Policymakers

There are a large number of wireless and wired telecommunications trade associations; so many that it can be hard to keep track. Fierce Telecom created this list of the most well-known trade groups in the industry.

The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) seeks nominations for the following Board member positions on the Board of Directors of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) listed below for a three-year term:

The Federal Communications Commission is seeking nominations for membership on the Technological Advisory Council (TAC). Following consultation with the General Services Administration, the FCC anticipates renewing the charter of the TAC, for a period of two (2) years starting on or about September 7, 2023.

A group of prominent media, tech and research executives have raised nearly $3 million to launch an independent policy research center focused on addressing global internet issues, such as disinformation, algorithmic accountability, and the economic health of the news industry. While the Center for News, Technology & Innovation (CNTI) is not designed to lobby or advocate on behalf of specific policy proposals, it does hope to influence future internet policy toward maintaining an open internet and an independent press.

Permitting has long been the bane of broadband deployments across the country, but a little-known federal council is working to change that.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced the FCC's intent to recharter the Precision Agriculture Connectivity Task Force for its third and final term, calling on the four working groups to examine the impact of connectivity in meeting the production and sustainability challenges facing agricultural and food systems. In addition, Chairwoman Rosenworcel called for representatives from diverse and historically underrepresented communities, including socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, to apply for membership to the Task Force and its working groups.

It has been more than one month since the Senate Commerce Committee favorably reported the nomination of Anna Gomez to fill the fifth, and vacant, seat on the Federal Communications Commission.

Austin Bonner has been promoted to Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Policy. The position builds on her current role at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where she focused on a range of telecommunications issues.

In 2016, representatives from the northern region of Missouri met in Brookfield to talk about the issues they were facing.  Stakeholders of all kinds—economic developers, USDA employees, elected officials, county commissioners, and mayors—from every county north of I-70 complained bitterly about everything their communities were going without. As the meeting progressed, five topics were written on a board, five ways to find solutions to these communities’ needs. Broadband was listed as number one. The attendees never got to number two.

For the city of Albuquerque (NM), providing high-quality and affordable internet is a priority. The majority of households are connected, but that doesn’t mean everybody that needs it has it and it doesn’t mean it’s affordable or reliable. Albuquerque needs more competition, more providers, better infrastructure to fill in the gaps and more affordable options. What the broadband office is dong to fill in those gaps is: