On May 31, Sen Angus King (I-ME) has joined a group of colleagues in calling for the Federal Communications Commission to make it easier for tribal communities to get access to broadband internet. The lawmakers said Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai should extend the period for tribal governments to complete applications for wireless broadband and increased mobile coverage. Sen King and the other senators said the window should be extended by 180 days, and that extending the window is the right thing to do because tribal communities around the country have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and many need more time. He and the other senators wrote that “rural tribal communities represent some of the least connected people in America” and they need access to better service.

[On June 1, the FCC announced it would issue a temporary wavier (until Aug 31, 2020) to ease the Lifeline program application and enrollment process in rural Tribal areas.]

Vermont’s Department of Public Service recently released an Emergency Broadband Action Plan that is among the most aggressive of all state responses to the coronavirus pandemic. The state currently has 944 cases of COVID-19, with 54 attributable deaths. A full third of households with school children lacked broadband Internet or a computer as recently as last summer, and as the state’s teachers rushed to produce alternative learning materials after schools closed their doors in mid-March, the predictable happened: “[I]n a number of cases . . . folks really fell right off the radar,” one superintendent told VTDigger. The Emergency Broadband Action plan proposes regulatory changes and network subsidies to achieve universal broadband coverage for all citizens by 2024. 

Efforts to connect the unconnected have fallen way short. Many billions of dollars have been thrown at this, through multiple initiatives, programs and subsidies. Given the magnitude of the spend, there has been relatively little progress in providing decent broadband service to underserved households, or in making broadband more affordable for the tens of millions of households for whom that $50-$60 bill presents a financial challenge. There are three pillars involved in solving this problem once and for all: how to properly count/measure who can’t get broadband or can’t afford it; how, technically, we can reach that last ~15% of unserved/underserved households; and how to fund broadband expansion/affordability initiatives. It would be good to set a goal. Let’s get a firm count on the number of underserved households and set an objective of reaching a significant percentage of them by 2025. That’s chipping away at some 2-3 million households per year, roughly speaking. With all the new spectrum, 5G, stimulus dollars, and some effective public-private sector cooperation, this is achievable. 

[Mark Lowenstein, a leading industry analyst, consultant, and commentator, is managing director of Mobile Ecosystem]

The total projected collected interstate and international end-user revenue base to be used in determining the contribution factor for the Universal Service support mechanisms for the third quarter of 2020 is $10,219,123,520. This amount was derived using the projected collected revenue reported on the Federal Communications Commission Form 499-Q submissions. Interstate telecommunications service providers were required to complete this form reporting July to September 2020 projected collected revenue information and return it by May 1, 2020. 20 USAC has included complete revenue data from 4,055 carriers (3,012 contributors and 1,043 de minimis carriers).

Thank you for recognizing me with your Wi-Fi Champion Award. Some might point out that it’s been nearly six weeks since the Federal Communications Commission adopted its 6 GHz Order, and ask: Isn’t it a bit late to still be taking a victory lap? To them, I would say: It’s a really big victory. We’re making the entire 6 GHz band—a massive 1,200 megahertz testbed for innovators and innovation available for unlicensed use. By doing this, we are effectively increasing the amount of mid-band spectrum available for Wi-Fi by almost a factor of five.

In addition to the Order, the FCC voted in April to explore possibilities for very-low-power devices in the 6 GHz band. Very low-power devices could enable a new and innovative generation of personal area network technologies with low latency, high capacity, and all-day battery life. We look forward to acting quickly to make 6 GHz available for these very-low-power uses. That will require a strong factual foundation. So, for those of you who have helped us get to this point on 6 GHz, the work isn’t done. Please participate in this next phase of our 6 GHz proceeding and give us the facts we need to move even further to facilitate unlicensed use of the band.

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (HHS ASPR) is providing an additional $250 million to aid US health care systems treating patients and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. As authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, HHS has now provided a total of $350 million to health care systems for pandemic response. The funds will support hospitals and other health care entities to train workforces, expand telemedicine and the use of virtual healthcare, procure supplies and equipment, and coordinate effectively across regional, state and jurisdictional, and local health care facilities to respond to COVID-19.

The Center for Democracy & Technology filed a lawsuit against President Trump’s “Executive Order on Preventing Online Censorship,” signed May 28, 2020. The suit argues that the Executive Order violates the First Amendment by curtailing and chilling the constitutionally protected speech of online platforms and individuals. 

“The Executive Order is designed to deter social media services from fighting misinformation, voter suppression, and the stoking of violence on their platforms,” said CDT President & CEO Alexandra Givens. “Access to accurate information about the voting process and the security of our elections infrastructure is the lifeblood of our democracy. The President has made clear that his goal is to use threats of retaliation and future regulation to intimidate intermediaries into changing how they moderate content, essentially ensuring that the dangers of voter suppression and disinformation will grow unchecked in an election year. CDT filed suit today because the President’s actions are a direct attack on the freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment. The government cannot and should not force online intermediaries into moderating speech according to the President’s whims. Blocking this order is crucial for protecting freedom of speech and continuing important work to ensure the integrity of the 2020 election.”

He rails against the "far left's" hoaxes. He says the World Health Organization has been “beclowned” over its response to the coronavirus. And he describes a “secret and partisan surveillance machine” run by House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA). Those aren't President Donald Trump's words. They came from Brendan Carr, the junior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, who is embracing a flavor of distinctly Trumpian rhetoric that could help him leapfrog his way to the chairmanship of the five-member regulatory agency.

The FCC, though it has no direct authority over social media, could play a key role in assisting President Trump's efforts to rein in the power of Twitter and other online companies. And Commissioner Carr has spent months echoing some of the president's favorite rhetoric, from hammering the alleged partisan biases of Silicon Valley tech giants to accusing Beijing's Communist leaders of allowing the coronavirus’ spread.

If the goal was getting on President Trump’s radar, he succeeded. Within hours, President Trump tweeted Commissioner Carr’s interview with Lou Dobbs from his personal account, as did the official White House Twitter account. President Trump also retweeted Commissioner Carr’s statement praising the executive order. Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, has also shared Commissioner Carr’s smackdowns of social media companies. And it’s not a first, either. Earlier in May, the White House retweeted Commissioner Carr accusing Politico of spreading “Communist propaganda” by publishing an article that quoted Chinese social media users' mockery of President Trump's handling of the pandemic.

“I just think it’s unfortunate when an FCC official goes way out of his lane just to try to audition to be the chairman in a possible second Trump administration,” said Benton Senior Fellow and Public Advocate Gigi Sohn. “I’ve been very shocked by how far out on a limb he’s gone to try to get the White House's attention.”