Thursday, June 20, 2019
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The Broadband Interagency Coordination Act of 2019 (S.1294) would require the Federal Communication Commission, Department of Agriculture, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to enter into an interagency agreement to coordinate how federal funding for the deployment of broadband internet technologies is distributed. The agreement would cover data and information sharing among those agencies. As the group’s coordinator, the FCC would be required to seek public comment on the agreement’s effectiveness; it also would be required to evaluate public comments and submit a report to the Congress.
Using information from agencies that would be involved in the agreement, CBO expects that implementing S. 1294 would cost $1 million over the 2019-2024 period. Costs would stem from creating the agreement, managing and sharing broadband data, and coordinating data sharing requests. Because the FCC is authorized under current law to collect fees sufficient to offset the appropriated costs of its regulatory activities each year, CBO estimates that the net cost to the FCC would be negligible, assuming appropriation actions consistent with that authority. CBO expects that spending by USDA and NTIA would total around $1 million over the next five years, subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
S. 1294 also would require that the FCC’s High Cost program administered through the Universal Service Fund (USF) share certain information with USDA and NTIA. The High Cost program, designed to expand broadband service in remote and underserved communities, is funded by revenues collected from telecommunications providers under permanent statutory authority. The revenues are available to be spent on authorized purposes without further appropriation. CBO expects that implementing the data sharing agreement mandated by S. 1294 would have a negligible net effect on USF’s revenues and direct spending.
If the FCC increases annual fee collections to offset the costs of implementing provisions in the bill, S. 1294 would increase the cost of an existing private-sector mandate on entities required to pay those fees. Using information from the FCC, CBO estimates that the incremental cost of the mandate would be small—less than $400,000 annually—and would fall well below the annual threshold established in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act for private-sector mandates ($164 million in 2019, adjusted annually for inflation).
Broadband deployment is important. But deployment is just one piece of the digital divide. Another crucial piece of the puzzle: the cost of broadband service. Policymakers can’t afford to leave out the collection of pricing data. Affordability is the biggest barrier to broadband adoption, yet is continually left out of the conversation about availability. For many Americans, this lack of focus on pricing data results in a flawed picture of access, hinders policymaking, and distorts funding decisions that could promote competition in their areas. Not only is the currently available data misleading for the government—it’s also misleading for the millions of Americans who live in areas where although a provider has deployed high-speed broadband, they don’t have effective access because the service costs too much. Should high-speed broadband be deemed “available” to that area if nobody can actually afford it?
House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR) unveiled a bipartisan version of the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act in the House of Representatives to stop abusive robocall practices. The bill would:
- Requires that phone carriers implement call authentication technology so consumers can trust their caller ID again, with no additional line-item for consumers, and includes a process to help rural carriers implement this technology.
- Allows carriers to offer call blocking services to consumers with no additional line charge on an opt-out basis with important transparency safeguards to make sure important calls aren’t inadvertently blocked.
- Directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to issue rules to protect consumers from calls they didn’t agree to receive and to ensure consumers can withdraw consent.
- Requires the FCC to enact safeguards so companies can’t abuse robocall exemptions.
- Ensures the FCC has the authority and the tools to take strong, quick action when it tracks down robocallers, including by extending the statute of limitations from one year to three, and in some instances four, years for callers violating robocall prohibitions.
- Mandates the FCC to submit a report to Congress on the implementation of its reassigned numbers database to make sure the Commission is effectively protecting consumers from unwanted calls.
US wireless companies’ limited access to some of the nation’s most valuable airwaves threatens to slow down their plans to build faster 5G networks. At issue are broad swaths of the radio spectrum in frequencies that can travel long distances and penetrate buildings. This “mid-band” is considered ideal for faster, fifth-generation wireless service. Sprint and Dish Network already hold large amounts of mid-band spectrum not yet put to work serving customers. Other nearby frequencies remain reserved for satellite communications and military use in the US.
The Federal Communications Commission unveiled a plan to commercialize licenses in the Educational Broadband Service. The service was created in the 1960s for use by educational groups for instructional television, and some licenses are now used for wireless broadband systems for school districts. Some of the airwaves, which are above 2.5 gigahertz and often lumped in with mid-band spectrum, are used by federally recognized Native American tribes in rural areas of the US. The FCC’s plan aims to make available to wireless companies and other businesses some unused or underused swaths of that spectrum. Schools that currently use some airwaves can continue to use their licenses, expand that use or sell them, a senior FCC official said. Tribal groups also would receive priority access and, after that, unused airwaves would be auctioned off.
Perhaps the biggest news of the week was the agenda for the Federal Communications Commission's July 10 Open Meeting, which FCC Chairman Ajit Pai laid out in a blog post on June 18, 2019. I'm traveling to New York this week; below is a shorter-than-usual weekly that takes a look at how Chairman Pai plans to take education out of the Educational Broadband Service -- and broadcast television.
All over Africa, the double-edged nature of digital technology is becoming increasingly apparent. On the face of it, an internet shutdown in Africa seems less noteworthy than one in Europe, China or North America, where the use of online technology is more widespread. Internet penetration in Africa — while rising more rapidly than elsewhere — is still just 37 percent, against 61 percent in the rest of the world. Yet in some ways, Africans are more dependent on internet and smartphone technologies than people elsewhere. Hundreds of millions of Africans use cellular services to transfer money to their family or to pay for goods and services. In the absence of a universal banking system, if the mobile network goes down, the impact can be devastating. Similarly, in countries with heavily controlled print media, the internet becomes the only source of reliable information — as well as one of rumour and deception. More important even than the fragility of physical infrastructure is institutional and regulatory frailty. Consumers in advanced economies are only now waking up to the dangers posed by technology to their privacy and freedom. In Africa, companies are still at the stage of what Kenyan writer Nanjala Nyabola calls “a mass data sweep” in which information about an expanding consumer class is being busily devoured. Governments in Africa have a massive opportunity to use the digital revolution to improve the lives of their citizens. Too many are using it against them.
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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