May 2015

Public Knowledge Statement on FCC’s Plan to Extend Lifeline to Broadband

People increasingly depend on the Internet for access to jobs, education, news, services, communications, and everything else under the sun. Employers assume prospective employees have it and school systems assume their students can access materials online. In times of emergency, we depend on broadband to provide life-saving information and to keep us in touch with our loved ones. We no longer need to debate if broadband is essential to the lives and well-being of all Americans, for it has become obvious from the experience of our daily lives. The proposal to ‘reboot’ the Lifeline program to include broadband subsidies for our most poor and vulnerable follows in a long, bipartisan tradition of ensuring that all Americans have access to basic communications services. The Federal Communications Commission should move quickly to adopt this proposal as the first step of upgrading our national communications lifeline for the digital age.

NHMC Supports FCC Lifeline Modernization, A Big Step In The Right Direction To Close Digital Divide

I know from personal experience that Lifeline is a vital pathway out of poverty for millions of Americans. It is the only federal program that directly addresses the affordability of communications services for the poor. According to one recent count, only 53 percent of American Latinos, and 38 percent of Spanish-dominant American Latinos, have home broadband access. Low income levels are directly correlated to low broadband adoption, and defraying the cost will eliminate one of the foremost barriers to broadband adoption.

Universal broadband access and adoption is becoming increasingly important. For instance, without it we are unable to educate our nation’s students. According to recent statistics, nearly 100 percent of high school students reported needing broadband to complete homework assignments. Yet 5 million US households with school age children don’t have access at home. Our students need the tools to succeed. We must immediately address this educational inequality. This is crucial to ensuring future generations are able to fully participate in our 21st century society and economy. I applaud Chairman Wheeler for starting a process to modernize and refocus Lifeline, a necessary step to ensuring the program can become an effective bridge across the digital divide. And I cannot say enough to fully highlight the leadership of Commissioners Clyburn and Rosenworcel in recognizing the potential of Lifeline, and being at the cutting edge of its future.

Free Press Welcomes Proposed Lifeline Reforms, Calls for Broader Effort to Close the Digital Divide

The Federal Communications Commission is right to ask how it can modernize its low-income telephone-subsidy program to reflect the central role the Internet plays in our daily lives. For 30 years, our nation’s most vulnerable communities have relied on Lifeline to connect with loved ones, access medical care and seek job opportunities. Today, participating meaningfully in our society and economy means getting online.

Internet access must not be reserved only for those who can afford the high prices charged by cable and telephone giants. But getting all Americans online isn’t a challenge just one agency can address. Policymakers at every level -- from the White House and Congress to local school boards -- need to explore the most effective and efficient ways to connect people, and especially those in disadvantaged communities. While the FCC’s Lifeline program is one way to help make universal access a reality, we need to clear away other obstacles to closing the digital divide -- without placing too much of the financial burden of paying for those efforts on the very same communities intended to benefit from them. Access to high-speed services isn't a luxury. It's a proven and essential catalyst for economic growth, increased political participation and other social benefits that should be available to everyone. But we also need to ensure that Universal Service Fund benefits flow to users, not just the bottom lines of the few phone and cable companies that dominate US broadband access. We need to prioritize the people stuck on the wrong side of the digital divide and create policy solutions that serve them first.

Request for Information Regarding Online Platforms To Promote Federal Science and Technology Facilities, Products, and Services

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and other member laboratories of the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) offer a variety of specialized scientific and technical facilities, products, and services to the public, including access to instrumentation, reference materials, software, and calibrations. Access to such services is provided in a variety of ways, and may require the payment of fees or other costs and/or an application or agreement. NIST and other members of the FLC request information from the public regarding recommendations for online platforms that can broaden awareness and make it easier for the public to search for, locate, learn about, and obtain access to these facilities, products, and services. The information received in response to this RFI will be provided by NIST to various interagency groups for consideration and used to publicize various federal facilities and resources. Comments must be received by 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on June 29, 2015.

Altice owner says it wasn't ready for Time Warner Cable deal

Patrick Drahi, the billionaire owner of European telecommunications group Altice, said he didn't bid for Time Warner Cable because his company lacked management resources to digest such a big deal in a market it had only recently entered. "I didn't follow up on the exchanges we had on Time Warner Cable (TWC) that were mentioned in the media because we were not ready," Drahi told a French parliamentary hearing on May 28.

The 51-year-old Franco-Israeli businessman met with TWC chief executive Robert Marcus, but decided not to move ahead despite having lined up French and foreign banks willing to finance the deal. Instead, US number three cable group Charter Communications, backed by Drahi's mentor turned rival, cable tycoon John Malone, agreed to buy number two TWC for $56 billion. Drahi defended his decision saying the previously announced purchase of US regional cable firm Suddenlink Communications for $9.1 billion was a "modest" way for Altice to enter the US market and test its ability there. A deal for TWC would have been a step too far, too fast, Drahi said, quadrupling the number of US employees of Altice companies to nearly 120,000 in a market it barely knew.

Here’s what the $56 billion Charter and Time Warner Cable merger is really about

[Commentary] The proposed $56.7 billion marriage of Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable is all about broadband. People are watching less TV as they increasingly stream video from online services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. So the companies that for years have made money through TV subscriptions are battling over the pipes that you depend on for streaming video online. If the merger is approved by regulators, the new company, which would be made up of Charter, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks -- the last of which Charter said in March it would acquire for more than $10 billion -- would become the second largest cable company in the country, just after Comcast. And the new company would control nearly 30 percent of the US broadband market, according to MoffettNathanson, a media and telecommunications research firm.

Because there's little real competition in broadband, cable companies could simply raise the price of that subscription to offset any revenue declines they have from people cutting the cord. As Zachary Seward of Quartz points out, broadband Internet is a major growth area for cable companies, and the Charter-Time Warner merger would be a way to capitalize on that. And you'd likely have no other choice than to pay up.

What a Combined Charter, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Footprint Would Look Like

The Charter-Time Warner Cable-Bright House Networks deal would create a company second in size to only Comcast among cable operators. Charter is trying to avoid the fate of the announced merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable -- the No. 1 and 2 cable and broadband providers -- which fell apart in the face of strong reservations about how much control the combined company would have over the online video market. How big is a combined Charter, Time Warner Cable and Bright House footprint? According to data from GeoResults, a telecommunications database and consulting firm, the additions would give Charter, which is largely based in low-population areas, a stronger foothold in the populous Northeast.

5 reasons your Internet bill keeps climbing

Charter Communications' $55 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable (TWC) would give the merged company roughly a quarter of the burgeoning broadband market. But removing one more major competitor from the scene may do less for consumers, who have seen their bills for Internet service keep climbing in recent years. According to a Quartz analysis of public filings from Time Warner Cable, the country's second-largest cable provider, average monthly paid-TV costs have gone up only a dollar to $76.08 over the last two years. By contrast, over the same period the average cost of broadband has shot up 21 percent to $47.30 per month. Why is Internet service is getting more expensive, especially as cost of transmitting data online continues to plummet? There are five reasons your broadband bid keeps climbing:

Wall Street. Big investors are pushing Internet service providers, such as cable and telecommunications companies, to boost profits. That's not easy in a mature industry like cable. While demand for cable is leveling off, it's rising for broadband services, giving providers room to raise prices.
Cord-cutting. Cable companies are struggling to grow as more people drop paid-TV service in favor of streaming video over the Internet.
Monopolies. Major Internet service providers generally work as monopolies in service areas.
Video streaming. The growth in video streaming is not only reducing traditional and cable TV revenue -- it's also boosting the traffic loan on telecom networks.
Upselling. Like other telecommunications service providers, cable companies commonly try to lure customers to spring for pricier packages.

Google lays out its ambitions for your phone, your home, your car and your wallet

Google made clear that it's still fighting a multifront war against its old rival, Apple -- and that the battles are as heated as ever. Top Google executives took to a San Francisco (CA) to tout their agenda for the next year to a crowd of excited developers. In a series of reveals, Google sketched out ambitious plans to challenge Apple's ever-expanding reach on mobile devices by bringing the Android mobile operating system into just about everything we use -- from watches to televisions to cars. "We are taking computing beyond mobile," said Sundar Pichai, Google's senior vice president of products, specifically touting the launch of Android Auto, an in-car Android system that's now available on Hyundai, General Motors and other major car brands.

In the home, Google is introducing a new lightweight operating system, Brillo, for smart appliances such as thermostats, security systems and smart locks. That ubiquity is important for Google and Apple as more everyday objects become "smart," or capable of connecting to the Internet. That trend that carries the two companies' bitter gadget rivalry far beyond the smartphone, as they try to match each other feature-for-feature. Apple is expected to release home hub software at its own developers conference, which will take place at the same convention center next week. Google also took a decisive stand against Apple in the realm of mobile payments, introducing its own "Android Pay" system, which will be built into the operating system to allow users to pay for items by tapping their smartphones at the register. Google is also adding support for fingerprint authentication for all Android phones, a key feature of Apple's competing Apple Pay program.

Google Offers Users More Control Over Sharing Data with Android Apps

Google unveiled a new way for users of Android mobile devices to select what information they want to share with apps, in an effort to be more transparent about the user data being collected. Under the new system, users will be able to download an app without agreeing to share multiple types of data, which can include their location, contacts or images from the phone’s camera. Until now, Android users had to agree to all the permissions an app sought in order to download the app.

Google said it expects the change will prompt developers to request fewer types of data, or none, when an app is first downloaded. It expects more apps to seek permission for specific types of data, such as location, when it’s needed. Users will be able to decline those requests, though the app may be less useful. The move will bring Android closer to the way Apple devices request user permission. On Apple’s iOS mobile-operating system, there are no permissions when apps are installed. Apps later ask to access data such as photos or locations when users tap those features. Google hopes its changes, championed by product chief Sundar Pichai, will help users can make more informed decisions, and ultimately, download more apps.

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