Thursday, July 23, 2020
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Broadband/Internet
Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) are a vital part of the network of networks that is the Internet. Without them, the Internet could not function because the different networks that make up the Internet would not be able to exchange traffic with each other. The simplest form of an exchange point is a direct connection between two Internet Service Providers (ISPs). When more than two providers operate in the same area, an independent switch operates more efficiently as a common interconnection point at which to exchange traffic between the local networks. This is similar to the development of regional airport hubs where many different airlines are served. At these locations, airlines exchange passengers between their flights in much the same way that networks exchange traffic across the IXP. IXPs are one of the building blocks around which the Internet is built.
Back in 2016, the giant cable company Charter Communications made several promises required by federal regulators as conditions for the approval of a merger deal that would make Charter even more gargantuan. Are you shocked that, now that the merger has long been completed, Charter is asking the Federal Communications Commission to rescind some of those conditions? Me neither. Especially given that the result of any such FCC action would be to allow Charter, which operates its cable and broadband systems under the Spectrum brand, to raise prices on many of its internet users.
In approving Charter’s $88-billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, the FCC forbade Charter to place data caps on its customers for seven years — that is, charge customers more if their internet use exceeds certain levels — or until mid-2023. The commission also forbade Charter from charging streaming video providers such as Netflix for interconnections to its system during the same period. Charter is asking to drop those conditions as of May 2021, or two years early.
A lot of hopes are riding on the auction of spectrum in the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band, which has a start date of July 23. The spectrum is considered mid-band – and industry stakeholders increasingly see mid-band spectrum offering the optimum mixture of bandwidth and coverage for 5G deployments. Perhaps no one has higher hopes for the auction than Verizon, which is light on mid-band spectrum holdings. But other bidders that have a lot at stake include incumbent telecommunication companies such as Windstream and Frontier that are expected to use any winnings to support fixed wireless service at speeds comparable to fiber broadband but with lower deployment costs. Those companies have been struggling to compete with cable companies, whose infrastructure can more easily support high speeds, and gaining CBRS spectrum to support high-speed fixed wireless could be the telcos’ most effective competitive response.
Rural stakeholders also have big hopes pinned on the CBRS auction. Licenses will be for 10 MHz of spectrum by county, and the small geographic area was intended to encourage small companies that focus exclusively or primarily on rural fixed wireless to bid. Fixed wireless equipment for the CBRS band is expected to offer superior performance and better economics in comparison with many of today’s options.
One of the most important developments for connectivity for Native American Tribes, Alaskan Native villages and Native Hawaiian communities is the 2.5 GHz Rural Tribal Priority Window (TPW). This gives federally recognized Tribes on rural Tribal lands the opportunity to apply for free spectrum licenses in one of bands best suited for 5G. Tribes that receive these licenses will have the capability to build out their own 5G networks, bringing real, reliable and affordable broadband to communities that have the worst broadband access in the US. Unfortunately, the application window closes on Aug 3. Because of the horrific impact of COVID-19 on Native American communities (rural Native American Communities have suffered worse economic and social impacts of COVID-19 than any other community in the US, aggravated by the severe lack of broadband access), hundreds of eligible Tribes will not be able to meet the Aug 3 deadline to apply (less than 20% of the approximately 515 eligible federally recognized tribes on rural Tribal lands are expected to be able to apply under the current deadline, based on an estimate by MuralNet.org).
Tribal organizations such as National Congress of American Indians, The Southern California Chairmen’s Tribal Association, Native Public Media, and AMERIND Risk Management (a Tribal owned corporation chartered under federal law) are working with my employer, Public Knowledge, to request the FCC to extend the window until Feb 3, 2021. As I explain below, this will benefit hundreds of Tribes and their communities, while harming no one. But best of all, you can help! Here’s how.
Health
Advancing Health Equity through Telehealth Interventions during COVID-19 and Beyond: Policy Recommendations and Promising State Models
As state policymakers consider telehealth policy changes, it is critical to consider the continued challenges that both providers and patients face in both accessing and utilizing telehealth interventions. Considering both the public health crisis and future patient needs, Families USA has assembled state policy recommendations around three themes: Improving financing and implementation, Removing provider barriers, and Improving patient access to telehealth services.
Our nation’s health depends on immediate action to ensure that Americans urged to stay home can do so. Households that otherwise cannot afford it must receive access to broadband internet and unlimited telephone use. The Senate will very soon consider a coronavirus stimulus package: it must include an emergency communications benefit. The Senate should act to offer low-income households a $50 monthly benefit to obtain faster speed broadband and unlimited talk and text for the duration of the coronavirus crisis. To get back on the road to economic vitality, we must ensure everyone can afford broadband at home to keep people safe even as many states work to reopen their economies. Congress is about to act on another coronavirus stimulus package. It must heed this call to save the lives of the most vulnerable among us and ensure life goes on as much as possible online.
[Eboni Winford is director of research for Cherokee Health Systems. Terri Sabella is chief executive officer of Tennessee Primary Care Association.]
In response to Twitter’s decision to label one of the President’s tweets misleading, the Trump White House issued an executive order to limit Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act via agency rulemaking. In the Order, President Donald Trump calls for the Federal Communications Commission to “interpret” Section 230 in a manner that curtails websites’ ability to remove and restrict user speech. This article analyzes the Order and concludes that this effort will fail. First, the FCC does not have rulemaking authority to issue the proposed rules. Second, the proposed rules cannot be issued because they are inconsistent with the statute. Finally, we discuss the policy implications of the proposed rules and argue that they would actually lead to less speech and engagement on the Internet, not more of it.
The role of Big Tech companies, the dangers of social media platforms, and the potential of a green future are all major issues in politics right now, and whoever wins the 2020 election will shape policies around them. Below are examples of where President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden stand on tech policy:
- Closing the Digital Divide
- Joe Biden: Has made expanding broadband part of his platform. He wants to invest $20 billion in rural broadband infrastructure, and also promises to direct the federal government – especially the US National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the US Department of Agriculture – to support cities and towns that want to build municipally-owned broadband networks. He will encourage competition among providers, to increase speeds and decrease prices in urban, suburban, and rural areas.
- President Trump: Earlier in 2020, it was said at a White House press briefing that “the president is committed to ensure that rural Americans are not left behind and that their communities have access to safe and reliable high-speed broadband.”
- The Future of 5G
- Joe Biden: Platform maintains that investing in 5G is one of the keys to maintaining America’s position as a world leader, stating that “a Biden administration will join together with our democratic allies to develop secure, private sector-led 5G networks, leaving no community — rural or low-income — behind.”
- President Trump: In 2019, stated his administration’s goal of “winning the race to be the world’s leading provider of 5G cellular communications networks,” adding that “secure 5G networks will absolutely be a vital link to America’s prosperity and national security in the 21st century … We cannot allow any other country to outcompete the United States in this powerful industry of the future … The race to 5G is a race America must win, and it’s a race, frankly, that our great companies are now involved in."
- Net Neutrality
- Joe Biden: The Joe Biden-Bernie Sanders Unity Task Force touched on net neutrality in a list of policy proposals, indicating a Biden administration’s intent to “restore the FCC’s clear authority to take strong enforcement action against broadband providers who violate net neutrality principles through blocking, throttling, paid prioritization, or other measures that create artificial scarcity and raise consumer prices.”
- President Trump: In 2019, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit upheld the Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of net neutrality rules (although the court also ruled that states can implement their own net neutrality rules). Afterward, President Trump tweeted a congratulation to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.
President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign filed defamation lawsuits against three of the country’s most prominent news outlets: The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN. Then it filed another suit against a somewhat lower-profile news organization: northern Wisconsin’s WJFW-TV, which serves the 134th-largest market in the country. The Trump campaign sued the station over what it claims is a false and defamatory ad WJFW aired that showed Trump downplaying the threat of the coronavirus as a line tracking new COVID-19 infections ticks up and up on the screen. Dozens of stations ran the ad. But the Trump campaign chose to sue just NBC-affiliate WJFW, which is owned by a relatively small company that only has two other local TV stations, both in Bangor, Maine. The campaign did not initially sue the political organization that produced the ad. That group later joined the case as a defendant. The curious lawsuit is part of a larger, aggressive and exceedingly expensive legal operation by the Trump campaign.
The Senate Commerce Committee approved a number of bills and nominations including the following:
S. 3152, Data Mapping to Save Moms’ Lives Act, Sponsors: Sens. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., Deb Fischer, R-Neb., Todd Young, R-Ind., Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, Edward Markey, D-Mass., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
Rosen Substitute
Scott 1
S. 3771, Fundamentally Understanding the Usability and Realistic Evolution (FUTURE) of Artificial Intelligence Act of 2020, Sponsors: Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Todd Young, R-Ind., Edward Markey, D-Mass
Cantwell 1
Scott 1
Scott 2
S. 3891, Advancing Artificial Intelligence Research Act of 2020, Sponsors: Sens. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., Gary Peters, D-Mich., Roger Wicker, R-Miss.
Gardner Substitute
Peters 1
Scott 2 (as modified)
- Michael O’Rielly, of New York, to be a Member of the Federal Communications Commission
- Michael Walsh, Jr., of Virginia, to be General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Commerce
- Mary Toman, of California, to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs, U.S. Department of Commerce
The nomination of Federal Communications Commissioner Michael O'Rielly for a new, five-year term on the FCC has been favorably reported out of the Senate Commerce Committee and now moves to the full Senate for a vote. Commissioner O'Rielly's term expired at the end of June 2019, but commissioners can continue to serve until the close of the next Congress. The new term would date from July 1, 2019. Wednesday's action came by voice vote, but with Committee Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) voting no, even though, procedurally, she was the one to propose that it be reported favorably. Also asked to be recorded as "no" on the O'Rielly nomination were Sens Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Brian Schatz (D-HI).
In explaining her no vote, Sen. Cantwell pointed out that in 2018, the US Office of Special Counsel concluded that Commissioner O'Rielly had violated the Hatch Act with political comments made at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) conference. Commissioner O'Rielly was issued a warning letter saying that a repeat of such statements could incur more than a warning. Commissioner O'Rielly countered that he disagreed that an offhand remark was a violation, but said he took the warning seriously. Ranking Member Cantwell also said that O'Rielly "had recently injected, I believe, politics into part of the spectrum issue," which she said she found "disturbing." She did not elaborate. In contrast, Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) said he looked forward to advancing Commissioner O'Rielly's nomination. He said he appreciated O'Rielly's commitment to the speedy deployment of broadband, particularly given the pandemic and the greater reliance on connectivity, as well as his commitment to insuring it was targeted to areas that need it most.
Slack filed a complaint against Microsoft with the European Commission, accusing the tech giant of using its market power to try to crush the upstart rival. Slack claims that Microsoft has illegally tied its collaboration software, Microsoft Teams, to its dominant suite of productivity programs, Microsoft Office, which includes Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. That bundling tactic, Slack contends, is part of a pattern of anticompetitive behavior by Microsoft. Slack’s complaint is just a first step. The European Commission must decide if a formal investigation is warranted. In recent years, European regulators have more aggressively pursued antitrust actions against large tech companies than American officials.
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.
© Benton Institute for Broadband & Society 2020. Redistribution of this email publication — both internally and externally — is encouraged if it includes this message. For subscribe/unsubscribe info email: headlines AT benton DOT org
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