1. Monthly archive
  2. March 2021

March 2021

Net Neutrality Scramble Spells Fights to Come

The Biden administration and California attorney general’s office are now trying to hash out how to resolve lingering uncertainty about the operation of a telehealth app called VA Video Connect. The federal Veterans Affairs Department raised concerns about the app’s future because wireless carriers subsidize its data usage costs for veterans in ways that a new California net neutrality law forbids (a situation, ISPs say, that could imperil offerings beyond just California).

FCC's Spending Plan for the Funds from the CARES Act and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021

A spending plan from the Federal Communications Commission in accordance with section 15011(b)(1)(B) of the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), Pub. L. No 116-136, as amended by Title VIII of Division O of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, Pub. L. No. 116-260. The requirement in section 15011 of the CARES Act states that each agency shall submit to the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee a plan describing how the agency will use its covered funds.

Sponsor: 

Competitive Carriers Association

Date: 
Tue, 03/30/2021 - 10:00 to Wed, 03/31/2021 - 14:45

The Emergency Broadband Benefit cannot be overlooked

Baltimore City has a digital divide. COVID didn’t create this; rather, our digital divide is an outgrowth of pre-existing disparities, exacerbated by a global pandemic. The result is that Black and Latinx communities in our city are disproportionately harmed by both the COVID-19 virus and the economic recession.

You’ve Been Served: Defining Broadband as 100/100 is not 100

The pandemic has caused the U.S. to take seriously the question of how to make sure all residents have broadband access for remote learning, telehealth, government services, work, job training, and other activities necessary to participate fully in society. Unfortunately, the calls to define broadband as a connection offering symmetric, 100 Mbps download and 100 Mbps upload bandwidth (100/100) are arbitrary, with no evidence supporting these numbers. Every application commonly used for key services, as well as popular entertainment streaming services, rely on far less than 100 Mbps.

Cowen: Telcos' fiber footprint may cover 68 million US homes by 2025

The demand for better broadband connectivity is driving many telecommunications operators to make a big push to expand their fiber footprints. According to a report from financial analysts at Cowen, in 2021 telecom operators, led by AT&T, are expected to expand fiber to 5 million more homes, bringing the total homes passed in the US to approximately 42 million. The firm estimates that by 2025 that number could increase to 68 million homes passed with fiber, which means fiber would have a penetration rate of more than 50% in the US. AT&T is at the forefront of the fiber push.

Communities Responding to Natural Disasters Through Network Resilience

As local governments begin to look at the communications networks present in their communities, they must not only focus on how to expand them so that all their citizens are connected but develop strategies to ensure that they remain operational under the most stressful conditions. During a natural disaster, cellular and broadband connections are used to get weather updates, procure information regarding evacuations, shelter in place orders, or other governmental alerts that are intended to keep citizens appraised of the current situation.

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