targets federal dollars to areas with no broadband service by using accurate data and removing regulatory barriers to speed up deployment. Any policy that intends to close the digital divide must prioritize access for truly unserved communities. That can only happen with a light-touch regulatory approach that protects against overbuilding and requires the use of accurate broadband maps. House broadband leaders look forward to continued discussions with the Biden-Harris administration and Congressional Democrats on how best to target our resources to close the digital divide once and for all.
Wireless
The US Is Back in the 5G Game
The US government has upended the $35 billion-a-year cellular-equipment industry, ushering in a new era of competition and giving US companies a shot at re-entering a sector they vacated years ago. Pushed by Washington’s campaign to cripple Huawei over cybersecurity concerns, countries representing more than 60% of the world’s cellular-equipment market are considering or have already enacted restrictions against Huawei. And to take advantage of that opening, the US government—as well as governments in the UK and European Union—are considering financial support and other measures to boost domestic cellular-equipment makers trying to crack the three incumbents’ stranglehold on the market. The result is a newly competitive market that is reminiscent of the 1990s, when bygone industry giants such as Lucent, Motorola, Nortel, Siemens and Alcatel fought for a piece of a growing telecom-equipment pie.
On a collection of adjoining fields near a university in rural western England, an ambitious farming project aims to show it’s possible to plant, grow and harvest a crop autonomously, using robotics, drones—and potentially 5G. The case for using 5G in farming shows promise, although the superfast networking technology is only beginning to be applied in the agriculture world. And there have been some kinks in early-stage experiments. Farmers can benefit from large amounts of data about their crops, and 5G-enabled sensors could help deliver it, measuring if soil needs watering or plants are getting too much sun. Streaming high-quality video over mobile connections could help farmers analyze crops from afar in ways that weren’t possible with earlier generations of cellular technology. Kit Franklin, a senior lecturer in agricultural engineering at Harper Adams University in England, who co-founded the autonomous farming project, called the Hands Free Farm, says many of the possibilities 5G opened up were enticing. So he and his colleagues signed up to test the new networking technology about three years ago as part of a government-supported initiative called 5G RuralFirst.
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.
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