Thursday, September 19, 2024
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Biden-Harris Administration Approves Nebraska’s “Internet for All” Initial Proposal
How To Build a Connected Future: Prioritizing Accuracy, Affordability, and Workforce Development
What We Can Learn From the Low-Cost Option That Was, Then Wasn’t, Then Was Again
Broadband Funding
State and Local
Wireless/Spectrum
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Platforms/Social Media
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Broadband Funding
Blair Levin, non-resident senior fellow with The Brookings Institution, has some opinions about the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. He thinks it’s being run a lot better than the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). Levin recently testified at a House subcommittee hearing where Republican Congresspeople tried to slam the BEAD program. He contrasted BEAD with the RDOF program, which set up a reverse auction to award broadband grants under the former Republican Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai. Levin said, “RDOF was a disaster.” Why? He noted the auction was rushed, using “a crappy map,” so that then-President Trump could brag about broadband deployment under his watch. But Congress, during the Biden Administration, decided that for BEAD, the FCC needed to get the U.S. broadband map in decent shape before money was granted. And that’s caused the biggest delay in the program. So, while the process of cleaning up the FCC’s broadband map has taken quite a bit of time since the BEAD program began, it was worth the effort, according to Levin.
Few people dispute the vital importance of affordability in closing the digital divide. A 2021 Pew Research Center survey found that nearly half of all people without broadband cited cost as a barrier, with 20 percent listing cost as the primary reason for not subscribing to broadband service. Research from EducationSuperHighway pegged that number even higher, estimating that lack of affordability explained about two thirds of the remaining digital divide in the country. As the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program steams ahead, questions about affordability have come to the fore. BEAD’s low-cost plan requirement sought to ease such concerns about affordability. But, an unusually public disagreement between Virginia and the federal agency administering BEAD has made the low-cost requirement a hot topic.
A common restaurant principle—“Accuracy over speed”—should guide our country’s broadband funding initiatives, particularly the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, both now and in the future. Recently, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing titled, “From Introduction to Implementation: A BEAD Program Progress Report,” and while some lines of questioning seemed to grasp at straws, there were important points that should be revisited in future hearings. Policymakers must keep three key considerations in mind in the months ahead: 1) the precision at which broadband is deployed will determine the long-term success of this massive investment, 2) broadband access without affordability is not real access, and 3) if we invest in workforce development, we can drive technological and economic growth.
The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved Nebraska’s Initial Proposal for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris Administration’s “Internet for All” initiative. This approval enables Nebraska to request access to funding and begin implementation of the BEAD program. Nebraska was allocated over $405 million to deploy or upgrade high-speed Internet networks to ensure that everyone has access to reliable, affordable, high-speed Internet service.
In 2022, the Berks County (PA) commissioners found out their county, like many other counties across the country, was facing a digital divide. There was a widening, increasingly troublesome gap between those with Internet access and the skills to use it and those without. That realization was laid bare in a study conducted by an independent contractor that took a look at broadband access and availability. Seeing a need for things to change, they committed $6.3 million to addressing the challenges faced by the County.
Tarana Wireless is making more inroads with the US cable industry, announcing that three operators are using its platform to deploy fixed wireless access (FWA) services for a variety of use cases. Following a partnership with Mediacom Communications announced in April 2024, Tarana confirmed that Cox Communications and Midco are also adopting its next-generation fixed wireless access (ngFWA) technology. Cox is working with Tarana for a field pilot that taps into both licensed and unlicensed spectrum. Midco, meanwhile, is using Tarana's platform in support of 11 Connect America Fund (CAF) buildouts where the terrain makes it challenging to use fiber and "legacy" FWA technologies.
Starlink has added a $100 “congestion charge” to certain new subscribers of their Residential Services. The one-time fee applies to new service plans within areas of “network congestion.” The Support section of the Starlink website provides details of the new charge. “In areas with network congestion, there is an additional one-time charge to purchase Starlink Residential services. This fee will only apply if you are purchasing or activating a new service plan. If you change your Service address or Service Plan at a later date, you may be charged the congestion fee,” the post reads. The caveats of the new congestion charge are further clarified on Starlink’s website: “Our intention is to no longer charge this fee to new customers as soon as network capacity improves. If you’re not satisfied with Starlink and return it within the 30-day return window, the charge will be refunded.”
Platforms/Social Media
California Passes Election ‘Deepfake’ Laws, Forcing Social Media Companies to Take Action
California will now require social media companies to moderate the spread of election-related impersonations powered by artificial intelligence, known as “deepfakes,” after Gov Gavin Newsom (D-CA) signed three new laws on the subject on September 17. The three laws, including a first-of-its-kind law that imposes a new requirement on social media platforms, largely deal with banning or labeling deepfakes. Only one of the laws will take effect in time to affect the 2024 presidential election, but the trio could offer a road map for regulators across the country who are attempting to slow the spread of the manipulative content powered by artificial intelligence. The laws are expected to face legal challenges from social media companies or groups focusing on free speech rights.
T-Mobile expects to pass between 12 million and 15 million more households with fiber by 2030 through its fiber partnerships, company executives told attendees at a September 18 T-Mobile investor event. The company’s fiber partnerships include a joint venture with investment firm EQT that will acquire Lumos and a joint venture with KKR to acquire Metronet. Unsurprisingly, T-Mobile sees strong potential to convert customers who currently use the company’s fixed wireless service to fiber. “We think there are synergies with our 5G fixed wireless customer base in markets where we’re launching fiber,” said Mike Katz, T-Mobile president of marketing strategy and products.
Google has won an appeal against a €1.5 billion competition fine from the European Commission in a victory for the Big Tech group as it comes under growing scrutiny from Brussels regulators. The European Union’s General Court said that while it accepted “most of the commission’s assessments” that the company had used its dominant position to block rival online advertisers, it annulled the hefty fine levied against Google in the case. When launching the action against Google in 2019, Margrethe Vestager, the bloc’s competition chief, said that the search giant had imposed anti-competitive restrictions on third-party websites for a decade between 2006 and 2016. However, the Luxembourg-based General Court found that the commission, the EU’s executive arm, had failed “to take into account all the relevant circumstances in its assessment of the duration of the contractual clauses that it had found to be unfair”.
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), Grace Tepper (grace AT benton DOT org), and Zoe Walker (zwalker AT benton DOT org) — we welcome your comments.
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