Thursday, April 11, 2024
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Consumer Broadband Labels Now Required Nationwide at Points of Sale
Discharge Petition to Give ACP Extension Act a Vote in the House
Broadband Deployment: Agencies Should Take Steps to Better Meet Deadline for Processing Permits
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The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) has been a transformative force, empowering nearly 23 million American households in rural and urban communities with reliable, high-speed, and affordable broadband access. To continue this progress, I implore my colleagues to join me by signing the discharge petition. This will ensure the Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act receives the vote it deserves on the floor of the House of Representatives. We cannot turn our back on the progress made in closing the digital divide.
Federal Communications Commission Jessica Rosenworcel welcomed the start of a new era in broadband price and service transparency. The nationwide launch of the Broadband Consumer Labels means internet service providers are now required to display consumer-friendly labels at the point of sale. The Broadband Consumer Labels resemble the well-known nutrition labels that appear on food products. To ensure the label benefits all consumers, the FCC adopted language and accessibility requirements for the label's display. Labels are required for all standalone home or fixed internet service or mobile broadband plans. Providers must display the label—not simply an icon or link to the label—in close proximity to an associated plan’s advertisement. Accurate, simple-to-understand information about broadband internet access services helps consumers make informed choices. Transparency is central to a well-functioning marketplace that encourages competition, innovation, low prices, and high-quality service. The labels are designed to provide clear, easy-to-understand, and accurate information about the cost and performance of standalone high-speed internet services.
Consumers should begin seeing new broadband price and service transparency information at the point of sale online and in-store. What’s on the Broadband Labels? Broadband prices, Introductory rate details, Data allowances, Broadband speeds, and Links to learn more about: Available discounts or service bundles, Network management practices, and Privacy policies.
The federal government is investing billions of dollars in expanding broadband access. Some new infrastructure—such as broadband towers—will be situated on federal lands. Federal agencies are required to process applications for such permits within 270 days. The Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service process most of these applications. Between 2018-2022, both agencies missed the deadline for some applications and for others couldn't determine if they processed the applications on time. GAO analyzed federal permitting data; reviewed laws and reports on the application review process; and interviewed agency officials. Based on this analysis, GAO is making six recommendations—three to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and three to Forest Service—to improve their processing of communications use applications, so that they are better able to meet the 270-day deadline. BLM and the Forest Service agreed with the recommendations.
- The Director of BLM should develop controls to ensure BLM data are sufficiently accurate and complete to track processing times for all communications use applications
- The Chief of the Forest Service should develop controls to ensure Forest Service data are sufficiently accurate and complete to track processing times for all communications use applications
- The Director of BLM should continue to analyze the factors that contribute to delays in processing communications use applications as they occur and take actions to address those factors
- The Chief of the Forest Service should continue to analyze the factors that contribute to delays in processing communications use applications as they occur, as well as the efficacy of the actions the agency has taken to address those factors, and take additional actions as necessary
- The Director of BLM should establish a method to alert staff to communications use applications at risk of exceeding the 270-day deadline
- The Chief of the Forest Service should establish a method to alert staff to communications use applications at risk of exceeding the 270-day deadline
Utilizing a unique dataset of 296 mostly rural households in Nebraska, this study examines rural broadband satisfaction and the distribution of broadband types through two questions: Does reported household satisfaction with broadband connectivity differ with the access method? And how does the built environment influence the distribution of broadband technologies? Integrating detailed survey data on household satisfaction with high-resolution performance data, the novel dataset identifies significant variances in user satisfaction with five aspects of broadband quality, with fiber emerging as the highest rated across metrics. Additionally, k-means clustering analysis of the built environment—based on structure proximity and population density—reveals a series of nuanced relationships, including the effects of past and present regulatory action, that affect the current availability of broadband technologies in various rural locales. Employing these findings, we advocate for potential policy adjustments sensitive to rural built environment and user experience complexities, challenging the adequacy of current technology-agnostic approaches.
What does future demand for broadband speed and usage mean for last mile technologies? The fastest broadband technology today is fiber, and the most common fiber technology is passive optical network (PON), which brings broadband to local clusters of customers. The original PON technology deployed in the early 2000s was BPON, which had the capability to deliver 622 megabits of speed to share in a cluster of 32 homes. The industry has pivoted in the last few years to XGS-PON, which can deliver 10 gigabits of bandwidth to a neighborhood cluster of homes. XGS-PON is a great upgrade, but it is not going to satisfy broadband needs in 25 years when demand is at least 12 to 15 times greater than today. Something that cable executives all know but don’t want to say out loud is that cable networks will not be able to keep up with expected future demand over 25 years. A few cable companies have already acknowledged this reality. Altice announced a transition to fiber years ago but doesn’t seem to have the financial strength to complete the upgrades. Cox has quietly started to upgrade its largest markets to fiber. All big cable companies are using fiber for expansion. By 25 years from now, all cable companies will have made the transition to fiber. There is no possibility for wireless technology to keep up with the increased demand that will be expected in 25 years. Unless satellite technology finds a way to get a lot faster, it won’t be a technology of choice except for folks in remote areas. Mobile data is always going to be vital, but there will be major pressure on wireless companies to finally deliver on the promises of 5G to keep up with future demand for speed and bandwidth.
Great Plains Communications (GPC) has been awarded a total of $3.54M as one of the winning bids through the Nebraska Public Service Commission’s (PSC) 2024 Reverse Auction to expand broadband access to more than 1,100 households in unserved areas of Nebraska. GPC’s funding will assist in providing high-speed fiber broadband services to approximately 310 unserved households in rural areas of Columbus, Hebron, Kearney, Madison, Mead, Monroe, Nebraska City, Palmer, Seward and Superior, Nebraska. GPC has begun engineering and design with all areas projected for completion in the next 48 months. The 2024 reverse auction was designed to provide broadband-capable voice service to rural areas where telecommunication carriers Frontier and Windstream have traditionally provided only voice service by redistributing Nebraska Universal Service Fund (NUSF) support that was either unused or subsequently withheld from the two companies. Bidding began on January 22, 2024, with the final round held on March 11.
The Utah Broadband Center (UBC), part of the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, is launching the Utah Broadband Availability Challenge Process to finalize identifying broadband serviceable locations in Utah without access to reliable high-speed internet infrastructure. These locations will be eligible for some of the approximately $317 million of federal funding allocated to Utah through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. Eligible entities, including local and tribal governments, nonprofits, qualified education organizations, and internet service providers, can participate by verifying existing broadband service for households, businesses, and community anchor institutions and challenge locations reported incorrectly. The broadband availability map, registration, and Challenge Process Portal are open for review by eligible entities here. Official challenges can be submitted beginning April 18, 2024. Individuals wishing to challenge their home or business speeds can also participate by submitting speed tests in the portal until the challenge closes on May 28, 2024. Completing a survey and taking three separate speed tests on different days are required for an eligible challenge to a provider’s advertised speed.
In Fort Collins, Colorado, residents have a unique option when signing up for internet service. Instead of being limited to giant providers like Comcast, Charter or Cox, they can opt for a city-owned and operated service, called Connexion. Connexion's genesis took place about a decade ago, when the city was looking for ways to bring faster, more affordable internet to the community. In November 2017, voters approved a ballot measure to build a municipal fiber network. By 2023, Connexion was available to all homes and businesses in the area. Fort Collins is one of many cities pursuing innovative ways to bring more affordable, reliable broadband to communities. In Ammon, Idaho, the local fiber optic network is owned and operated by the city. This has benefitted private internet service providers, too, since they can use that existing infrastructure to enter the market, lowering the barrier for entry and boosting competition (and therefore reducing prices for consumers). These initiatives highlight the ways communities are bridging the gaps left by large, private internet service providers, whose services can be unaffordable or simply unavailable to many people, especially among rural, low-income and marginalized populations. For many of these communities, municipal and publicly owned networks are the only way to truly get connected. But there are obstacles. Around two dozen states have laws that ban or restrict cities from building municipal or publicly funded broadband networks. Lobbying by private internet service providers has played a significant role in maintaining those restrictions.
Officials with ACA Connects and EducationSuperHighway spelled out a series of concerns they have about a proposal from FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel that aims to ban "bulk billing" for broadband in apartments, condos and other types of multiple-dwelling units (MDUs). Bulk billing agreements typically enable MDUs to negotiate discounted rates for broadband services on behalf of their residents. Both ACA Connects, an organization that represents hundreds of small and midsized independent US broadband service providers, and EducationSuperHighway, a national nonprofit focused on closing the digital divide for about 17 million low-income households, are asking the FCC to effectively "pump the brakes" on the item and to spend more time reconsidering and reassessing the proposed ban. Under Rosenworcel's proposal, the updated rules would allow tenants to opt out of bulk billing. Education SuperHighway and ACA Connects believe a ban will actually raise broadband prices. ACA Connects and EducationSuperHighway also don't believe a proposed opt-out option is workable because it undermines the business models that bulk billing agreements are based upon, including penetration rates that enable lower-cost options for MDU residents.
Mediacom is proving that even though it's a cable and fiber provider, it's happy to use fixed wireless access (FWA), too. Mediacom will use Tarana’s next-generation fixed wireless access (ngFWA) broadband technology in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina—states where it’s won funding from the Federal Communications Commission's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). The operator’s required RDOF buildout target is 5,694 locations, said Thomas Larsen, Mediacom’s SVP of government and public relations. Those locations will be Mediacom’s “initial focus.” But the company thinks it can reach additional locations that are adjacent to its RDOF areas with Tarana’s ngFWA tech—known as the G1 platform. Larsen added that Mediacom owns CBRS spectrum in 178 counties, so it has the potential to use Tarana’s technology “in a lot more areas” than the states where it won RDOF money.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) understands that closing the digital divide requires ongoing, meaningful engagement with the communities the Internet for All (IFA) programs are serving. NTIA views strong involvement from state, local, territorial, and Tribal communities as key to ensuring that the broadband needs of all unserved and underserved locations and underrepresented communities are met. Local coordination promotes alignment of priorities among states and territories, regional, and local governments as well as community organizations and other broadband stakeholders. Local coordination is an important part of both the Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) and Digital Equity (DE) programs. Between August 2022 and November 2023, NTIA co-hosted day-long workshops with 17 different state and territory broadband offices (SBOs). The workshops also enabled broadband offices to create avenues for new and existing relationships with their stakeholders as they prepare for future phases of these programs and ensure that these stakeholders were included in the planning process. For more details on our state and local coordination efforts, see our report.
Benton (www.benton.org) provides the only free, reliable, and non-partisan daily digest that curates and distributes news related to universal broadband, while connecting communications, democracy, and public interest issues. Posted Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are factually accurate, their sometimes informal tone may not always represent the tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang (headlines AT benton DOT org), Grace Tepper (grace AT benton DOT org), and Zoe Walker (zwalker AT benton DOT org) — we welcome your comments.
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