Analysis

The Mississippi Office of Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi (BEAM) released its draft State Digital Skills and Accessibility (DSA) Plan for a 30-day public comment period on January 5, 2024. The Mississippi DSA Plan outlines how BEAM will work towards ensuring broadband accessibility, affordability, digital skills training, and digital opportunities for all citizens.

Senators of both parties are focusing their criticism on a law that Congress passed in 1996—a law that paved the way for social media as we know it. That law, said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), “needs to change.” The statute in question is Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which gives online service providers broad immunity from lawsuits over their users’ posts, with the goal of promoting free expression online. Over the years, it has survived court challenges, legislative pushes, and an executive order by President Donald Trump. Now, it is in Congress’s sights once again.

It’s always been a hassle when a business loses broadband. But in the last few years, an increasing number of businesses have been telling me that they are practically immobilized when they lose broadband. This is because businesses, especially small and medium businesses, increasingly rely on software in the cloud. So many day-to-day functions, from timekeeping and payroll systems, reservation systems, to online sales portals, now require a broadband connection. This has made businesses become hyper-aware of broadband outages.

During the fourth quarter 2023, the top three wireless operators in the US reported a total of 1.78 million new postpaid phone subscribers. How can each carrier report growth in postpaid phone subscribers each quarter in a country whose population is not growing very much? Recon Analytics Analyst Roger Entner said that question is top-of-mind among the operators, who pay Recon substantial sums of money for survey data to try and figure out the answers.

All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have drafted their digital equity plans and sought public input on how to improve their strategies to ensure that every community has the capacity needed for full participation in our increasingly connectivity-dependent society, democracy, and economy. As part of their plans, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has asked states to provide a clear, specific picture of their visions for digital equity.

In early January 2024, the Iowa Department of Management (DOM) released the draft State of Iowa Digital Equity Plan for public comment. The Digital Equity Plan outlines the results of extensive research and outreach efforts to set baseline conditions and goals for addressing digital equity opportunities in Iowa.

The Chamber of Commerce, the Texas Association of Business, and the Longview Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit over the Commission’s recent rulemaking that gives itself sweeping authority over the broadband marketplace.

By now, everybody has written about the pending end of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). The White House asked Congress to fund the ACP for a year for over $6 billion, and almost everyone I know is betting against a miracle from Congress. But even if the ACP gets funded somehow, how sustainable is the ACP if Congress has to act every year to renew it? There have been calls for moving the ACP under the Federal Communications Commission’s Universal Service Fund (USF).

Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) are often the first point of contact for underserved populations seeking access to care.

Based on conversations I've had with some of my peers, I have to ask: will fixed wireless access (FWA) peak soon? Every person I've asked has dismissed FWA wireless as a temporary technology with no real long-term legs. My peers say that FWA is already oversubscribed, cell towers aren't designed to handle all-day broadband connections, and that the service is just not good enough. Interestingly, the numbers seem to be telling a different story: T-Mobile and Verizon predict they will collectively reach 15 million FWA customers.