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Digital Inclusion in the Upper Midwest
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FCC Agenda
On May 31, 2019, the Federal Communications Commission released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on establishing a cap on the Universal Service Fund (USF) and ways it could enable the FCC to evaluate the financial aspects of the four USF programs in a more holistic way, and thereby better achieve the overarching universal service principles Congress directed the FCC to preserve and advance. The Notice set deadlines for filing comments and reply comments at 30 days and 60 days, respectively, after publication of the Notice in the Federal Register. A summary was published in the Federal Register on June 13, 2019. Accordingly, the filing dates were initially established as July 15, 2019 for comments and August 12, 2019 for reply comments. Over three dozen organizations asked for an extensition of the filing dates until September 30, 2019 and October 30, 2019, respectively. The FCc has now extended the deadlines to July 29, 2019 and August 26, 2019.
As of 2017, about 1.7 million housing units in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin did not have access to 25/3 affecting 3.5 million residents. Michigan had the highest share (25.5 percent) of housing units in the region with no 25/3 access, followed by Illinois (17.6 percent) and Wisconsin (17.2 percent). Minnesota had the lowest share, with less than 10 percent of the total.
However, broadband access changes significantly when analyzing two additional speed thresholds: 25/25 Mbps and 1/1 Gbps. A higher share of completely urban neighborhoods had access to symmetrical 25/25 Mbps across the region compared to completely rural. In Illinois, for example, 92.9 percent of housing units in completely urban neighborhoods had access to 25/25 Mbps compared to only 39.9 percent in completely rural neighborhoods, a 53 percentage points difference. As of 2017, the six-state region had 23.1 million housing units, or about 52.4 million residents. Of these, approximately 10.8 million housing units (46.9 percent), or about 23.7 million residents, lacked access to symmetrical 25/25 Mbps broadband. Less than one-third (30 percent) were located in Ohio followed by Michigan with 28.3 percent. On the other hand, Minnesota had the lowest share of the region’s total with 5.3 percent without access to 25/25 Mbps. When examining data by neighborhood types, it is clear that the percent of housing units with access to 1/1 Gbps decreased significantly. While the gap between completely urban and completely rural exists, it is not as wide as with the other much slower speed thresholds. Minnesota, again, outperforms all other states in the region with one-fifth of housing units in completely urban and also completely rural with access to this speed threshold.
Digital distress is defined as census tracts that have a higher percent of homes not subscribing to the internet or subscribing only through a cellular data plan as well as a higher percent of homes with no computing devices or relying only on mobile devices, no laptops or desktops. About 8.1 percent of the upper Midwest’s population (or 4.3 million people) lived in digitally distressed areas as of 2017. Digitally distressed areas had a higher share of homes relying only on cellular data or mobile devices, not subscribing to the internet, or not owning any computing device. Now that we know that digitally distressed areas exist in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin and that most are concentrated in urban areas, we turn our attention to the socioeconomic characteristics of these distressed places: age, race/ethnicity, employment, commuting pattern, education, and median household income.
Despite these limitations, the digital inclusion indicators and metrics that we have analyzed do offer some insights on the steps that leaders and practitioners should consider in their community, economic, and workforce development efforts. They include:
- Make digital inclusion a priority. While communities face multiple issues, digital inclusion should be a priority.
- Validate broadband footprint and quality of service (QoS). Efforts must be made at the local level to validate both access to adequate broadband and the quality of that service.
- Deploy and upgrade quality broadband infrastructure. Although the 25/3 footprint has expanded throughout the Midwest region, efforts should be made to ensure that symmetrical speeds are available and affordable, specifically in areas identified as digitally distressed or experiencing a high digital divide.
- Improve broadband adoption. Form a coalition of broadband providers, local governments, nonprofits, and other community anchor institutions to educate residents and businesses about why this technology is important, as well as programs and subsidies that are available to those subscribing to the internet.
- Improve access to quality and reliable devices. Research points to the fact that even when broadband is available and affordable, homes and individuals are unlikely to adopt if their devices are inadequate and/or unreliable.
- Improve digital skills and literacy. Having access to internet and reliable devices does not guarantee that the technology will be used in meaningful ways to improve the quality of life. This can be addressed by improving digital skills and literacy of both residents and organizations.
- Realign economic and workforce development strategies. Traditional economic development strategies are becoming less and less effective in this increasingly changing digital landscape. Innovative economic development strategies need to be deployed alongside traditional ones including but not limited to placemaking, economic gardening, co-working spaces, digital ecosystems, and telework among others. Likewise, workforce development needs to change to ensure workers can learn digital and soft skills (creative thinking, leadership, communicating effectively, organizational, teamwork, and self-management).
Tracking broadband speed measurements in 207 countries and territories across multiple 12-month periods has allowed us to generate an overall average speed for the globe and to see how this number changes over time. The good news is that the global average speed is rising fast.
- The average global broadband speed measured during the period from May 2016 to May 2017 was 7.40 megabits per second (Mbps). The average global broadband speed measured during the period from May 2017 to May 2018 was 9.10Mbps – a rise of 23.35%. The average speed measured in the period from May 2018 to May 2019 was 11.03Mbps – a further rise of 20.65% over the previous year.
- However, it should be noted that those countries contributing the most to the rising average are those in developed nations which contain not only already-faster established infrastructure, but in which we’re also seeing the most significant rollout and uptake of the latest technology. There is comparatively little development – and therefore little change in availability and/or uptake of faster infrastructure – in the bottom half of the league table compared to the top.
- Before you paint a picture that broadband provision is improving globally based on the 20.65% jump in average global speed since last year, consider that, on average, the top 100 countries in the table have gained 4.08Mbps while the bottom 100 in the table have gained by an average of only 0.47Mbps. Not including new entries, the top 100 countries have increased their average broadband speed by 25.63%. The bottom 100 countries have increased their average broadband speed by 23.77%. Proportionately, then, the difference in year-on-year speed increase is small.
Research designed and compiled by Cable.co.uk, and gathered by M-Lab, an open source project with contributors from civil society organisations, educational institutions, and private sector companies.The gap between the haves and have-nots continues to widen
San Francisco Mayor London Breed has spoken out against the Federal Communications Commission’s attempt to overrule a provision of a city ordinance. In a letter sent on July 2 to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Breed wrote that the FCC’s proposal to preempt part of a city law that prevents landlords of multi-unit buildings from blocking tenants from accessing the internet service provider of their choice would hurt residents by reducing competition for communications services. The provision of the ordinance, known as Article 52, says property owners can’t deny internet service providers access to existing wiring within multi-unit residential and commercial buildings. It was the first such rule in the nation when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed it in 2016. The FCC has scheduled a vote on the matter for their July 10 meeting.
About $20 billion worth of wireless airwaves are sitting dormant, public goods whose rights were acquired by Dish, in government auctions over the past decade. Put to use, they could create more competition and supply millions more high-speed connections. To finally unleash those airwaves, the government is being asked to place more trust than ever in Dish and its owner, billionaire Charlie Ergen. Dish is on track to get even more airwaves and other assets in 2019, this time as part of a side deal to T-Mobile’s purchase of Sprint. The idea is set up Dish, known for its satellite TV service, as a nationwide wireless carrier, creating a new competitor after the $26.5 billion T-Mobile-Sprint merger subtracts one provider from the US market.
Any airwaves transfer would need approval from the Federal Communications Commission, which has been pressuring Ergen to use the spectrum he already has. The FCC has said it will move to take away licenses if Dish doesn’t meet requirements to begin offering mobile service on its existing airwaves holdings by 2020. Those warnings may be overtaken by events. Talks among T-Mobile and Sprint, the Justice Department and Dish are at an advanced stage. The Justice Department could decide to back the deal as soon as the week of July 8. “It would be foolish to have him spend money on a network build that no longer makes sense by the spring of 2020,” said Blair Levin, a Washington-based analyst for New Street Research.
Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr is reviewing national nonprofit license holders of airwaves reserved for educational purposes, ahead of a planned July 10 FCC vote on opening them for 5G. Commissioner Carr fired off the first of what an aide said will likely be several letters to license holders. In it, he took Voqal, a nonprofit focused on funding educational wireless services, to task, saying that “review of your organization’s publicly available material raises questions about your compliance with the Commission’s rules” and asking about donations made to political and advocacy causes. The scrutiny puts Commissioner Carr in the middle of a debate over whether the airwaves are being insufficiently used for their intended purposes. A Voqal spokesperson said the group “look[s] forward to getting the Commissioner the information he has requested.”
A growing number of Americans turning to telehealth appointments with medical providers in the wake of widespread hospital closings in remote communities, and a shortage of local primary care doctors, specialists and other providers. Long-distance doctor-to-doctor consultations via video also fall under the "telehealth" or "telemedicine" rubric. A recent NPR poll of rural Americans found that nearly a quarter have used some kind of telehealth service within the past few years; 14% say they received a diagnosis or treatment from a doctor or other health care professional using email, text messaging, live text chat, a mobile app, or a live video like FaceTime or Skype. And 15% say they have received a diagnosis or treatment from a doctor or other health professional over the phone.
Most rural health facilities don't include telehealth services, which means most patients living in remote areas would need their own broadband internet access at home to get therapy online. And that's out of reach for many, says Robert J. Blendon, co-director of NPR's poll and professor of health policy and political analysis at the Harvard Chan School. The poll found that one in five rural Americans say getting access to high-speed internet is a problem for their families. Blendon says advances in online technology have brought a "revolution" in healthcare that has left many rural patients behind.
The 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Amazon can be sued over third-party sales on its platform, setting a potentially damaging precedent for the company. While Amazon sells goods itself, it also allows vendors to sell their products through its Marketplace platform, taking a cut in the process. In late 2014, a woman named Heather Oberdorf ordered a dog collar from a Marketplace seller, but it broke on a walk, sending the leash flying and permanently blinding her in one eye. The seller hasn’t been found, but Oberdorf sued Amazon, accusing the company of negligence. A district court in PA found that Amazon couldn’t be sued because it wasn’t a “seller” under the law, and because it is protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which gives protection to platforms from the actions of the people using those platforms. But Oberdorf appealed the ruling, and July 3, the appeals court largely found in her favor. In the ruling, the appeals court said Amazon could be held liable for its role in the sales chain. The court also ruled that Amazon is protected for “speech” on its platform, but wasn’t necessarily protected for the sale of goods in the real world. The court sent some of Oberdorf’s claims to a lower court for further review. The appeals court also found that the Communications Decency Act (CDA), the law that protects online companies from being held liable for content posted by users, only protects Amazon from elements of Oberdorf's claims.
A senior US official told the Commerce Department’s enforcement staff that Huawei should still be treated as blacklisted, days after President Donald Trump sowed confusion with a vow to ease a ban on sales to the firm. President Trump's surprise announcement to promise Chinese President Xi Jinping that he would allow US companies to sell products to Huawei spawned confusion among industry players and government officials struggling to understand what Huawei policy he had unveiled. In an email to Commerce Dept enforcement staff, the official said that license requests by firms seeking approval to sell to Huawei should be considered on merit and flagged with language noting that “This party is on the Entity List. Evaluate the associated license review policy under part 744,” citing regulations that include the Entity List and the “presumption of denial” licensing policy that is applied to blacklisted companies.
In a city driven by the pursuit of power, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, who was put in charge of the agency by President Donald Trump in 2017, seems more concerned with how, if at all, he should use his. He believes in what he and others describe as “regulatory humility.” “My own position,” he said, “is that consumers are ultimately better off when the marketplace is unshackled, and when regulators can take targeted action against bad apples in the bunch without presuming that all apples are bad. Or that the apples wouldn't exist but for the fact that the government was taking action.” Pai started his career at the Department of Justice as a trial lawyer, leaving for K Street and Verizon briefly, and then moving to Capitol Hill with the Senate Judiciary Committee. Along the way, the friendly legal dork attracted powerful political patrons such as then-Senator Jeff Sessions, who remembers Pai as the combination of “a brilliant legal mind” and a “wonderful, sunny personality that endeared him to everyone.” Top friends include Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who described Pai as “an all-star," and who recommended that President Barack Obama appoint him to the FCC in 2012.
Love him or hate him, Pai knows exactly what he is doing. He also tells the public exactly why. “It's no longer the Washington lawyers and lobbyists who can call up a connection downstairs and try to get insights into our non-disclosed orders. Now anybody who has an Internet connection can see what it is we are proposing to do,” Pai says with obvious pride. “Even my harshest critics, I would have to think, would give me some credit, at least, for making the agency more transparent.”
Two themes I’d like to emphasize in my remarks: one, the importance of harnessing technology to solve our common challenges, and, two, the importance of regional collaboration to unlock those solutions.
Our priorities for the upcoming World Radiocommunication Conference in Egypt track the same priorities we have at home and for our region, and are the same ones I highlighted earlier in my remarks: closing the digital divide and promoting 5G and other next-generation innovations. Our guiding principles as we approach WRC-19 are three-fold. First, we need to create a flexible regulatory framework that allows for continued growth of a multi-trillion-dollar industry; Second, we need to enable regional and global spectrum harmonization opportunities for all services, including broadcasting, Wi-Fi, mobile technologies, and satellites, to create international economies of scale, roaming, and interoperability, lowering prices for manufacturers and consumers; And third, we should ensure reasonable protections for incumbent users of the spectrum, so they can continue to operate and have enough certainty to invest in new technologies and expand coverage and deployment.
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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