Jon Reid

Pressure is rising on the Federal Communications Commission and Congress to rethink the $8 billion Universal Service Fund that subsidizes phone and broadband service, as it teeters on a shrinking budget base. Big phone companies like AT&T, entities that benefit from USF programs, and public interest groups see the Biden administration as a new opportunity to press their case for an overhaul of the funding mechanism.

• Net Neutrality: A Democratic Federal Communications Commission will likely first move to reclassify broadband as a service under Title II of the Communications Act. That will allow it to restore rules requiring Internet service providers to treat all internet traffic equally, and take other actions to regulate broadband providers’ business practices amid the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The Federal Communications Commission is expected to move to restore net neutrality rules after President-elect Joe Biden takes office, undoing the agency’s deregulation of the broadband industry during the Trump administration. The key regulatory underpinning would be a reclassification of broadband as a service under Title II of the Communications Act. That reclassification would enable the agency to reinstate rules requiring that companies like AT&T Inc. and Comcast Corp.

Four Federal Communications Commission veterans -- including former Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, have been tapped for President-elect Joe Biden’s agency transition team. [Editor's note: Mignon Clyburn also sits on the Board of Directors of the Benton Institute.]  The team is led by John Williams who is Senior Counsel and Parliamentarian at the House Judiciary Committee and former Senior Counselor and Senior Agency Official for Privacy at the FCC's Office of the General Counsel.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai may have thought he was doing wireless carriers a favor when he slashed by nearly two-thirds a potentially costly requirement that they increase data for low-income subscribers starting in December. Instead, budget carriers are fighting his plan, leaving an uncertain future for Lifeline, the Federal Communications Commission’s program to help low-income Americans pay their phone and broadband bills. Pai’s draft order would force carriers like TracFone Wireless to provide 1.5 GB more data than currently required under Lifeline.

Los Angeles, Boston, and other cities and counties have asked a federal court to block the Federal Communications Commission from overruling their authority to stop cell tower upgrades. The local governments, in a petition for review filed before the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, argue that the FCC exceeded its statutory authority and acted arbitrarily and capriciously in violation of federal law.

The Federal Communications Commission split along party lines on President Donald Trump’s social media executive order, previewing a potential battle to come as the agency weighs action. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said Trump wants to turn the FCC into “speech police.” Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said he’s troubled that “voices are stifled by liberal tech leaders.” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who controls the agency’s agenda, said that the agency will “carefully review any petition for rulemaking filed by the Department of Commerce.” “This debate is an important one,” Chairman Pai added. Com

House Democrats are pushing to include more than $1 billion in the next economic relief package to help pay low-income Americans’ broadband bills. Democrats are said to be considering whether to distribute the aid through the Federal Communications Commission’s Lifeline program, which provides monthly discounts of $9.25 for about 7 million low-income subscribers, or through a new broadband subsidy program. The push is aimed at helping millions of low-income Americans and newly unemployed workers afford internet services to help them stay connected with family, look for jobs, and continue sc

As prisoners increase their reliance on phone visits during the new coronavirus, telecommunications companies are asking the Federal Communications Commission to waive a fee on inmates’ interstate and international calls. The push by Securus Technologies LLC and Network Communications International Corp. highlights a years-long policy debate at the FCC over how to rein in prison call rates. The phone providers must pay a fee equal to 20% of revenue from every interstate and international prison call to the FCC’s Universal Service Fund.

Big Tech and Big Telecom are wrangling over a Federal Communications Commission plan that would open up an unprecedented amount of airwaves to meet the nation’s Wi-Fi demand. The FCC is expected to vote before the end of April on a plan that may quintuple the amount of spectrum available to handle data from millions of Wi-Fi-connected smartphones, laptops, and other devices.