Press Release

On Nov 30, 2018, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai wrote to various Members of Congress regarding rural broadband. Many lawmakers expressed cocncernt hat budget limitations in the Universal Service FUnd's high cost program for legacy rate-of-return providers could result in undue reductionsin support for broadband deployment in rural communities.

On Nov 27, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai's responded to various Democratic Sens regarding the impact of statutory cap franchise fees on funding for Public, Educational or Government (PEG) channels. Responses were sent to Sens Ed Markey (D-MA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Gary Peters (D-MI), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

On Nov 26, 2018, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai responded to an Aug 31 letter from Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and to a Sept 6 letter from Sens Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) regarding the problems the Santa Clara County Fire Department had using Verizon's network as they battled the Mendocino Complex Fire. The lawmakers were concerend about Verizon's throtttling of the first responders' communication.

Since 2011, the National Broadband Map has been a vital tool for consumers, businesses, policy makers, and researchers by providing an easy- to-use and searchable way to find out who is offering broadband, what types of broadband they are offering, and where they are offering it.  But the mapping platform has become dated, as has the coverage data, which was collected through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) State Broadband Initiative (SBI); the last published SBI data set was current as of June 30, 2014.  Based on the age of the data, and the underlyi

The Federal Communications Commission has launched an investigation into whether one or more major carriers violated the Mobility Fund Phase II (MF-II) reverse auction’s mapping rules and submitted incorrect coverage maps. The investigation comes after a preliminary review of the 20,809,503 speed tests filed with the agency in connection with the MF-II challenge process; the window for initial challenges closed on November 26. The FCC has suspended the next step of the challenge process—the opening of a response window—pending the conclusion of this investigation

A new study by MIT researchers finds that the growing practice of compiling massive, anonymized datasets about people’s movement patterns is a double-edged sword: While it can provide deep insights into human behavior for research, it could also put people’s private data at risk. Companies, researchers, and other entities are beginning to collect, store, and process anonymized data that contains “location stamps” (geographical coordinates and time stamps) of users.

The Census Bureau released the 2013-2017 American Community Survey (ACS) five-year estimates. Data on Internet subscription rates:

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that Jane Hinckley Halprin will serve as the agency’s Administrative Law Judge. Halprin will replace Judge Richard Sippel, who retired on Dec 1. The Office of Administrative Law Judges of the FCC is responsible for conducting the hearings ordered by the Commission.

The Federal Communications Commission released a draft of the appendices to the Communications Marketplace Report. A draft version of the Communications Marketplace Report, scheduled for consideration at the FCC’s December 12, 2018 Open Meeting, was released on November 21, 2018. The appendices include the data collected and analyzed by FCC staff in developing the draft Communications Marketplace Report.

Public Knowledge joined 19 other public interest, rural, Native American, and consumer groups (including the Benton Foundation) in a letter urging Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to either issue a new Public Notice examining the classification of text messaging and short codes, or to classify both as Title II telecommunications services.