Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai circulated an order to his colleagues that would improve the way the FCC calculates annual updates to the minimum service standard for mobile broadband service provided through the Lifeline program. The draft order would revise the FCC's existing methodology to ensure predictable, reasonable yearly updates to the standard so that Lifeline subscribers can receive robust yet affordable mobile broadband service. Under the revised methodology, the Lifeline program’s minimum service standard for mobile broadband data capacity would increase, effective December 1, 2020, from 3 GB to 4.5 GB per month. Absent this reform, the standard would increase from 3 GB to 11.75 GB per month. In 2016, the FCC adopted minimum standards for services provided through the Lifeline program, including mobile broadband service, as well as mechanisms intended to predictably update those standards on an annual basis. However, the existing formula for updating the minimum standard for mobile broadband data capacity results in dramatic year-over-year swings in the standard—fluctuations that risk making Lifeline service unaffordable for many current subscribers. For example, in 2019, the formula would have resulted in an increase from 2 GB to 8.75 GB per month had the FCC not stepped in to limit that increase to 3 GB per month. This year, this standard would again increase dramatically to 11.75 GB per month, absent FCC action.

The draft order would fix several flaws in the existing formula for updating the Lifeline minimum standard for mobile broadband data capacity. These changes would (1) ensure greater predictability in the standard from year-to-year for Lifeline subscribers and providers; (2) better account for the needs of smaller-than-average households; and (3) enable the Wireline Competition Bureau to rely on the latest data sources in making its calculations.

On July 27, Rep Deb Haaland (D-NM) and Sen Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) introduced the Deploying the Internet by Guaranteeing Indian Tribes Autonomy over Licensing on Reservations Act (DIGITAL Act), a bill which ends the current Federal Communications Commission (FCC) practice of selling wireless spectrum rights on the lands of Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations and grants ownership, management, and governance of all spectrum to those groups in perpetuity. The bill also calls for the creation of an FCC fund to support broadband efforts, an advisory team to provide regulatory and technical assistance, and a data collection program to support future connectivity efforts in those communities. It represents a dramatic new approach to addressing the digital divide in Tribal communities, which remain among the least well-connected of all across the United States today.

Tucked away in Kishacoquillas Valley (also known as Big Valley) (PA) between Stone and Jacks Mountains lies a 120-foot repurposed HAM radio tower, now the base of operations for the Rural Broadband Cooperative (RBC), a group bringing fixed wireless to a rural Pennsylvania community. RBC remains one of the many groups around the country making use of community ties to address connectivity issues in places where monopoly Internet service providers have for decades refused to invest.

RBC’s effort began in 2017. When asked about bringing high-speed broadband to the area,  Comcast replied that it would need $80,000 to lay a line half a dozen miles long, apparently. So the group — among them a retired professor, a former telecommunications manager, and a musician — formed the non-profit cooperative and moved forward with a different plan. They leased a patch of land 1,900 feet up on the side of Stone Mountain with a view over the crest and a repurposed former HAM radio tower to bring low-latency fixed wireless Internet to the area. In total, the effort cost $60,000, with the money raised by the cooperative’s initial members. The tower itself is run by solar and wind, with a battery backup. The group’s backhaul connection comes from a 100 gigabit fiber line from Keystone Initiative for Network-Based Education and Research.

This week's big tech hearing underscored the deep discontent in Congress toward giant technology companies, but also divisions about what the problems are and how to address them. In more than five hours of adversarial interrogation before the House Antitrust Subcommittee, the chief executives of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google owner Alphabet were accused of a range of unfair business practices. But Democrats focused more on the alleged stifling of competition to preserve their dominance, while Republicans honed in more on the platforms’ outsize grip on information and public debate. Members at times dismissed one another’s specific concerns and proposed solutions, making it clear that legislative changes concerning Big Tech aren’t imminent.