Daily Digest 8/20/2021 (Antitrust)

Benton Institute for Broadband & Society
Table of Contents

Infrastructure

The benefits and costs of broadband expansion  |  Read below  |  Sophia Campbell, Jimena Ruiz Castro, David Wessel  |  Brookings
Rural Digital Opportunity Fund waiver requests roll in after FCC warning  |  Read below  |  Diana Goovaerts  |  Fierce
Biden's infrastructure bill could help rural Pennsylvanians desperate for internet  |  Read below  |  Julia Terruso  |  Philadelphia Inquirer
New Hampshire Cooperative Expands Fiber Network  |  Institute for Local Self-Reliance

Digital Divide

Citizens in Rural NC Feel Left Behind With Digital Divide  |  Read below  |  Elizabeth Pattman  |  Times-News
Cleveland Schools Deploy the Stay Connected Program to Close the Homework Gap  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  Charter Communications
Report: Bridging the Digital Divide in the San Diego Region  |  San Diego Association of Governments

Spectrum/Wireless

Wireless carriers lead FCC's mid-band spectrum auction applications  |  Read below  |  Bevin Fletcher  |  Fierce
FCC announces the status of applications to participate in 3.45 GHz service auction  |  Federal Communications Commission
Why most cable and wireline companies passed on 3.45 GHz  |  Fierce
5G Market Update: 176 commercial 5G networks launched worldwide  |  Global Mobile Suppliers Association
FCC Opens Challenge Docket for C-Band Payment Disputes  |  Next TV

Antitrust

Federal Trade Commission Refiles Facebook Antitrust Suit  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  Federal Trade Commission
Judge releases full unredacted Epic complaint against Google  |  Vox

Privacy/Security

China Passes One of the World’s Strictest Data Privacy Laws  |  Read below  |  Eva Xiao  |  Wall Street Journal
International Coalition Calls on Apple to Abandon Plan to Build Surveillance Capabilities into Products  |  Center for Democracy and Technology
Policymakers want answers from T-Mobile about massive data breach  |  Washington Post
Today's Top Stories

Infrastructure

The benefits and costs of broadband expansion

Sophia Campbell, Jimena Ruiz Castro, David Wessel  |  Brookings

Brookings provides an overview of the benefits and costs of expanding broadband access and bridging the digital divide. The shift of work and school online highlighted the lack of access to high-speed broadband internet service in some parts of the US and intensified political pressure on the government to make it more widely available. The bipartisan infrastructure bill that passed the Senate includes $65 billion to finance the expansion of broadband. Research suggests that the economic and social returns to investment in broadband are significant; increasing access and usage of broadband infrastructure in rural areas can bring three to four-fold returns on investment as well as improved health and life outcomes for users. Yet different regions of the US struggle to gain adequate internet access for a variety of reasons, including rural infrastructure, provider availability, and broadband affordability. The complex challenge of closing the digital divide, and meeting the needs of a diverse array of communities, requires a multitude of potential solutions.

Rural Digital Opportunity Fund waiver requests roll in after FCC warning

Diana Goovaerts  |  Fierce

The Federal Communications Commission recently urged operators to ensure money awarded to them in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I auction wouldn’t go toward unnecessary coverage, and they responded – with a wave of waiver requests. As a result, millions in broadband funding could be left on the table. Top RDOF winners including LTD Broadband, Windstream, Frontier Communications and Starry were among those seeking to relinquish winning bids without penalty. Collectively, the waiver requests cover thousands of census blocks across at least 26 states. The FCC issued letters to a total of 197 RDOF winners and operators had until August 16 to request waivers for potentially redundant funding areas. While it is unclear exactly how much funding is associated with these new waiver requests, more than 60 bidding entities had already defaulted on winning bids totaling over $78.5 million. According to RDOF rules, operators in default of winning bids are subject to a penalty of $3,000 per violation, but the FCC said in its July 2021 warning letter that it would consider waiving the fees if operators could demonstrate why defaulting on their bids would serve the public interest.

Biden's infrastructure bill could help rural Pennsylvanians desperate for internet

Julia Terruso  |  Philadelphia Inquirer

About one in five Pennsylvania households doesn’t have a broadband internet subscription, with many rural counties having low coverage. Now broadband could get a historic investment through the infrastructure bill making its way through Congress. Pennsylvania could receive $100 million to expand broadband infrastructure and subsidize service and devices for families who have access but can’t afford it, such as low-income families in Philadelphia. In rural areas, the issue is also structural — there simply isn’t enough population density to incentivize setting up the pipes and towers needed. For many people living without high-speed internet in rural areas, broadband access isn’t a political issue; more money to get people online could significantly change lives. “The digital divide doesn’t care what party you’re in or what area of the country you live in,” said Amy Huffman, policy director at the National Digital Inclusion Alliance. “It impacts everyone and therefore it impacts all of our lawmakers, no matter what side of the aisle.” And while there’s some disagreement over how to expand broadband, there’s no disagreement about why it's important and needs to be funded.

Digital Divide

Citizens in Rural NC Feel Left Behind With Digital Divide

Elizabeth Pattman  |  Times-News

While Internet access has increased over time across the board, both Randolph and Alamance (NC) counties are still below the national average when it comes to the percentage of households with Internet access. Most of the areas lacking service are the more rural neighborhoods in the northern and southern ends of each county. A number of local initiatives have been developed to try and increase broadband access in the area, most prominently projects to increase hotspot availability where infrastructure is lacking. Alamance County is working on several grant programs to increase hotspot coverage and work with private Internet service provider companies to expand access, and many organizations in Randolph County have created Wi-Fi zones to help serve people during the pandemic. In Alamance, the county turned on public Wi-Fi at many of their buildings to help broaden access. Both Randolph and Alamance counties also participate in their own county-level Digital Inclusion Alliances, which bring together several partner agencies including the municipalities, school systems, nonprofit organizations, the Piedmont Triad Regional Council, county departments and more. But until more incentives or grant funding are secured, hundreds of residents, especially those in the most rural areas, are still without Internet access.

Cleveland Schools Deploy the Stay Connected Program to Close the Homework Gap

Press Release  |  Charter Communications

With many school districts continuing to look for ways to help students who don’t have robust internet service at home maximize their learning potential, Charter Communications announced that the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) is deploying the Spectrum Enterprise Stay Connected K-12 solution as a multi-year solution. Stay Connected K-12 provides schools the ability to offer high-speed, cable broadband internet access directly to their students in their own homes so learning and teaching are uninterrupted. Students’ families are not billed for the service. More than 5,300 families are anticipated to participate initially. Through the program, users have access to download speeds up to 50 Mbps, in-home WiFi, unlimited data usage, self-installation kits, and 24/7 support. Stay Connected K-12 also maximizes flexibility for districts, allowing them to add students to the program when needed, with no minimum term commitment on any of the connections. Charter has connected thousands of students and educators through Stay Connected K-12 agreements throughout its 41-state footprint, and is working with officials at the CMSD to connect students quickly.

Spectrum/Wireless

Wireless carriers lead FCC's mid-band spectrum auction applications

Bevin Fletcher  |  Fierce

The Federal Communications Commission released a roster of applicants for participation in the next US mid-band spectrum auction. Auction 110, set to start October 5, is offering up to 4,060 flexible-use licenses with 100-megahertz in the 3.45-3.55 GHz range across the contiguous US. No bidder can win more than 40-megahertz of spectrum. According to the FCC's application list, 26 applications are completed and 16 remain incomplete, for a total of 42 potential bidders. AT&T, T-Mobile and US Cellular are among those with completed applications, while Verizon is listed as incomplete, and Dish is also in the mix. Much of the competition at the next mid-band spectrum auction will be concentrated among wireless carriers, which is "as expected" according to New Street analyst Johnathan Chaplin. 3.45 GHz spectrum up for auction is in the mid-band range seen as key for 5G by offering a mix of coverage and capacity, and sits nearby the 3.7 GHz C-band and the shared 3.5 GHz Citizen Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band.

Antitrust

Federal Trade Commission Refiles Facebook Antitrust Suit

Press Release  |  Federal Trade Commission

The Federal Trade Commission filed an amended complaint against Facebook in the agency’s ongoing federal antitrust case. The complaint alleges that after repeated failed attempts to develop innovative mobile features for its network, Facebook instead resorted to an illegal buy-or-bury scheme to maintain its dominance. It unlawfully acquired innovative competitors with popular mobile features that succeeded where Facebook’s own offerings fell flat or fell apart. To further moat its monopoly, Facebook lured app developers to the platform, surveilled them for signs of success, and then buried them when they became competitive threats. Lacking serious competition, Facebook has been able to hone a surveillance-based advertising model and impose ever-increasing burdens on its users. The FTC filed the amended complaint in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, following the court’s June 28 ruling on the FTC’s initial complaint. The amended complaint includes additional data and evidence to support the FTC’s contention that Facebook is a monopolist that abused its excessive market power to eliminate threats to its dominance. The FTC’s Office of General Counsel carefully reviewed Facebook’s petition to recuse Chair Lina Khan. As the case will be prosecuted before a federal judge, the appropriate constitutional due process protections will be provided to the company. The Office of the Secretary has dismissed the petition.

Privacy/Security

China Passes One of the World’s Strictest Data Privacy Laws

Eva Xiao  |  Wall Street Journal

China approved a sweeping privacy law that will curb data collection by technology companies but is unlikely to limit the state’s widespread use of surveillance. The national privacy law closely resembles the world’s most robust framework for online privacy protections, Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation, and contains provisions that require any organization or individual handling Chinese citizens’ personal data to minimize data collection and to obtain prior consent. Major provisions within the law include limits on facial recognition technology, regulation to prevent algorithmic discrimination online, and the option for consumers to opt-out of personalized marketing. Unlike in Europe, where governments face more public pressure over data collection, Beijing is expected to maintain broad access to data. Though the new privacy rules could allow China’s central government to control how lower-level agencies use and share data, nothing suggests “anything resembling legal limits on government surveillance,” said Karman Lucero, a fellow at the Yale Law School Paul Tsai China Center. “Chinese civil society still has very limited means of ‘watching the watchmen,’” he added.

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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 Grace Tepper (grace AT benton DOT org) — we welcome your comments.


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