Friday, July 24, 2020
Headlines Daily Digest
Don't Miss:
Bridging the digital divide through digital equity offices
Amid antitrust scrutiny, Apple makes quiet power moves over developers
Today's Event: Negative Impacts of Municipal Broadband & What to do Instead (Americans for Tax Reform)
Broadband/Internet
Wireless/Spectrum
Telecom
Ownership
Security
Privacy
Journalism
Lobbying
Stories From Abroad
Sample Category
The Senate Commerce Committee vetted the current state of spectrum policy and broadband availability at a July 23 hearing. There was general agreement that rural deployment was a problem and a priority, particularly during a pandemic; that the data on where broadband is and isn't — thus where the money needs to be put, or not — is flawed and needs fixing; and that sharing as well as clearing spectrum was important.
Sen Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said that distance learning, job searches and more are hampered by the lack of connectivity. He said the Federal Communications Commission's Lifeline low-income subsidy program must get more money during the pandemic. There was general agreement among the witnesses that more money for broadband was needed, including one suggestion that edge providers should have to contribute to broadband subsidies. Tom Power, SVP and general counsel of CTIA, advocated for Sen Ed Markey's (D-MA) bill providing $4 billion for the Universal Service Fund E-Rate subsidy for schools and libraries. Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Project at New America's Open Technology Institute, said that OTI supports getting more than $8 billion, essentially a Lifeline supplement, for broadband during the pandemic. Rosyln Layton, visiting researcher from Aalborg University, said what the Lifeline program needed was major reform but, as to more money, she said that content providers whose video constitutes 80% of network traffic and clearly benefit from broadband network buildouts should have to kick in funds for broadband subsidies.
Sen Blumenthal said he hoped his Republican colleagues in their soon-to-be-announced COVID-19 aid package proposal would include the necessary funds for broadband, whether E-Rate or Lifeline. And while he said there may be a need to reform Lifeline, right now the focus needed to be funding the connectivity that closes the homework gap and digital divide.
The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA), in consultation with the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB), initiated the urban rate survey for 2021. The FCC will be collecting the rates offered by a random sample of providers of fixed services identified using December 2019 FCC Form 477 data. The Commission will collect separate samples for fixed voice and fixed broadband services with up to 500 urban Census tracts in each. Because some providers serve many urban Census tracts, these providers may receive surveys for multiple Census tracts. Notifications that a provider is required to complete a survey will be sent via email to each selected provider’s FCC Form 477 contact person and certifying official on Thursday, July 23, 2019. Completed surveys will be due on Friday, August 28, 2020.
Additional information on the urban rate survey, including the orders referenced in this Public Notice, can be found on the Commission’s urban rate survey webpage at https://www.fcc.gov/general/urban-rate-survey-data-resources
The Open Technology Institute's latest study of the price of internet service, The Cost of Connectivity 2020, finds substantial evidence of an affordability crisis in the United States. From service plans that meet the current Federal Communications Commission definition for broadband at 25/3 Mbps to bigger, bolder standards, U.S. consumers pay more for monthly internet prices on average than European consumers based on advertised metrics. And, perhaps just as importantly, U.S. consumers must wade through confusing billing schemes, hidden costs, and surprise fees. There has never been a greater need for policies that promote competition, increase billing transparency, and make internet service more affordable for more people, OTI concludes.
We have a connection problem. Statistics from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) show that around 18 million people in the U.S. do not have high-speed broadband options from any provider, but those numbers are based on metrics that policymakers widely agree need fixing. The FCC itself reports that less than two-thirds of the U.S. population has adopted high-speed broadband (defined as speeds of 25 Mbps download/ 3 Mbps upload). Other studies place the number of people without broadband access at 42 million, or even as high as 162 million. What’s keeping people from connecting? In many cases, it’s cost. The issue also extends to race. The crisis is a function of a broken broadband market, a federal agency that has abdicated its authority over internet access, and a lack of comprehensive data about who has access to the internet and at what cost.
So, what happens next? People need connectivity now, and as COVID-19 cases tick back upward this summer and schools remain at least partially online in the fall, the urgency for affordable home access will only increase. But going forward, even more must be done. We must build toward a vision of internet access that is inclusive, reflects a commitment to racial justice, and is driven by community needs rather than corporate bottom lines. We also need a federal agency that is empowered to support these efforts. Current FCC leadership has hamstrung the agency’s ability to protect consumers and improve internet affordability. As the expert agency for communications and consumer protection in the communications sector, this approach has resulted in an enormous regulatory gap. Fortunately, the FCC has the ability to reassert leadership in this space, leverage the public consensus that internet access is a necessity, and take concrete steps to improve the internet service market and ensure quality, affordable options for everyone. Connecting the country to reliable high-speed internet is a big task, and there is not a moment to lose.
[Sarah Morris is the Director of the Open Technology Institute at New America]
The American economy continues to digitalize at an astounding pace, but tens of millions of American households cannot access the digital economy due to physical gaps in local broadband networks, unaffordable subscription plans and personal devices, and a lack of digital skills. Digital equity offices would aim to address these structural barriers and ensure the digital economy reaches all local households.
The traditional role of state and local governments was to regulate telephone companies, negotiate access to public right of way for network construction, and help connect anchor institutions. There was no commitment across all state and local governments to fund digital skills programs, offer discounted subscriptions and devices to at-risk households, or even to liaise directly with disadvantaged communities to understand their needs. Now is an ideal time for communities to focus on building the digital equity infrastructure they may be missing.
Local governments should establish digital equity offices to deliver households the tools to physically access and use broadband and related digital services. Each office would be led by a digital equity officer who reports directly to the top elected executive as a member of the cabinet. The office would be responsible for publishing a Digital Equity Plan for the jurisdiction. That plan would set performance targets, establish strategies, collect data, and plan coordinated activities across multiple agencies, including those responsible for information technologies, economic development, social services, health care, and others. Digital equity offices would also serve as the lead office to liaise with state-level peers, ideally with a similar equity office at the state level.
Among the many truths COVID-19 has exposed about Michigan’s economy and society is the state’s stark digital divide, which is limiting educational opportunity in both highly segregated urban “blue” communities and rural “red” areas as well. Given the virtual learning demands of the COVID-19 world, closing this divide is now an imperative. Michigan (along with many of its sister Midwest states) to be one of the nation’s laggards in making high-speed internet available to all its residents, with 70 of the state’s 83 counties showing connectivity rates below the national average. Recent research by Public Policy Associates’ Daniel J. Quinn and Nathan A. Burroughs details the county-by-county share of Michigan’s population lacking access to high-speed internet and its impact on educational opportunities. Counties with the worst rates of connectivity (as low as 36% of households, or more than 4,000 homes) are some of the reddest parts of rural Michigan, as reflected by their score from the Cook Political Report. This lack of access is a function both of rural poverty and inadequate infrastructure. But even in strongly Democratic urban communities with much higher overall rates of connectivity, there are hot spots of disconnect.
The citizens, parents, and leaders of both “red” and “blue” Michigan must call a truce. United, they can put pressure on the president and federal lawmakers to close the digital divide and make education—in whatever format—work for everyone this fall. If we don’t come together, Michiganders at both ends of our political spectrum will be worse off than ever before.
[John Austin just completed 16 years of elected service on the Michigan State Board of Education, serving the past 6 years as President. Austin directs the Michigan Economic Center, a center for ideas and network-building to advance Michigan’s economic transformation. He serves as a Nonresident Senior Fellow with the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings and lectures on the Economy at the University of Michigan.]
US officials with the Department of Energy and scientists unveiled a plan to pursue what they called one of the most important technological frontiers of the 21st century: building a quantum Internet. They set goals for forging what they called a second Internet — one that would function alongside the globe’s existing networks, using the laws of quantum mechanics to share information more securely and to connect a new generation of computers and sensors. Quantum technology seeks to harness the distinct properties of atoms, photons and electrons to build more powerful computers and other tools for processing information. A quantum Internet relies on photons exhibiting a quantum state known as entanglement, which allows them to share information over long distances without having a physical connection.
The US’s top technology rival, China, is investing heavily in quantum technology, a field that could transform information processing and confer big economic and national-security advantages to countries that dominate it. The Department of Energy and its 17 national labs will form the backbone of the project.
The Federal Communications Commission on July 23 is beginning its first auction of licenses for prime, mid-band spectrum suitable for 5G. The auction will offer county-based Priority Access Licenses (PALs) in the 3550-3650 MHz band, which will encourage the rapid deployment of next-generation wireless networks in the band. This is a critical step in freeing up spectrum for the commercial marketplace—a core part of the FCC’s 5G FAST Plan.
This auction, designated as Auction 105, will offer seven PALs in each county-based license area, for a total of 22,631 PALs nationwide—the largest number of flexible-use spectrum licenses ever made available for bidding in a single auction. Each PAL will consist of a 10-megahertz unpaired channel in the 3.55-3.65 GHz band. The FCC adopted procedures for Auction 105 in a public notice adopted earlier in 2020.
The FCC rules for the 3.5 GHz spectrum band established a dynamic, three-tiered, hierarchical framework to coordinate shared federal and non-federal uses. Under this framework, incumbent users have the highest priority, followed by PALs, and then General Authorized Access users. FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly led the FCC’s work to ensure that the rules for PALs would encourage investment and innovation in the 3.5 GHz band. General Authorized Access users can already access the band and the auction represents the final step to commercializing the band.
Native American communities should have the same access to the opportunities of the digital age as other Americans. Yet, internet access in Indian Country remains stubbornly and persistently low. Addressing this problem requires smart policy and a scarce resource regulated by the Federal Communications Commission known as wireless spectrum. For the first time, tribal communities have an opportunity to obtain wireless spectrum to expand broadband access on their lands—but the challenges of COVID-19 threaten to diminish its potential. The FCC can and should fix that.
The FCC established a “priority window” for all federally-recognized tribes, Alaska Native villages on rural tribal lands, and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to apply for wireless spectrum licenses in the 2.5 GHz band to boost internet service in their communities. The FCC committed to keeping this application window open for 180 days before auctioning unclaimed airwaves for commercial use. Unfortunately, not long after the application window opened, the COVID-19 pandemic forced tribal communities to focus on more immediate priorities: the health of neighbors and families. The FCC’s priority window can deliver major benefits to rural tribal communities that have been left behind for too long. That’s why 16 advocacy groups and indigenous organizations—and 18 US senators—asked the FCC to extend the application window deadline, which is set to close on Aug. 3. Despite that request, the agency is threatening to backtrack on its commitment to tribes by not extending the deadline.
This paper tracks increasingly aggressive initiatives by the United States government to reallocate spectrum on an expedited and unilateral basis well before conclusion of inter-governmental coordination. Rather than embrace the customary commitment to achieve consensus on global spectrum allocations at the International Telecommunication Union (“ITU”), the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) has auctioned off large blocks of frequencies for the next generation (“5G”) of wireless services. The FCC might have framed its first 5G auction, reassigning Ultra High Frequency (“UHF”) spectrum, as a one-time deviation from compliance with long standing, intergovernmental coordination procedures. These frequencies have ideal signal propagation characteristics and the Commission could use financial incentives—unavailable in most nations—to expedite “repacking” by incumbent broadcasters willing to move, share or abandon spectrum in exchange for ample financial compensation. However, the FCC has continued to auction off 5G spectrum on grounds that it must find ways to abate an acute shortage of wireless bandwidth and doing so will regain or maintain global leadership in wireless technologies. This paper offers a critical rebuke to unilateral spectrum management, because the short-term benefits expected by the U. S. government likely will be offset by countervailing harms to 5G manufacturers, carriers and consumers. The paper tracks fractious preparation for the ITU's 2019 World Radio Conference by the U.S. delegation and the mixed record achieved there. Additionally, the paper explains how injecting trade, industrial policy and national security issues at the ITU can trigger more delays and disputes, including possible retaliation by nations displeased with U.S. efforts to subvert traditional technology optimization goals.
A worst case scenario has the ITU deadlocked and unable to reach closure on “mission critical” spectrum planning issues at World Radio Conferences, convened every four years. The paper concludes that costs and likely challenges to the efficacy and legitimacy of the ITU will reduce the benefits accruing from the FCC's unilateral, spectrum planning campaign.
President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is reportedly fighting cellphone carriers over the right to send Americans unsolicited texts. The campaign’s lawyers are in active talks with phone companies after a third-party screening tool blocked President Trump texts in early July. The campaign alleges that screening the texts amounts to suppressing political speech, while carriers fear allowing them will result in fines for violating anti-spam rules.
The 2020 election has brought a wave of text messages from across the political spectrum, particularly with the pandemic limiting in-person outreach. Many users didn’t opt in to these missives, and it’s unclear whether they violate federal laws meant to curb unwanted texts. The Trump administration, meanwhile, has imposed steeper fines for spammy and illegal robocalls. That’s reportedly put carriers on edge despite President Trump’s campaign contending it’s not illegally automating texts. A campaign spokesperson said that it stands by its programs. “Any effort by the carriers to restrict the campaign from contacting its supporters is suppression of political speech. Plain and simple.”
Apparently, there is a “standoff” between Trump and carriers, mediated at one point by President Trump’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who apparently called the CEOs of Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile to complain about the block.
AT&T’s 5G network is live for consumers and businesses across the country as of July 23. AT&T 5G offers nationwide connectivity, so whether you’re at home or on-the-go, you’ll enjoy 5G coverage in more places (AT&T 5G requires compatible plan and device. 5G service may not be available in your area).
During Apple’s annual developer’s conference in June, it announced that smaller developers would finally have access to its “Find My” app, a move that on the surface could appease developers who have asserted that Apple has too much power. It turns out the announcement was not what it seemed. Apple has placed strict restrictions on how consumers will be able to use the app. Apple customers who use Find My to locate a device will be barred from using other competing services simultaneously. The move is unusual, developers say. Customers generally have the choice of using multiple apps to control the same hardware device. Apple’s decision highlights the company’s willingness to tighten its grip and control over how its products are used, even as hawk-eyed European regulators circle and US lawmakers prepare to question the company’s chief executive, Tim Cook, at a hearing about its competition practices.
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
Kevin Taglang
Executive Editor, Communications-related Headlines
Benton Institute
for Broadband & Society
727 Chicago Avenue
Evanston, IL 60202
847-328-3049
headlines AT benton DOT org
Share this edition:
The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society All Rights Reserved © 2019