Daily Digest 6/22/2021 (Broadband For All)

Benton Institute for Broadband & Society
Table of Contents

Digital Inclusion

Remarks Of Commissioner Geoffrey Starks Before Ericsson's Broadband For All Online Conference  |  Read below  |  FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks  |  Speech  |  Federal Communications Commission

Broadband Infrastructure

Democrats Consider Moving Broadband Bills Before August Break  |  Read below  |  Benjamin Din  |  Politico
Expanding broadband would benefit red America more than blue  |  Read below  |  Philip Bump  |  Analysis  |  Washington Post
Don’t replace the digital divide with the “not good enough divide”  |  Read below  |  Tom Wheeler  |  Analysis  |  Brookings
Billions in Funding From American Rescue Plan Act May Pit Rural Carriers Against One Another  |  Read below  |  Bernie Arnason  |  telecompetitor
Cable providers push back against Biden's new broadband need map  |  Read below  |  John Eggerton  |  Broadcasting&Cable
Broadband Data: Connecting Every American  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  NCTA - The Internet & Television Association
Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds: Frequently Asked Questions  |  Department of the Treasury

Platforms/Social Media

National Association of Broadcasters Argues FCC is Free to Charge Big Tech  |  Read below  |  John Eggerton  |  Next TV
Microsoft should face the same antitrust scrutiny as Facebook, Republican says  |  Vox

Security

FCC Can Block Subsidized Purchases of Huawei’s 5G Technology  |  Read below  |  Laurel Brubaker Calkins  |  Bloomberg
State and local officials tell Senate they need cybersecurity grants  |  StateScoop

Wireless

The First Mobile Phone Call Was 75 Years Ago – What It Takes for Technologies to Go from Breakthrough to Big Time  |  nextgov

Devices

Chip Shortages Are Starting to Hit Consumers. Higher Prices Are Likely.  |  Wall Street Journal

Health

Need mental health help? There are apps for that, but picking the right one is tough  |  Los Angeles Times

Policymakers

Biden’s delay on filling the FCC pushes agenda back significantly  |  Read below  |  Andrew Wyrich  |  Daily Dot

Stories From Abroad

European Commission opens investigation into possible anticompetitive conduct by Google in online advertising technology sector  |  European Commission
EU tech policy is not anti-American, says EU’s head of digital and competition policy  |  Financial Times
Today's Top Stories

Digital inclusion

Remarks Of Commissioner Geoffrey Starks Before Ericsson's Broadband For All Online Conference

FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks  |  Speech  |  Federal Communications Commission

As we continue to work to bring the pandemic to a close, I am already thinking about the lessons we have learned that should influence how we work toward the goal of broadband for all:

  • First, we need a long-term commitment to infrastructure.
  • Second, all the advanced infrastructure in the world won’t help if ordinary people cannot afford to buy the broadband service it supports.
  • Third, failing to close the digital divide threatens basic trust in government.
  • Fourth, Telehealth services have matured into an important part of our healthcare system, and we risk further inequity if not everyone can access them.
  • Fifth, all those essential services are only as reliable as they are secure.

Broadband Data: Connecting Every American

An internet connection can make a huge difference in a person's life. But long before the pandemic accelerated the rate at which our lives moved online, America's internet service providers offered special, low-cost broadband adoption plans like Connect2Compete and Internet Essentials so that everyone could participate. In fact, more than 14 million customers connected to the internet via these discounted offerings in the last decade. In 2020 alone, over 5 million new households connected to the internet. And while too many Americans have access to the internet but choose not to connect, there are still pockets of our country (largely rural and remote regions) that are miles away from the closest network. To tackle the need to wire these unconnected regions, 1.3 million new homes have been added to broadband service since 2019, including 340,000 in rural areas. The pandemic has highlighted where digital gaps exist, but America's broadband leaders have risen to the occasion and continued their commitment to getting every American connected.

Broadband Infrastructure

Democrats Consider Moving Broadband Bills Before August Break

Benjamin Din  |  Politico

Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill’s commerce panels can’t wait to mark up the broadband portions of the Biden administration’s proposed infrastructure legislation — though the timing still hinges on whether President Joe Biden nails down bipartisan consensus with Republicans or Democrats decide to go it alone. House Commerce Committee Democrats want to mark up their LIFT America Act, H.R. 1848 (117), as the vehicle, according to Telecommunications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA). That measure would provide more than $90 billion to expand internet connectivity. “Whenever we get the green light from leadership to mark up the LIFT Act, we will,” he said, adding he believes his caucus wants to make that happen before Congress’ monthlong August recess. But he stressed the bipartisan talks as an X factor: “We still have a ways to go.” Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) hopes to advance broadband portions of a bill through her panel in July, she said, and the “big numbers” mentioned by both sides have been promising (Biden wants $100 billion, but both parties say they could get behind $65 billion). She praised lawmakers in both parties for being “engaged” on issues like the digital divide and how to close it: “On making an investment, they’re pretty much aligned.” Democrats “think we should be looking at spending a little bit more money to put fiber and make it possible for everybody eventually to transition” to 5G, Chairman Doyle said, expressing fear that Congress might do a package “on the cheap” and consign many areas of the country to the current Federal Communications Commission definition of broadband, a modest 25 Megabits/second download and 3 Mbps upload. “We might not do 100/100 [Mbps], but I don't know why we would shoot so low,” he added.

Expanding broadband would benefit red America more than blue

Philip Bump  |  Analysis  |  Washington Post

The national map of broadband need published by the White House offers an extra layer of information beyond its detailed look at internet access in the United States. Those areas that are in greatest need of broadband are displayed in red, accidentally elevating another quality most share: they largely voted for Donald Trump in 2020. If we compare the density of households without any type of computer, including smartphones, or broadband access to how the country voted in 2020, we see that Trump-voting counties are overrepresented in both groups. There are more households in rural areas that voted for Trump than households in big cities that voted for Biden that have no broadband access, that despite the fact that the former group represents only 13 percent of all households and the latter nearly 30 percent. Thus, it is both a geographic divide and an economic divide. Biden’s team is certainly hoping that congressional Republicans will recognize that it is also, by extension, a political divide.

[Philip Bump is a correspondent for The Washington Post. Before joining The Post in 2014, he led politics coverage for the Atlantic Wire.]

Don’t replace the digital divide with the “not good enough divide”

Tom Wheeler  |  Analysis  |  Brookings

COVID-19 demonstrated the need for speed in digital broadband connections. As more and more members of a household were online simultaneously doing schoolwork or working from home, the need for bandwidth increased. It is for this, and many other reasons, that the broadband infrastructure program being considered by Congress must prioritize spending public funds for high-speed service, not simply good-enough service. At a time when commercial broadband companies are investing private money in upgrading their networks to mega-high-speed broadband deployment, it is foolhardy for the government to spend public money for second class service.The nation is finally moving beyond talking about the digital divide to actually doing something about the problem, and it is illogical to spend the taxpayers’ dollars for something that will only open the possibility of a “not good enough divide” as demand continues to rise. If there is anything we have learned from the history of broadband, it is that what may be adequate for today is not adequate for tomorrow. The lesson of the internet has always been increasing demand. 

[Tom Wheeler is a visiting fellow in Governance Studies at The Brookings Institution, and was Chairman of the Federal Communication Commission from 2013 to 2017.]

Billions in Funding From American Rescue Plan Act May Pit Rural Carriers Against One Another

Bernie Arnason  |  telecompetitor

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) includes up to $350 billion in funding to be distributed to the states for a variety of projects, broadband included. Rules for how that funding can be allocated are being finalized through the Treasury Department with some potentially disruptive competitive implications for rural broadband. The Treasury Department's “interim final rules” called for funding projects that provide at least 100 Mbps symmetrical service, with some exceptions allowing for 100/20 Mbps service. A more interesting aspect is how those rules define underserved markets; the funding will support projects that bring broadband to locations that currently lack access to wireline delivered service of at least 25/3 Mbps. By this strict definition, the ARPA program could fund projects that overbuild territory currently served by fixed wireless internet service providers (WISPs) who are delivering 25/3 Mbps or better (or worse). This could make for an interesting situation; will WISP competitors seek ARPA funding to overbuild existing markets, even if those WISPs are already delivering 25/3 Mbps broadband service? This is one of many challenging issues for broadband public policy and the federal and state regulators who must govern it. Issues of technology neutrality, accurate broadband access data, adequate broadband speed definitions, and more, all hang in the balance of a very high stakes game. 

Cable providers push back against Biden's new broadband need map

John Eggerton  |  Broadcasting&Cable

Cable broadband operators represented by NCTA - the Internet & Television Association are no fans of the Biden Administration's new "Indicators of Broadband Need" mapping tool recently unveiled by the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA). NCTA reiterated its longstanding support of federal efforts to create broadband mapping tools, but said that the NTIA's new map takes from unreliable and inaccurate data sources. In particular, NCTA singled out Microsoft's M-Lab data used in the tool as providing inaccurate information on the speeds delivered by cable operators. Richard Bennett, founder of High Tech Forum agreed with NCTA and stated that the data doesn't answer questions of how to reach communities with limited interest or ability to use broadband, not because it is a bad map but because the data is already out of date. Bennett claims that the digital divide is actually two divides: a civil engineering problem which causes a lack of high quality broadband in unserved areas, and a lack of infrastructure for unconnected people who could not buy service even if they wanted to. 

Platforms/Social Media

National Association of Broadcasters Argues FCC is Free to Charge Big Tech

John Eggerton  |  Next TV

The National Association of Broadcasters said a recent appeals court decision has established the precedent for commission authority to levy regulatory fees on Big Tech. NAB has been pushing the Federal Communications Commission to start charging Big Tech and other unlicensed spectrum users such a fee, as it does broadcasters and other FCC licensees and said it is now clear the FCC has the authority to make it happen. The FCC charges fees based on how many full-time employees are engaged in work related to a particular service, such as broadcasting, cable and satellite. In reply comments on the FCC's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Fiscal Year 2021 regulatory fees, NAB pointed to a June 4 decision by the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in which the court dismissed a challenge by Telesat Canada to the FCC's decision to charge the company a fee even though it is not an FCC licensee. NAB argued that since the court found it was reasonable for the commission to charge Telesat Canada a regulatory fee because it benefitted from FCC activities, the base of fee payors could include Big Tech, who also benefit yet are currently exempt from fees.

Security

FCC Can Block Subsidized Purchases of Huawei’s 5G Technology

Laurel Brubaker Calkins  |  Bloomberg

A federal appeals court ruled that Huawei can’t subsidize the sale of its 5G technology with federal funds earmarked for US broadband development because the Federal Communications Commission determined the company is a national security threat. The 5th Circuit Court agreed that the FCC was fully within its power and competence to issue the rule barring “Universal Service Fund” subsidies recipients from buying equipment or services from companies deemed national security risks. In a 61-page opinion, the judges said Huawei’s claim that the FCC was usurping the role of State Department or other foreign-relations experts was unfounded, and that "assessing security risks to telecom networks falls in the FCC’s wheelhouse.” Huawei complained that the FCC’s order stigmatized the company and drove away customers fearful of investing in 5G technology opposed by the Trump administration. However, the FCC’s order came after similarly negative national security assessments were made by the UK, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

Policymakers

Biden’s delay on filling the FCC pushes agenda back significantly

Andrew Wyrich  |  Daily Dot

President Joe Biden has faced constant pressure to fill out the Federal Communications Commission since he took office earlier this year. Pressure ramped up significantly last week when dozens of advocacy groups pushed the president to “urgently” address the deadlocked agency. In the immediate months following the 2021 inauguration, advocacy groups pressured Biden for a nominee but also recognized that the incoming administration was dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and the aftermath of Trump’s administration. Now, they say, it’s time for Biden to act. Because even if the president put forward a nomination today, it's likely that some of the larger items on a Democrat-led FCC’s agenda—like restoring net neutrality rules and classifying broadband under Title II of the Communications Act—likely wouldn’t be wrapped up before the middle of 2022 at the earliest. While advocacy groups acknowledge Biden's progress with addressing broadband needs and helming infrastructure plans, the final piece needed to achieve the administration's goals is a fully functioning FCC.

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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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