Agenda

What's on the agenda for policymakers.

FCC Plans Additional ACP Awareness Grants

Half of all households eligible to participate in the Affordable Connectivity Program are unaware of the benefit. That's too many households. A January 2023 survey of low-income households found that 37 percent of eligible households that knew little about ACP said they would be likely to apply with more information and 31 percent said they would be likely to apply if they knew whether they qualified.

TikTok faces uncertain future after 5-hour congressional thrashing

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew tried to allay mounting national security concerns about the Chinese-owned video app but encountered open hostility in his first appearance before Congress, a five-hour thrashing that underscored the popular app’s precarious future in the United States. Lawmakers from both parties sought to tie Chew personally to the Chinese Communist Party, frequently interrupted him and called him “evasive.” While he p

Here’s where Verizon is building new Fios connections

Verizon is planning to build 500,000 new Fios passings in 2023 as it works to increase its overall footprint to 18 million locations. The company is “actively building” in all nine of the states where it already offers Fios service. Verizon has recently laid out plans to pass more than 70,000 new locations in Massachusetts, nearly 2,000 in Delaware, 1,500 in upstate New York, and 349 in Virginia.

'Buy America' restrictions could bog down BEAD

Strict "Buy America" requirements for government subsidy programs such as BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment) threaten to significantly delay broadband network rollouts in rural areas if flexible waivers on those restrictions are not included, several industry organizations and industry watchers are warning. The Buy America policy, if strictly enforced, "could cause significant delays in actual deployments such that, for all practical purposes, it will cease to be relevant to the [broadband providers] or the communities the federal government sought to assist," New Street Resear

When Will Affordable Connectivity Program Funding Run Out?

On June 24, 2022, I wrote an Op-Ed urging policymakers to fully fund the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). I predicted that funding for the ACP is likely to run out by mid-2024 and called for action at the state and federal levels to extend that funding. We’ve had some follow-up questions on how we came up with our projections. The four assumptions used to model our projections are as follows:

Sponsor: 

Oregon Broadband Office

Date: 
Thu, 03/30/2023 - 10:00 to 12:00
Sponsor: 

Free State Foundation

Date: 
Tue, 03/28/2023 - 09:00 to 14:30

Discussions about Broadband Deployment and Adoption Strategies; Net Neutrality or Net Neutering; Spectrum Policy and 5G; Privacy Regulation and Data Security; The FCC, NTIA, and FTC; Free Speech, Cancel Culture and Constitutional Culture.



House Commerce GOP Prepare Latest Smackdown of Big Tech

The House Commerce Committee’s Republican leadership has scheduled the latest Big Tech beating on Capitol Hill and they have signaled it will be filled with Republican red-meat issues. The official beating will commence on March 28 at 10:30 a.m., but it has already begun. Unlike a recent Senate Judiciary Committee subcommittee hearing that had bipartisan backing, the House hearing notice is filled with partisan shots. In a joint statement, House Commerce Chair Cathy Mc

Verizon expands high-speed internet across Delaware

Verizon is bringing more choices for home and business internet to customers in Delaware as it deploys high-speed broadband internet service across the state.

Sponsor: 

House Commerce Committee

Date: 
Thu, 03/23/2023 - 15:00

Legislation to be considered includes: