The Federal Communications Commission proposed revisions to its rules for spectrum sharing among non-geostationary satellite orbit, fixed-satellite service (NGSO FSS) systems. The proposed revisions would seek to facilitate the deployment of the new generation of low-Earth orbit satellite systems, promote competition, and make it easier for new competitors to enter the market. When considering license applications for NGSO FSS satellite constellations, the FCC’s International Bureau initiates processing rounds during which timely filed applications are considered together on an equal basis. This proposal would establish rules to protect systems approved in earlier rounds while facilitating greater competition. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking additionally proposes to limit the FCC's existing spectrum sharing mechanism for NGSO FSS systems to those systems approved in the same processing round. It proposes requiring systems approved in a later processing round to protect the already approved systems, and seeks public comment on necessary protections. The FCC also seeks comment on whether to sunset, after a period of time, the interference protection afforded to an NGSO FSS system because of its processing round status in order to encourage new market entry. The item further seeks public input on ways to facilitate coordination among NGSO FSS operators by requiring them to share specific information, such as satellite beam pointing information. The FCC's action also grants in part and defers in part a rulemaking petition from SpaceX.

The federal government is slated to pump a record amount of funding into projects to expand Internet access and affordability. But there is a critical obstacle to the historic investment: a dearth of accurate data about which Americans actually have access to Internet service. With $65 billion allocated to improve broadband, President Biden has claimed the infrastructure law will fundamentally transform the Internet, making high-speed access as ubiquitous as electricity, ensuring that tens of millions of Americans will soon be able to logon with speeds required for the basic activities of everyday life: to work remotely, to attend school, to access telemedicine. And $42 billion of that figure will be largely distributed among states to ensure broadband reaches even the most remote, unserved “last mile” customers. The problems with the FCC’s maps have been well documented for years. Telecommunications experts, lawmakers and even the agency’s commissioners acknowledge that the maps overestimate the number of Americans who have reliable Internet connections. Because the maps are based on census data, if even one household in a census block — a statistical area that conveys population data — has broadband available, then the agency considers the entire group served. In rural areas, one block could cover dozens of square miles, creating an inaccurate picture. Without accurate maps, infrastructure funding can’t be distributed to states since the government can’t assess where funding should be allocated.

Millions of people across the country still lack sufficient access to broadband service, largely because they live in rural communities, which are the most difficult and expensive to serve. The challenges of deploying broadband network infrastructure in rural locations, particularly low population density and difficult terrain, create high costs and low returns on investment that discourage providers from expanding into those areas. As of fall 2021, 44 states had established grant programs to cover the costs of broadband deployment in areas where it would otherwise not be economically feasible. Although many of these programs generally share a common focus on increasing availability and subscription rates in communities without sufficient access, they vary across states regarding the amount of funding available, specific goals, speeds standards, eligibility, and required level of community engagement.  Further, while some state programs must adhere to strict requirements for what types of projects or providers can receive funding, others have more flexibility to change and adapt. The Pew Charitable Trusts examined the various ways states have structured their grant program funding, eligibility, and objectives. This brief summarizes the findings of that review, looks at how different program priorities and requirements affect where and how broadband infrastructure is deployed, and highlights examples from states that are working strategically to make high-speed internet service available to more Americans.

The National League of Cities (NLC) released a new report titled, “A Digital Equity Playbook: How City Leaders Can Bridge the Digital Divide,” which calls on local leaders to take action to equip people across the country with the high-speed internet access they need to fully participate in modern society. The resource provides essential guidance for city leaders on how they can expand access to broadband as it becomes more critical. Because of barriers related to broadband affordability, accessibility and skills, more than 150 million people in the United States are living with slow or unreliable internet service, while 42 million do not have access to broadband at all. Nearly half of the Americans who are digitally disconnected are Black, Indigenous and people of color. Older residents are also more likely to be digitally excluded, with 42 percent of American seniors lacking access to broadband at home. The Digital Equity Playbook details the federal resources available to cities to fund digital equity projects and tailors publicly available, national level data to fit specific cities’ needs. The report includes a broadband needs assessment that city leaders can complete to understand exactly where their community stands in terms of broadband access, compared with other cities and states. It also provides recommendations for local leaders to bridge the digital divide, highlighting more than 40 case studies that give local leaders a sense of creative solutions in use elsewhere that may be applicable to their own communities.

The internet has become necessary infrastructure during the pandemic, but ubiquitous 5G service has been slow to fully develop in the US. Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners (SIP) said it will invest $100 million to both acquire wireless infrastructure company Dense Air and use its small cell technology to build a "borderless classroom." SIP, which was spun out of Google-parent Alphabet, intends to work with an as-yet unnamed city to build a private wireless network for a school district so students can connect to the same network whether they're in the classroom, on the school bus or at home, according to SIP co-CEO Jonathan Winer. Given the capital-intensive process of building better, faster internet networks, new companies are looking to rethink the business model for internet access. Building ultra-fast 5G networks in cities involves deploying equipment known as small cells to densify wireless networks, as opposed to the large towers that covered wide swaths of areas in earlier wireless evolutions. Instead of companies each deploying their own equipment, which can take thousands of cells, SIP envisions changing that model, where they or municipalities share the Dense Air small cells to extend networks to underserved areas. Winer said Dense Air's first US project will be a pilot with a municipality willing to be a "co-creator" and work with the company as it navigates this new model.

New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas announced that his Consumer & Environmental Protection Division has resolved two federal court cases filed against Google. Both cases concern allegations made by Balderas against the company under the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, as well as under state consumer protection laws. The centerpiece of these settlements is the creation and funding of the Google New Mexico Kids Initiative. The Initiative sets aside millions of dollars to fund efforts to promote education, privacy, and safety for New Mexico children across the state. Google and Attorney General Balderas will work together in the coming weeks to identify recipients of these funds, which will be spent within New Mexico for the benefit of New Mexico’s children. Within Google’s widely-used Workspace for Education products, Google now provides school administrators with tools to protect minor students from improper collection of their personal data, including age-based access settings to ensure that minor children’s data is protected from unauthorized collection and disclosure. New Mexico schools will also get early access to new products and initiatives as part of the Google for Education Pilot Program. In Google’s Play Store, Google will take a much more active role in policing app developers that mislabel their child-directed apps in an effort to make more money from targeted advertising and user profiling. Google will also enact a number of reforms, including a requirement that apps implement age screening measures to ensure that these apps do not collect information from children under the age of 13, and increasing parents’ visibility into what information apps are collecting from their children.