During a hearing titled "Building Resilient Networks," lawmakers on the Senate Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband were asked to boost the reliability of the nation's broadband networks by spreading infrastructure funding among a variety of technologies such as fixed wireless and mobile broadband rather than limiting it solely to fiber. Wireless Infrastructure Association President Jonathan Adelstein testified that a singular focus on fiber broadband networks that can deliver "symmetrical" speeds of 100 megabits per second would prioritize a sometimes cumbersome broadband delivery method that can take longer to restore in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Instead, Adelstein suggested Congress should prioritize funding different types of networks with an eye toward the functionality and the potential service overlaps each network can offer. Denny Law, CEO of Golden West Telecommunications, said that federal investments in fiber networks will indeed go the furthest. While wireless networks may be easier to set up, they can be interrupted by many external factors and cost more to maintain over the long run, he said.

Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld testified that the current transition of our national wireline networks to all-IP systems, and our deployment of 5G wireless networks, provides an ideal opportunity for Congress to act. As we upgrade to an all-IP framework, retire legacy copper networks, and build out 5G, we can upgrade our resiliency standards to take advantage of the new technical capacities of these networks. He recommended that Congress consider legislation that would:

1. Provide the information necessary for proper planning and for the market to reward investment.
2. Provide clear authority to the Federal Communications Commission and the States.
3. Create metrics necessary to set standards and promote accountability.
4. Promote sustainability and avoid environmental degradation.
5. Make federal and state assets available in disaster recovery.
6. Fund network upgrades that promote reliability.
7. Direct the FCC to study the specialized needs of specific communities.

The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) sent a letter to Acting Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel yesterday related to its concerns about Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) awards. The FCC has indicated a preference for fiber deployments, which offer the highest broadband speeds as well as symmetrical speeds for both the upstream and downstream. However, WISPA represents many fixed wireless access providers that have been serving rural customers for years, and the group thinks it is more important to reach unserved areas quickly than to worry about symmetrical broadband speeds. “WISPA believes that, to connect all Americans to fast broadband speeds, symmetrical broadband speeds are not necessary,” it stated in its letter to Rosenworcel. The company stated that they are in the process of setting up individual meetings with FCC commissioners.

House New York (HNY), an affiliate of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing (NYSAFAH), and the Broadband Equity Partnership are launching an initiative to create a comprehensive dataset of building-based connectivity solutions that will support the City and State in achieving universal broadband adoption in its affordable housing stock. The Affordable Housing Broadband Initiative (AHBI)–the first of its kind in the nation–is made possible by support from the Ford Foundation and Schmidt Futures. To help guide the process, project partners will work with the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (HCR) to achieve three key goals through AHBI: 

1.  Build a comprehensive dataset that identifies the State’s broadband service access solutions in subsidized affordable housing, categorized by building typologies, and the estimated costs to close service gaps. 

2. Analyze the dataset to form key insights specific to each building typology to guide the building-based broadband retrofitting process more effectively.  

3. Develop a novel, statewide program that matches each building typology with a technical solution and associated funding needs and provides additional support to help ensure affordable housing residents have access to universal broadband.        

The initiative launches on June 29 and will be completed in September. A full report and proposal will be released at that time with the findings and assessment of the program. AHBI will also be scalable to other contexts and states, as it aims to lay the foundation for universal broadband connection in the nation’s affordable housing stock.

The Mobile Marketing Association and WARC's new joint "State of the Industry" report found that while mobile marketing budgets boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic, connsumer privacy concerns remain a significant barrier to growth. The top-line finding of the report is that two out of three marketers boosted their mobile marketing budgets over the past year, at least partly due to the acceleration of ecommerce following the pandemic. And while marketers appear to be more optimistic about almost every potential barrier to further mobile marketing budget growth, consumers' concern over their personal data privacy increased 10 percentage points year-over-year compared with a similar survey conducted in 2020. Regulatory compliance with consumer data privacy rules was the other large concern among mobile marketers surveyed in the report.

The House Appropriations Committee released the draft fiscal year 2022 Financial Services and General Government funding bill which provides annual funding for the Department of the Treasury, the Judiciary, the Executive Office of the President, and other independent agencies, including the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. For fiscal year 2022, the draft bill includes $29.1 billion in discretionary funding, an increase of $4.8 billion over 2021. 

• The bill includes $388 million for the FCC, an increase of $14 million above the FY 2021 enacted level, to support efforts to expand broadband access, improve the security of U.S. telecommunications networks, and administer billions in COVID-19 relief programs.
• The bill includes $390 million for the FTC, an increase of $39 million above the FY 2021 enacted level, to bolster antitrust and consumer protection work.