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  2. January 2020

January 2020

Creating an Affordability Agenda

Cost is the primary reason that people do not subscribe to broadband. Current research suggests that low-income people can only afford to pay about $10 per month for broadband. One set of participants told researchers that affording $20 per month would be difficult; even at $10-15/month, low-income households are making tough decisions about paying for internet access vs utility bills (such as phone and electricity) and even the cost of food. To meet the challenge of providing fixed broadband at roughly $10 per month requires implementation of a variety of strategies.

Concerns with Broadband Deployment Report

Public Knowledge, Common Cause, New America’s Open Technology Institute, et al. met with Federal Communications Commission Wireline Competition Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics staff on January 16, 2020, to express concern regarding the methodology, analysis, and conclusions in the Fifteenth Broadband Deployment Report Notice of Inquiry. They disagreed with the FCC’s conclusions in its two prior broadband deployment reports that broadband is being deployed to all Americans in a timely fashion.

FCC Chairman Pai visits Marietta, Ohio and touts broadband fund

Rep Bill Johnson (R-OH), Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, and local dignitaries met to discuss the importance of broadband access for Southeastern Ohio’s rural communities. In Marietta (OH), Chairman Pai outlined the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) at the roundtable. He said the RDOF would be divided into two phases. Phase 1 will cost $16 billion and will target areas with no broadband access. He said part of phase 2 will be data collection. “We’ll collect information from providers as a map may show an area has service, but they don’t in reality,” he explained.

Rebooting Internet Freedom

Ten years ago, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s landmark speech on internet freedom elevated the promotion of a free and open global internet to a key US foreign policy priority. A decade later, online freedom across the world has declined steadily—including, recently, in America. The new decade represents an opportunity to reverse this trend.

House Members Question FCC Plans that Undermine the Development and Deployment of Safety Critical Technology

House Transportation Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-MO), and 36 Members of the committee sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission to raise serious concerns with the FCC’s plan to redirect more than half the 5.9 GHz spectrum band. In December 2019, the FCC proposed to reallocate more than half of the 5.9 GHz radio frequency band (or Safety Band) to unlicensed operations, such as Wi-Fi.

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