Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Headlines Daily Digest
Securing the Nation’s 5G Future: Where Are We, Where Are We Going and How Do We Get There?
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Bill To Ensure Americans Keep Broadband Access During the Pandemic
Millions of Americans Depend on Libraries for Internet. Now They’re Closed.
GAO: FCC Needs Comprehensive Strategic Planning to Guide Its Efforts on 5G
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Broadband/Internet
Senators Wyden, Blumenthal, Hirono and Schumer Introduce Bill To Ensure Americans Keep Broadband Access During the Pandemic
Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) introduced a bill to ensure that millions of Americans can access essential broadband access in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Emergency Broadband Connections Act – sponsored by 26 Senate Democrats – would provide a $50/month benefit to workers who have been laid off or furloughed during the pandemic, along with a range of other assistance to ensure families can access critical online services. The bill would fill an essential need as the Federal Communications Commission’s voluntary Keep Americans Connected pledge by internet service providers to help consumers continue to access internet service during the pandemic ends June 30.
The legislation parallels provisions of the House HEROES Act, and the Emergency Broadband Connections Act by Rep Marc Veasey (D-TX). Specifically, the bill would:
—Entitle households in which a member has been laid off or furloughed to a $50 benefit (or $75 on tribal lands) to put toward the monthly price of internet service and require ISPs to serve eligible households at a price reduced by an amount up to the emergency benefit;
—Trigger eligibility based on qualification for the Lifeline program, the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), or Federal Pell Grants;
—Provide devices such as laptop or desktop computers or tablets to eligible households to ensure these families have the devices they need to look for a job, complete online homework assignments, or receive telehealth service;
—Require Lifeline service providers to make unlimited minutes and data available to those that currently rely on the Lifeline program to stay connected to phone or internet service, and provide additional support; and
—Provide funding to states to facilitate the linking of their SNAP databases with the FCC’s National Lifeline Verifier database, which will allow recipients of that program to automatically qualify for Lifeline.
Since COVID-19 forced the Cherokee (IA) Public Library to close in mid-March, the computer lab is empty. But the library is still many residents’ most reliable source of connectivity to the digital world. Kids sit scattered in the library’s parking lot with phones or video game devices, catching some of the Wi-Fi outside that’s now left on 24/7. And Tyler Hahn, the library's director, spends his days trying to help some older patrons get online by shouting instructions to them through the library’s windows. People have also come to the library to ask Hahn for the phone number to call to apply for unemployment benefits, since they can’t look it up online themselves, he said. They’ve dropped dollar bills through the book slot to pay for printouts of forms. Libraries are still just about the only place in America anyone can go and sit and use a computer and the internet without buying anything. All over the country, library closures during the pandemic have highlighted just how many people have no dependable source of internet on their own.
As the latest generation of mobile communications, 5G networks are expected to provide faster connections to support consumer, industry, and public sector services. While private sector carriers deploy 5G networks, the Federal Communications Commission has a role in managing deployment challenges, such as how to allocate low-, mid-, and high-band spectrum for 5G use. The US Government Accountability Office was asked to review 5G deployment challenges. This report examines challenges and the federal government's efforts related to 5G deployment with regard to managing spectrum for 5G and closing the digital divide, among other things. GAO, with assistance from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, convened a meeting of 17 experts from academia, industry, and consumer groups; reviewed relevant statutes, literature, and FCC documentation; and interviewed FCC and other relevant federal officials, along with stakeholders that include various localities, wireless carriers, and industry associations.
GAO recommends the FCC should develop specific and measurable performance goals with related strategies and measures to: (1) manage spectrum demands for 5G and (2) determine the effects 5G deployment and any mitigating actions may have on the digital divide. FCC indicated that setting spectrum goals could unnecessarily limit its options but did not agree or disagree with GAO's recommendations. GAO continues to believe that well-considered strategic planning would benefit FCC's efforts.
Remarks Of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai To The U.S.-India Business Council Webinar On Creating Alignment In The 5G Ecosystem
I commend the US-India Business Council (USIBC) for launching this Webinar series on 5G. I’ve been asked to begin with an update on the Federal Communications Commission’s efforts to promote the development and deployment of 5G. This is something we’ve spent quite some time on, to say the least. We call our strategy the 5G FAST plan, and it has three key components: freeing up spectrum, promoting wireless infrastructure, and modernizing regulations to encourage fiber deployment.
A full 15 to 16 million public school students across the US live in households without adequate internet access or computing devices to facilitate distance learning. Almost 10% of public school teachers (300,000 to 400,000) are also caught in the gap, affecting their ability to run remote classes. The 32-page report, Closing the K–12 Digital Divide in the Age of Distance Learning, fixes a one-year price tag of at least $6 billion and as much as $11 billion to connect all kids at home, and an additional $1 billion to close the divide for teachers.
The report finds that the states with the largest K–12 digital divide are largely in the south, with Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Alabama showing the largest deficit by proportion, and Texas, California, and Florida the largest gaps by population. But, as the report notes, every state has a problem. "This new report shows that not only is the distance learning gap larger than previously estimated but that too many teachers are caught in it, too, and it will require significant and immediate investments from Congress to close it," said James P. Steyer, CEO and founder of Common Sense. "This new data and analysis further highlights the urgency for policymakers, educators, and private companies to address this basic educational equity issue that affects kids in every state. Our report makes clear that during this age of distance learning, we have to act right now to close the digital divide that is leaving millions of kids behind."
With expanded unemployment benefits set to expire at the end of July, many parents will have no choice but to return to work by September. Even for parents who can work from home, home schooling is often a crushing burden that’s destroying careers, mental health and family relationships. And online school has had dismal results, especially for poor, black and Hispanic students. Yet the nightmarish withdrawal of the key social support underlying modern parenthood is being presented as a fait accompli, rather than a worst-case scenario that government is mobilizing to prevent.
They say it is best not to talk politics among friends. But in trying to avoid the conversation, Facebook has stepped right into the thick of it. Now, some of its most valuable relationships are at risk. Since the Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018, Facebook has been no stranger to controversies ranging from election misinformation, security breaches, violent content and more. Widespread user movements have encouraged those fed up with the platform to sign off permanently. Ahead of the 2020 election, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has held firm in his belief that it isn’t the job of his platform to fact check political ads or exclude anything but the most outright harmful points of view from the social conversation. With the nation growing more divided by the minute over issues of health, race, class and gender, this political inactivism has sparked widespread controversy, even driving some employees to resign. Now advertisers are joining the fray, hitting Facebook where it really hurts. Particularly bad for Facebook, the boycott could be prolonged in the absence of more major policy change.
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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