Friday, August 16, 2019
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T-Mobile-Sprint open door to settlement talks with AGs
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Illinois Puts $420M Toward Broadband Internet Expansion
Seattle Invests in Digital Equity
Trump Administration Asks Congress to Reauthorize NSA’s Deactivated Call Records Program
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Gov J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) launched Connect Illinois, a $420 million statewide broadband expansion project included in the Rebuild Illinois capital plan. Rebuild Illinois dedicated $400 million to partnering with Internet service providers and $20 million to the Illinois Century Network, which currently services K-12 schools, higher education, public libraries, museums, state and local governments, and the health-care community. To oversee the broadband initiative, Gov Pritzker appointed 25 people from the private and public sectors to a broadband advisory council. Gov Pritzker said Rebuild Illinois, which was passed and signed into law in June, will improve the state’s infrastructure and facilitate future economic and education growth. The goal of Connect Illinois is to consolidate state resources and increase private- and public-sector collaboration to expand broadband access to benefit telehealth, education and economic development.
Seattle’s (WA) Technology Matching Fund is now open for applications from community and nonprofit groups for grants of up to $50,000 in service of work that improves digital equity. The city is seeking “applications for projects that increase access to free or low-cost broadband, empower residents with digital literacy skills, and ensure affordable, available and sufficient devices and technical support,” officials announced. City funds for these grants are to be matched by contributions from the community, which could come in the form of volunteer labor, materials, professional services or return funding.
This marks the 21st consecutive year for the fund, which likely ranks as one of the longest-running digital inclusion efforts in the country. This year, Seattle also upped its financial contribution for the program when its city council voted to award as much as $430,000 through it. Officials have estimated that this year the fund will help more than 6,000 residents of underserved or underrepresented communities in Seattle gain access to technology and digital skills.
T-Mobile US and Sprint have taken the first, albeit small step to launch settlement discussions with a group of state attorneys general who threaten to potentially derail their $26 billion merger. Officials at T-Mobile and Sprint have begun exploring possible settlement ideas both internally and with the state AGs.
House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Cicilline (D-RI) Criticizes FCC’s Rush to Approve T-Mobile’s Proposed Merger with Sprint, Calls for Additional Public Input
House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline (D-RI) sent a letter criticizing the Federal Communications Commission for rushing to approve the Sprint and T-Mobile merger. In July, the Justice Department announced a settlement with the merging parties that includes substantial changes to the transaction as originally proposed. Despite these changes, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai circulated a draft order Aug 14 behind closed doors to approve the merger without providing for additional public comment on how these changes to the deal will affect competition or the public interest. “There is no urgency to forgo an opportunity for additional public comment," Chairman Cicilline wrote. "The proposed transaction has been challenged in court by a bipartisan coalition of 16 state attorneys general, which have raised concerns that the merger will result in higher prices and reduced quality...I urge the Commission to protect the public’s opportunity to comment on the merits of the proposed merger as modified by the Department’s proposed settlement.”
Breaking a long silence about a high-profile National Security Agency program that sifts records of Americans’ telephone calls and text messages in search of terrorists, the Trump administration acknowledged for the first time that the system has been indefinitely shut down — but asked Congress to extend its legal basis anyway. In a letter to Congress, the administration urged lawmakers to make permanent the legal authority for the National Security Agency to gain access to logs of Americans’ domestic communications, the USA Freedom Act. The law, enacted after the intelligence contractor Edward J. Snowden revealed the existence of the program in 2013, is set to expire in December, but the Trump administration wants it made permanent. The letter, signed by Dan Coats in one of his last acts as the director of National Intelligence, also conceded that the NSA has indefinitely shut down that program after recurring technical difficulties repeatedly caused it to collect more records than it had legal authority to gather. That fact has previously been reported, but the administration had refused to officially confirm its status.
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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