Thursday, August 26, 2021
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Emergency Connectivity Fund Update from the FCC
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NTIA Establishes Two Broadband-Focused Offices
Signals Research Group assesses Facebook's Terragraph internet initiative
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The Federal Communications Commission has received requests for $5.137 billion to fund 9.1 million connected devices and 5.4 million broadband connections as part of the $7.17 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund Program. The first filing window, which closed August 13, 2021, attracted applications from all 50 states, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia – including schools and libraries in both rural and urban communities seeking funding for eligible equipment and services received or delivered between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022.
In view of outstanding demand and the recent spike in coronavirus cases, the FCC will open a second application filing window for schools and libraries to request funding for connected devices and broadband connections for off-campus use by students, school staff, and library patrons for the current 2021-22 school year. The FCC will open the second application filing window to provide support for the current school year in light of outstanding demand, including applications that were filed after the close of the initial application filing window, and resource challenges some schools faced with a summertime application filing window. Moreover, the rise of the Delta variant means off-campus connectivity remains vital to ensuring students, school staff, and library patrons can engage in remote learning as they face challenges and uncertainty amidst the ongoing COVID19 pandemic. During the second application filing window, which will run from September 28 to October 13, eligible schools and libraries can apply for financial support to purchase eligible equipment and services for students, school staff and library patrons with unmet needs. (See a state-by-state breakdown of funding demand)
The strongly bipartisan infrastructure bill provides $65 billion to bring quality, affordable broadband networks to communities – especially those in rural America – that for too long have struggled to thrive without modern high-speed internet. When I first came to the Senate, a top priority of mine was to increase access to broadband. It’s a 21st Century necessity for communities working to attract families and businesses, and to create jobs and economic development. Broadband connects students to top-notch education and allows health facilities to provide much-needed services, like telehealth. The current pandemic has shown us just how important quality broadband is for people working from home and for students learning remotely. It has also shown us how difficult it is for so many to access and afford broadband. The infrastructure bill changes that; Minnesota will receive a minimum of $100 million, which will significantly boost our state’s effort to connect its 157,000 households currently without service. It also ensures that new broadband services are affordable and that any new systems provide quality connections, so that users –especially those in rural areas — aren’t stuck with sub-par or second-class service.
Facebook’s desire to connect more people to the internet is well known. Signals Research Group (SRG) published a report assessing how the company's Terragraph initiative performs outside of trial situations. Terragraph is a fixed wireless access platform that uses 60 GHz spectrum. It’s unlicensed, so other applications can use the spectrum, creating interference concerns. It’s also high enough to fall into the millimeter-wave camp, where coverage is limited and performance is degraded in non-line-of-sight conditions. On the other hand, 60 GHz is ideal in many respects because it provides ample bandwidth, and there’s a lot of it. Emil Olbrich, Vice President of Networks at SRG, said he was especially impressed by the work done in the Layer 2 and Layer 3 routing as well as Terragraph's ability to mitigate interference. “Their latency was extremely good," said Olbrich. "Their frame loss was negligible, and jitter wasn’t that much. It met all the requirements of 1564.” So if someone says it’s “fiber-like,” they have some real substance to back that up. If you’re a municipality in the US, for example, that doesn’t want to spend money on spectrum and just wants connectivity, “this is a great way to do that so you don’t have to dig up a street and put fiber in there,” he said.
As military and civilian agencies eye the use of fifth-generation wireless tech, officials representing both agree that a key to success is ensuring interoperability between networks and devices through open standards. So far, the Department of Defense (DOD) has led the government’s effort to trial 5G by offering its bases to telecommunications companies as testing grounds for the technology. Early versions of telecommunications networks lacked the ability for devices to be used across different companies’ networks; that’s a scenario officials want to avoid, and to do so both government officials and private sector companies must work together to ensure open standards. “Today you don’t need to think, ‘am I with an AT&T phone in a Verizon network or a T Mobile phone in an AT&T network,'” said Eric Burger, a research professor and technical program director at the Next G Alliance. “It all just works.”
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) established the Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth (OICG) and the Office of Minority Broadband Initiatives (OMBI). The changes to NTIA’s organizational structure were adopted on August 13, 2021, in a new Department Organization Order (DOO), which replaced a previous DOO dated September 2012.
- The establishment of the Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth fulfills requirements of the ACCESS BROADBAND Act, enacted into law as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. The OICG will be led by Douglas Kinkoph, who has served as the head of NTIA’s broadband program since 2015. The OICG will house all broadband activities at NTIA, including three active broadband grant programs: the Broadband Infrastructure Program, the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, and the Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program. The office will also house BroadbandUSA, which provides community outreach, support for state leaders, technical assistance, and helps coordinate federal broadband resources and programs.
- The establishment of the Office of Minority Broadband Initiatives codifies NTIA’s work on its Minority Broadband Initiative since 2018. The OMBI, established within the OICG, fulfills requirements of the Connecting Minority Communities provisions enacted into law as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. The office will continue NTIA’s efforts to collaborate with federal agencies; state, local and tribal governments; Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions; and any interested stakeholders to promote initiatives related to expanding connectivity and digital opportunities for anchor communities.
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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