What's on the agenda for policymakers.
Agenda
The three challenges of AI regulation
The drumbeat of artificial intelligence (AI) corporate chieftains calling for government regulation of their activities is mounting. As Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Durbin (D-IL) observed, it is “historic” to have “people representing large corporations… come before us and plead with us to regulate them.” There are three challenges for AI oversight: dealing with the velocity of AI developments, parsing the components of what to regulate, and determining
Aerial fiber is likely to play big role in BEAD deployments
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will announce the allotment of Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funds to the US states and territories in June 2023. And NTIA has indicated it wants areas that are unserved with broadband to receive the funds first. Jonathan Chambers, a partner with the fiber construction company Conexon, says that in terms of deploying fiber to unserved rural areas, deployments are going to be mostly aerial deployments as opposed to trenched deployments.
Is the government’s ACP ‘Week of Action’ a doomed effort?
The US Department of Education, Federal Communications Commission, non-profit group Civic Nation, and broadband operators joined hands to launch a “Week of Action” designed to boost sign-ups for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP).
Comcast Complains FCC Broadband Nutrition Label Shackles It With ‘Unnecessarily Onerous Burden’
Comcast is pushing back on a Federal Communications Commission order that will require internet service providers to provide their customers with “broadband nutrition labels” indicating such things as what kind of speed they're getting and what fees they're paying.
Frontier Plans to Kill Copper
Frontier CEO Nick Jeffery said that the company believes it will be out of the copper business within five years. At the end of the first quarter of 2023, Frontier still had 9.9 million copper passings compared to 5.5 million fiber passings.
At this meeting, the Task Force will discuss executive summary details, provide updates on the progress of their respective reports, and continue to discuss strategies to advance broadband deployment on agricultural land and promote precision agriculture.
This agenda may be modified at the discretion of the Task Force Chair and the Designated Federal Officer.
European Parliament takes steps towards regulation of artificial intelligence
The European Parliament adopted its negotiating position on the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act with 499 votes in favour, 28 against and 93 abstentions ahead of talks with EU member states on the final shape of the law.
Broadband Associations Share ReConnect Wish List for Farm Bill Anticipated by September 2023
If provider associations are successful in their advocacy, the next Farm Bill will end the need for ReConnect broadband funding to be reappropriated every year. The ReConnect program covers some of the costs of deploying broadband to unserved areas. Farm bills are an every-five-year occurrence and the current bill is due to expire later in 2023. Fortunately, the farm bill typically has bipartisan support and usually passes both chambers, noted NTCA (The Rural Broadband Association) Director o