Thursday, September 9, 2021
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NTIA Announces $5 Billion in Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program Requests
Infrastructure
Digital Inclusion
Tribal Broadband
Telehealth
Connectivity
Wireless
Satellite
Platforms/Social Media
Policymakers
Privacy
Infrastructure
Research indicates that people living in rural areas struggle to obtain broadband connections mainly because of the low density of housing. Fewer people living in a community, especially over large swaths of land, translates into higher costs to build and maintain the most common broadband technologies. This white paper on the rural broadband industry was researched and written by Doug Dawson, President of CCG Consulting, a telecommunications consulting firm that works with rural communities and providers. In the report, Dawson describes the providers serving the rural broadband market, the challenges they face, and how high-speed networks are funded in rural areas. He also explores federal and state efforts to support rural broadband expansion, including funding, programs, and legislation that help defray the costs associated with deployment.
Digital Inclusion
Disconnected and Disregarded: Measuring Latinx Emergency Broadband Benefit Enrollment
The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC)'s policy team came together to attempt to uncover the real impact of the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) program for eligible Latinx households. The NHMC conducted their analysis using 11 states chosen based on their significant Latinx populations: Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas. The NHMC published their findings along with recommendations for federal agencies to boost Latinx enrollment in broadband subsidy programs. Major findings include:
- Of the11 states, New Jersey has the lowest estimated percentage of eligible Latinx households enrolled (2.21 percent) and the worst enrollment rate.
- Nevada had the highest estimated percentage of eligible Latinx households enrolled (8.26 percent) and best enrollment rate.
- Latinx households still fall behind the general population enrollment rate in most states.
- After conducting a Latinx enrollee analysis for Lifeline, they found that like EBB, Lifeline enrollment rates for eligible Latinx households remain low.
Tribal Broadband
NTIA Announces Over $5 Billion in Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program Funding Requests
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that it has received more than 280 applications for the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, for a total of over $5 billion in funding requests. The volume of requests demonstrates the significant need to expand access to and adoption of broadband service on Tribal lands. The NTIA has begun reviewing the applications as part of the $980 million grant program, which was funded by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. Grants will be made available to eligible Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian entities for broadband deployment, digital inclusion, workforce development, telehealth, and distance learning. The program’s 90-day application window closed on Wednesday, Sept. 1. NTIA will thoroughly and objectively review applications according to the criteria provided in the program's Notice of Funding Opportunity.
In community broadband, libraries are considered “anchor institutions.” Like anchor tenants in a mall, libraries and other institutions, such as schools, hospitals and assisted living facilities, all contribute to the financial stability of broadband networks. Libraries drive large numbers of people onto networks. Now they can drive thousands to telehealth through those networks. Libraries are realizing that they can be in the vanguard of transforming health care delivery in urban and rural areas. But telehealth providers must communicate what resources and tools they need libraries to offer. Furthermore, wherever communities and libraries want telehealth delivered, broadband infrastructure must be in place. No broadband, no telehealth. Libraries reach out and touch almost everyone in their communities across the entire economic spectrum, so imagining telehealth capabilities at work is quite exciting. Now is a great time to have a telehealth and broadband vision interlaced with creativity, fortified with the belief that people can make a difference in the battle for health care equity while fighting the good fight for digital equity.
[Craig Settles is president of CJ Speaks, and unites community broadband teams and healthcare stakeholders through telehealth projects that transform healthcare delivery.]
Speedtest by Ookla analyzed how much internet speeds have increased over the past four years, and which countries have seen some of the largest gains. Major findings include:
- The global mean of download speeds improved over the last 12 months on both mobile and fixed broadband to 55.07 Mbps and 107.50 Mbps, respectively, in July 2021.
- Mobile saw an increase of 59.5 percent when comparing July 2020 to July 2021 and fixed broadband saw an increase of 31.9 percent.
- Top 10 rankings for mobile and fixed broadband are somewhat constant from 2019 to 2021, yet each list's leaders are radically different.
- Most of the top 10 countries for either list performed well over the global average for both fixed and mobile broadband overall.
NEC announced it has expanded its collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the areas of global 5G and support for the digital government of Japan. NEC and AWS completed a corporate-level strategic collaboration pact in November 2020, and since then they’ve been developing offerings and strengthening delivery capabilities. NEC said it will now expand this collaboration in the areas of 5G, digital government and hybrid cloud. In 5G, NEC plans to develop an end-to-end offering and provide it globally by combining its own high-performance cloud-native open 5G mobile core, OSS/BSS solutions, local 5G use cases and more, as well as AWS cloud and edge solutions. The Japanese company stated it will accelerate telecommunications carriers’ cloudification of the network and enhance digital transformation for enterprises by deploying 5G-based infrastructure and applications at the network edge. In the area of digital government, NEC has been certified as an AWS Government Competency Partner based on the strategic collaboration that started last year and its achievements in governments to date. NEC plans to further strengthen its relationship with AWS going forward while focusing on developing and providing a menu of offerings to “accelerate the digital transformation for government activities in Japan.”
AT&T is the latest operator to look to the sky to extend the reach of its broadband network by teaming up with OneWeb to serve enterprise and government customers in remote locations outside of its fiber footprint. John Wojewoda, AT&T AVP, stated that while it’s still early days, OneWeb’s service is expected to provide speeds of nearly 200 Mbps. In addition to serving up broadband for enterprise and government customers in hard-to-reach locations, Wojewoda said AT&T can also use this connectivity for cell site backhaul where direct fiber isn’t available, as well as for disaster recovery solutions. AT&T noted that while more than 9 million business customer locations are within 1,000 feet of its fiber network, there are still plenty of remote areas that remain beyond its reach. OneWeb’s in-orbit constellation tallied 288 satellites as of August 2021. It expects to begin delivering connectivity above the 50th parallel by the end of 2021, and plans to grow its constellation to 648 satellites by the end of 2022.
Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan announced that an open meeting of the FTC will be held virtually at 11 am EST on Wednesday, September 15, 2021. The following items will be on the tentative agenda:
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Privacy Breaches by Health Apps and Connected Devices: The FTC will vote on whether to issue a policy statement on the importance of protecting the public from privacy breaches by health apps and other connected devices.
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Non-HSR Reported Acquisitions by Select Technology Platforms: Staff will present some findings from the FTC's inquiry into large technology platforms’ unreported acquisitions, including an analysis of the structure of deals that customarily fly under enforcers’ radar. The public release of the report is subject to a commission vote.
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FTC Procedural Rules Concerning Petitions for Rulemaking: The FTC will vote on putting in place a process to receive public input on rulemaking petitions by external stakeholders.
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2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines: The FTC will vote on whether to rescind the Vertical Merger Guidelines adopted in June 2020 and the Commentary on Vertical Merger Enforcement issued in December 2020.
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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