Internet/Broadband

Microsoft met with Federal Communications Commissioner Starks’ legal advisor on March 11, 2019, to discuss broadband mapping. Microsoft asserted the FCC’s broadband availability data appears to overstate the extent to which broadband is actually available throughout the nation. Microsoft suggested the FCC’s effort to accurately measure broadband could be improved by drawing on the FCC’s subscription data, along with other broadband data sets from third parties such as Microsoft, to complement survey data submitted under the current rules.

Vantage Point Solutions (VPS) met with the Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau staff on March 14, 2019 to discuss Form 477 broadband data. VPS said broadband providers need an opportunity to analyze Form 477 reports to identify potential errors and correct them before the FCC makes key decisions on the 477 data, like Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM) II offers.

With high-speed internet access hard to find in South Carolina’s rural and high-poverty areas, some public libraries are trying something new: letting patrons check out free wireless hotspots that can connect to the internet just about anywhere. Public libraries are letting patrons check out personal Wi-Fi devices.

I'd like to give a brief high-level overview of the Federal Communications Commission's priorities and activities since I became Chairman in January 2017. In 2019, if you can’t get online, the field is tilted against you—whether you’re a student, entrepreneur, a farmer, or someone with a chronic healthcare issue. To highlight this digital divide, I’ve made it a point to get out of Washington (DC) whenever I can. I’ve seen firsthand the ways that digital technologies are transforming communities.

Federal Communications Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said the “rosy picture” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai gave on broadband access needs to be reworked before the agency votes on its annual deployment report. Chairman Pai first teased the report in Feb 2019, saying he’d circulated it to his fellow commissioners and hoped to get a vote on it soon (commissioners can vote in favor of adopting the annual report or can dissent if they disagree with its findings).

A Q&A with House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA).

We have had what appears to be the world’s most expensive and ineffective universal service program. Until now. The Federal Communications Commission is taking significant steps to dismantle the traditional system and replace it with something world class. In 2018, the FCC launched a new approach that uses a reverse auction to force companies to compete for subsidies. A reverse auction begins with a maximum subsidy the FCC is willing to pay for someone to expand broadband service in a rural area. Companies compete by bidding the amount down.

The state of Vermont has agreed to suspend enforcement of its network neutrality law pending the outcome of a lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission. In Oct, the nation's largest broadband industry lobby groups sued VT in a US District Court to stop a state law that requires Internet service providers to follow net neutrality principles in order to qualify for government contracts.

A collaboration of three national rural nonprofits hopes to create a more accurate picture for researchers and advocates to use to see how their communities measure up. The TestIT smartphone app invites rural residents to participate in the effort, identifying current broadband speed and service gaps in underserved communities.

It’s been almost exactly a year since news broke that Facebook had allowed the personal data of tens of millions of users to be shared with Cambridge Analytica, a consulting company affiliated with Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. That revelation sparked an investigation by the Justice Department into the company's data-sharing practices, which has broadened to include a grand jury.