Friday, April 12, 2024
Headlines Daily Digest
American Samoa's BROADBANDiNEI Digital Equity Plan
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How the Loss of FCC's ACP May Worsen the Mental Health Crisis
Bilingual Digital Literacy Program Fosters Creativity
FTC Sends Refunds to Former AT&T Wireless Customers Who Were Subject to Data Throttling
Changes to House Commerce Committee Republican Subcommittee Assignments
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The looming end of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), and the alarm it has triggered among dozens of experts I've talked to, reveals that this federal program is about much more than internet access. Amid a rising mental health crisis, limited access to broadband has been clearly linked with negative health outcomes for America's lowest-income communities. So what does a $30-per-month subsidy mean for the mental health of America's lowest-income communities? The number of US adults with a mental illness has increased every year for nearly a decade, going from 43 million in 2015 to over 59 million in 2022, according to surveys conducted annually by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. With that increase has come a normalization of treatment, which has unfortunately lead to a shortage of mental health care providers. The mental health industry has embraced telehealth, and online therapy is the default treatment. The end of the ACP could cut many American's off from that critical access to treatment.
Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) led his colleagues in filing an amicus brief opposing the Biden administration’s recent decision to expand the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) E-Rate program to fund Wi-Fi on school buses. The Fifth Circuit lawsuit, Molak v. FCC, was brought by parents concerned about the federal government subsidizing children’s unsupervised access to social media sites, like TikTok and Instagram, on bus rides to and from school. In the amicus brief, the senators argue the FCC’s decision to expand the E-Rate program beyond schools and libraries exceeds the agency’s statutory authority and unlawfully extends a lapsed COVID-era program—the Emergency Connectivity Fund—that Congress did not renew. The brief also argues the FCC’s ruling will harm children by enabling their unsupervised access to the internet. Joining Sen Cruz in submitting the amicus brief are Sens Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mike Braun (R-IN), Ted Budd (R-NC), James Lankford (R-OK), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), and Pete Ricketts (R-NE).
In 25 years, our broadband networks will likely be carrying at 12 to 15 times the volume of data that they carry today, and probably more. Unfortunately, there is no easy path to upgrade middle-mile networks to keep up with the expected future demand. Faster lasers can’t alone satisfy the future demand for increased middle-mile bandwidth. Achieving faster speeds on middle-mile routes is going to require a lot of replacement of existing middle-mile fiber—to fiber that is clearer and that has fewer microscopic impediments. We are probably going to have to use a combination of three strategies to handle the middle-mile demand over the next 25 years:
- Rip and replace current fiber to higher-quality fiber to be able to handle terabit or faster lasers.
- Build a lot of new fiber alongside existing fiber routes to handle the increased capacity.
- Employ strategies for reducing the demand on middle-mile networks (think edge computing, caching, and peering.
We’re living in the age of broadband internet—internet service providers (ISPs) are announcing major infrastructure investments, committing to fund significant network upgrades and building new high speed service in communities across the country. At the same time, the federal government is also investing unprecedented amounts to support the deployment of broadband in underserved areas. Given the ubiquity of the internet in our daily lives, these efforts are both long overdue and not enough to give customers what they really need from their ISP—yes, fast, reliable internet, but also a redefined customer experience that is both easy to navigate and to understand. As part of its effort to improve broadband service nationwide—not just in terms of speed but also in terms of customer experience — the federal government is requiring all ISPs to provide broadband “nutrition labels” on their websites when purchasing service. These labels are designed to help consumers make clear comparisons between broadband plans based on key factors such as price and speed and to help them understand what they get for their money. As a country, we’re making a huge investment in our internet infrastructure. Initiatives like this one will help make sure that customers are getting a return on that investment, improving the overall customer experience and ensuring more transparency across the industry. And that’s a very, very good thing for all of us.
Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr released a statement about the potential Title II designation of the internet. Commissioner Carr called Title II an attempt to "expand government control of the Internet," and listed and refuted several myths about Title II. These included:
- Title II is necessary to ensure a free and open Internet.
- Title II is necessary because “there has been no federal oversight over this vital service” since the FCC’s 2017 decision.
- Title II is necessary for consumer privacy.
- Title II is necessary for national security.
- Title II is necessary so the FCC can use Section 214 to revoke the authorizations of certain entities controlled by the CCP.
- Title II is necessary for law enforcement.
- Title II is necessary for cybersecurity.
- Title II is necessary for public safety.
- Title II is necessary for outage reports and network resiliency.
- Title II is good for promoting additional broadband builds.
Ten-year-old Miguel is putting his new digital literacy skills to an unexpected use: writing stories about his need for a brother. “It is boring only having sisters,” Miguel, who has four sisters, explained. Miguel and his mother Maria teamed up to take bilingual digital literacy classes through the University of Houston-Downtown's (UHD) e-library program. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration awarded UHD more than $2.4 million dollars from the Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program to support literacy awareness and connectivity among the local Hispanic community. UHD partners with elementary schools in the surrounding area so families like the Alvarez can improve their technology and literacy skills in both English and Spanish. When Maria learned about the bilingual e-library program during a back-to-school night, she decided to enroll them both. “I’m helping my son so that he has a successful future, but I’m also helping myself because I have access to these stories,” Maria said. “I’m very interested in learning English, and the program helps me to recognize words in English and become fluent.” Thanks to the program, Maria has learned PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. She is also collaborating with Miguel on a book about his dream: having a brother and being a math teacher.
The American Samoa draft BROADBANDiNEI Digital Equity Plan—released by the Broadband Coordination, Opportunities, Redevelopment and Deployment (BCORD) Office—reflects priorities, strategies, collective needs, and opportunities identified through local coordination with regards to providing affordable, accessible, secure, equitable, internet-for-all. The concept of BROADBANDiNEI––information Network for Expansion and Inclusion––focuses on an island-wide initiative aimed to encourage the immediate transition to all things digital equitably thereby fostering a more efficient, productive, and resilient American Samoa. The BCORD office released its draft plan with this in mind; BCORD has made this plan open for public comment until April 15, 2024.
In response to claims that Mercury Broadband has overstated its ability to provide fixed wireless access (FWA) in 12 Michigan counties on the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) broadband map, the company has released its own map of coverage in the counties in question. Mercury said it uses Forsk’s Atoll software for its mapping. The company stated in an email, “Mercury does not intentionally overstate speeds or coverage. Mercury stands by our coverage reporting.”
The Federal Trade Commission is sending partial refunds to consumers totaling nearly $6.3 million stemming from the FTC’s lawsuit against AT&T Mobility LLC for misleading customers about its unlimited data plans. The FTC’s $60 million settlement with AT&T, announced in 2019, resolved allegations that the wireless provider failed to adequately disclose to its unlimited data plan customers that, if they reach a certain amount of data use in a given billing cycle, AT&T would reduce—or “throttle”—their data speeds to the point that many common mobile phone applications, such as web browsing and video streaming, became difficult or nearly impossible to use. In 2020, as a result of the settlement, the company gave a bill credit to current AT&T customers and sent refund checks to former customers, which resulted in $52 million returned to consumers. The latest refunds are going to consumers who had not yet received a refund and filed a valid claim with the FTC.
Brightspeed's fiber expansion is gaining momentum. The privately-backed company said its fiber network is now available at one million locations, notching that achievement just one year after it launched Brightspeed Fiber Internet. And sure, hitting that milestone is cool. But what really matters is that people are buying it. A spokesperson for the company said Brightspeed Fiber Internet sales increase every month. “In fact, over the past four months we've seen a monthly average increase of 12%.” Tandem to hitting the 1 million mark, the company said it would be accelerating its fiber expansion, thanks in part to grant funding in various locations across its footprint. According to the spokesperson, there is approximately $4.7 billion in Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding available in Brightspeed’s footprint, and the company is “actively evaluating BEAD Program proposals and requirements” in those areas.
House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-WA) updated Republican Members’ subcommittee assignments including:
- Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX) will serve as Vice Chair of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.
- Rep. Troy Balderson (R-OH) will join the Subcommittee on Health and leave the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.
- Rep. Marianette Miller Meeks (R-IA) will join the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.
Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Republican roster:
- Chair Bob Latta (OH-05)
- Rep. Gus Bilirakis (FL-12)
- Rep. Tim Walberg (MI-05)
- Rep. Buddy Carter (GA-01)
- Rep. Neal Dunn (FL-02)
- Rep. John Curtis (UT-03)
- Rep. John Joyce (PA-13)
- Rep. Randy Weber (TX-14), Vice Chair
- Rep. Rick Allen (GA-12)
- Rep. Russ Fulcher (ID-01)
- Rep. August Pfluger (TX-11)
- Rep. Diana Harshbarger (TN-01)
- Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-01)
- Rep. Kat Cammack (FL-03)
- Rep. Jay Obernolte (CA-23)
- Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-05), Ex Officio
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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