1. Monthly archive
  2. July 2017

July 2017

How Trump’s infrastructure plan can expand broadband coverage

The Trump Administration’s plan for $1 trillion in infrastructure spending presents an opportunity not only to repair existing roads, bridges, and tunnels, but also to build out broadband internet coverage in rural areas. On July 24, the Center for Technology Innovation hosted a panel discussion at Brookings about how the administration, Congress, and the private sector can work together to address broadband needs of unserved (no access) and underserved (limited access) populations.

The event began with opening remarks from House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), focused on the congressional perspective on broadband infrastructure. To close the access gap, Chairman Blackburn seeks to eliminate regulatory barriers, increase investment in unserved areas, and redraft current Federal Communications Commission maps to more accurately reflect the percent of Americans that lack broadband access. The panelists largely focused on ways the government and private sector can work together to expand broadband internet access.

Pinetops, North Carolina: The Town That Had Free Gigabit Internet

Pinetops' (NC) fight to get municipal broadband demonstrates how far Big Telecom will go to keep its monopoly. The town was finally getting hooked up to high-speed fiber internet that would deliver 1 gigabit per second speeds to homes and businesses across the rural community. But a series of convoluted laws and court decisions created a scenario in which residents of tiny Pinetops (population: 1,300) received some of the fastest internet in the United States for six months—absolutely free.

For Pinetops, that was municipal broadband, where the local government runs its own ISP and delivers it to paying customers, similar to how electricity utilities work. Their provider: the nearby town of Wilson. Wilson is about 20 miles from Pinetops, just across the county line. The small city (population 50,000) has long supplied nearby towns with utilities like water and electricity, so when Wilson launched its municipally-run fiber optic broadband network called Greenlight in 2008, Pinetops was eager to get hooked up. But just as Wilson was preparing to expand the program in 2011, North Carolina passed House Bill 129: the "Level Playing Field" act, which was supported by Big Telecom lobbyists. This put tight restrictions on any town hoping to start its own municipal broadband, and reined in existing systems under the thinking that it was unfair for the government to compete in the open market with private businesses. After the law was passed, Wilson was not allowed to bring high-speed internet to Pinetops.

Foundation Launched To Promote Content Diversity

A diverse group of stakeholders is launching a new foundation to help diverse content creators find distribution. The Creative Thread Foundation is billed as a "a non-profit organization focused on breaking down barriers of entry for underrepresented content creators and those working behind the scenes in media and entertainment."

The coalition was launched in Washington on July 26, with the blessing and support of the Congressional Multicultural Media Caucus chairs Reps Tony Cardenas (D-CA), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), and Judy Chu (D-CA) and with an assist from co-founder and Fusion TV Correspondent Kimberly Brooks. Founding partners, there are over 60 of them, include everyone from Viacom, 21st Century Fox, Disney, Amazon, Fusion, the National Association of Broadcasters and AT&T, to Black Mamas Matter and Green 2.0.

RootMetrics: Mobile performance in the US part 1

To provide you with a complete picture of mobile network performance in the first half of 2017, we’re offering a three-part, complementary series of special reports to show you how the networks fared across the entirety of the United States, within each of the 50 states, and across the 125 most populated metropolitan markets.

Verizon’s performance on the national stage was outstanding in all test categories in the first half of 2017. AT&T, meanwhile, offered strong competition, finishing second in five out of six performance categories and earning a share of the Text RootScore Award with Verizon and Sprint. Sprint showed improvement at the national level, delivering particularly strong text results and earning a share of the United States Text RootScore Award. T-Mobile’s rankings at the national level remained unchanged compared with those in our previous test period.

Rep Doyle asks FCC chair if anything can stop net neutrality rollback

Rep Michael Doyle (D-PA) accused Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai of pursuing an agenda that harms both consumers and small businesses. "Chairman Pai, in the time that you have been head of this agency, we have seen an agenda that is anti-consumer, anti-small business, anti-competition, anti-innovation, and anti-opportunity," Rep Doyle said during an FCC oversight hearing held by the House Communications Subcommittee. Rep Doyle pointed to several of Chairman Pai’s decisions, including ending a net neutrality investigation into what Rep Doyle called "anti-competitive zero-rating practices" by AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

Doyle also questioned whether anything would stop Pai's Republican majority from rolling back net neutrality rules and the classification of ISPs as common carriers. Doyle asked Pai, "what kind of comment would cause you to change your mind?" Chairman Pai responded, "economic analysis that shows credibly that there's infrastructure investment that has increased dramatically" since the net neutrality rules went into effect. Chairman Pai said he also would take evidence seriously if it shows that the overall economy would suffer from a net neutrality rollback or that startups and consumers can't thrive without the existing rules.

Congressional Progressive Caucus to Federal Communications Commission: What Are You Hiding?

Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chairs Rep Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) and Mark Pocan (D-WI) respond to the Federal Communications Commission’s failure to release 47,000 public complaints that could show the American public's desire to keep the internet open and free. The comment period on a new FCC proposal to undo net neutrality was closed on July 17. National Hispanic Media Coalition had requested the comment deadline be extended until complaints against internet service providers (ISPs) were made public.

“The fact that 47,000 complaints were filed against internet providers since the rules on net neutrality went into place shows an enormous need for these consumer protections. The FCC’s failure, so far, to comply with the FOIA request gives the appearance that they would rather bury these complaints than admit that the current rules are necessary...Internet access can no longer be considered a luxury commodity for the wealthy. The rules governing the internet must ensure it remains free and open and unfortunately President Trump’s new FCC commissioner is moving in the exact opposite direction while ignoring the evidence.”

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