Robust, Resilient, Broadband Infrastructure for Arizona
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
February 2023
Analysis
Analysis
Public Knowledge Urges FCC to Swiftly and Forcefully Address Digital Discrimination
Rarely does Congress speak as definitively and clearly as it did with Section 1754: ordering the Federal Communications Commission, within 2 years to enact regulations to “eliminate” existing digital discrimination on the basis of “income level, race, ethnicity, color, religion, or national origin” and to prevent it from recurring in the future. The FCC should interpret this instruction for what it is: a rebuke of the last 25 years of failed policies and “light touch” regulation under the apparent delusion that for the first time in 90 years “the market” would bring universal service to all
Rob Frieden: China balloon surveillance marks new, worrisome expansion of areas where provocation could spark armed conflict (Cleveland.com)
Submitted by benton on Tue, 02/21/2023 - 16:58Here’s how cable giant Comcast is thinking about fiber
Comcast is in the midst of a massive overhaul of its network, rolling out mid-split upgrades and plotting the launch of DOCSIS 4.0 in the second half of 2023. But while Comcast remains firmly in the cable camp, Cable EVP and Chief Network Officer Elad Nafshi said there is a place for fiber in its future. And, he said, it’ll soon provide a more in-depth glimpse of what that future looks like. To be clear, there’s already a ton of fiber in Comcast’s network. According to Nafshi, Comcast’s nationwide backbone network – which it calls the core network – is all fiber.
Kagan: Why 5G wireless is not meeting user expectations
Since its launch several years ago, we expected 5G to be the next, big bang in wireless. Like with 3G and 4G, we expected it to sweep across the industry, changing our lives. Instead, it has disappointed users, so far at least. What is the problem with this new technology, and will it get any better before 6G comes knocking at the door? While 5G is incredibly important, it is simply not showing the immediate growth we expected. Some of the leaders in the wireless revolution are starting to make some changes in their marketing messages.
Fiber exec says 'army of lobbying' is keeping broadband standards low
Roger Timmerman, CEO of Utopia Fiber, called out the "army" of lobbyists that are keeping broadband speed standards down in the US. "The problem is we've got an $8 million a week lobbying effort from big telecom, and so anytime the federal government – or even now at the state level – when any of them try to raise that bar for the standard of what consumers need for broadband, there's an army of lobbying that goes up and opposes that.
Free Press Calls on the FCC to Adopt Broad Anti-Discrimination Rules
When Congress created the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program (BEAD) and $14.25 billion Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), it also enacted Section 60506 of that law, which directs the Federal Communications Commission to “prevent[ ] digital discrimination of access based on income level, race, ethnicity, color, religion, or national origin.” Congress enacted this non-discrimination statute based on mounting evidence that low-income people and people of color are more likely to live in monopoly broadband area
City of Eagle (ID) powering up its own fiber network with ARPA funds
The City of Eagle (ID) is putting most of its federal COVID relief dollars to work building a city-wide broadband network. In the past two years, Eagle has spent $4.7 million of its American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds toward planning and developing a network of broadband fiber in the Boise suburb.
The digital divide: Rural vs. urban
There is a persistent and well-known gap between rural and urban populations in terms of their internet usage.