press release

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing in e-connectivity which will provide virtual access to job training, educational, and health care opportunities for rural communities. USDA is awarding 72 grants totaling $23.6 million through the Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) Grant Program. This program invests in equipment that uses broadband to help rural communities connect to educational and health care services.

The Federal Communications Commission announced the appointment of Albert Shuldiner as Chief of the Media Bureau’s Audio Division. To ensure a smooth transition, current Audio Division Chief Peter Doyle will, on a temporary basis, assume a new part-time role as Senior Advisor in the Division.  Shuldiner brings decades of legal experience to the FCC, including positions at DTS, Inc., Ibiquity Digital Corporation, and Vinson & Elkins, LLP. He received a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University. 

Representatives Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA), Mike Doyle (D-PA), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Beto O’Rourke (D-TX), Mark Pocan (D-WI), and Jared Polis (D-CO) introduced the Community Broadband Act, legislation that will empower local communities to ensure their residents have broadband access by preserving the right to provide community-owned service to consumers. According to the Congressional Research Service, twenty states have passed laws that either restrict or outright prohibit local communities from investing local dollars in building their own broadband networks.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has circulated a draft 2018 Broadband Deployment Report to his colleagues and below are the key findings and additional information:

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced the appointment of Nirali Patel as Special Counsel. Patel joins the Office of the Chairman from the Office of Commissioner Brendan Carr, where she has been serving as a Legal Advisor since August 2017.

A second round of broadband infrastructure bills have been introduced by members of the House Communications Subcommittee. The bills focus on supporting innovation and advancing broadband infrastructure in rural communities. 

In a letter to President Donald Trump, Sens Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Angus King (I-ME), John Boozman (R-AR), and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND)—the co-chairs of the bipartisan Senate Broadband Caucus—call for the prioritization of direct funding support for broadband deployment in an infrastructure package that will help close the digital divide and ensure our country maintains its global competitiveness. Stand-alone funding for broadband will ensure that telecommunications infrastructure is advanced alongside needed upgrades to our roads, rail, bridges, ports and waterways

Reps Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and David B. McKinley (R-WV) introduced the Broadband Conduit Deployment Act of 2018. This commonsense legislation, commonly referred to as ‘Dig Once’, would mandate the inclusion of broadband conduit—plastic pipes which house fiber-optic communications cable—during the construction of any road receiving federal funding. This practice will eliminate the need to dig up recently-paved roads to expand broadband infrastructure, significantly reducing the cost of increasing Internet access to underserved communities across the country.

New America's Open Technology Institute became one of the first parties to challenge the Federal Communications Commission’s harmful order repealing the net neutrality rules by filing a protective petition for review in the DC Circuit. OTI filed the protective petition in an abundance of caution to ensure that, if a lottery is held determining the proper venue for the case at this stage, the DC Circuit is included in the selection process. 

The following statement can be attributed to Sarah Morris, Director of Open Internet Policy at the Open Technology Institute:

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) announced a series of bills introduced by subcommittee members aimed at reducing the regulatory barriers to broadband infrastructure expansion: