1. Monthly archive
  2. October 2021

October 2021

Emergency Connectivity Fund: The Case for Flexibility and More Money

Congress took a significant step toward solving the digital divide when it created the Emergency Connectivity Fund in the spring of 2021, appropriating over $7 billion for schools and libraries to connect learners to broadband off campus. Interviews with nearly a dozen Emergency Connectivity Fund applicants reveal that, while there is room for improvement, the program as a whole seems to be working. The FCC has approved applications both large and small in almost every state in the country.

'Untidy' confirmation process likely as President Biden nominates FCC commissioners

President Joe Biden is ready to fill some key vacancies at the Federal Communications Commission. The White House has nominated current Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel for permanent chair of the agency and Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at Benton Institute for Broadband & Society] to sit as the third Democratic commissioner on the FCC. The nominations are not a surprise in the telecom world according to Blair Levin of New Street Research. Senate confirmations for the picks are still needed.

USDA’s new ReConnect broadband grant rules dramatically expand eligible areas and effectively redefine broadband

With the release of a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA), the US Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) has made important changes for Round 3 of its ReConnect Program. RUS has included a preference for local governments, non-profits, and cooperatives as applicants and added additional points to those applications. Further, RUS is expanding eligible areas beyond the FCC’s 25/3 definition of broadband.

Comcast reels in 300 thousand broadband subscribers as growth slows

Comcast raked in 300,000 broadband net additions in Q3 2021, a figure that was less than half the number it added in 2020 and lower than the pre-pandemic gain it posted in the comparable period of 2019. The operator added 633,000 subscribers during the pandemic in Q3 2020 and 379,000 broadband customers in Q3 2019. Comcast CFO Michael Cavanagh previously warned that the operator expected net additions to slow in Q3.

Facebook to Rebrand Company as Meta in Focus on Metaverse

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company would change its name to Meta to reflect growth opportunities beyond its namesake social-media platform in online digital realms known as the metaverse. “Over time I hope our company will be seen as a metaverse company,” Zuckerberg said. “We’ve gone from desktop to web to phones, from text to photos to video, but this isn’t the end of the line.

Industry Group Looks to Prompt More Midband Spectrum Sharing from Department of Defense

The National Spectrum Consortium, made up of hundreds of companies with a vested interest in freeing up more wireless spectrum, has launched an effort to work with the government to do just that. The consortium has launched the “Partnering to Advance Trusted and Holistic Spectrum Solutions (PATHSS) Task Group,” whose goal is to collaborate with the Department of Defense to find more midband to share.

Phoenix Center Releases Study Assessing the Accuracy of FCC Form 477 Broadband Availability Data

In a new analysis entitled A Quality Check on Form 477 Data: Errors, Subsidies, and Econometrics, Phoenix Center Chief Economist Dr. George Ford compares Federal Communications Commission Form 477 data to the State of Georgia's broadband availability survey data to make several interesting findings:

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