Federal funding and expertise are necessary to achieving universal connectivity, but every level of government has a role to play in bridging the digital divide — especially for completing the “last mile,” the part of the network that connects a local internet provider to residences and small businesses. States are uniquely positioned to help reach unserved communities: They’re large enough to work with the federal government and internet service providers (ISPs) but close enough to local communities to know the stakeholders and understand an area’s economy, geography, demographics, and politics. As federal policymakers look to invest the stimulus funds in expanding broadband, they can learn from states that have been working to improve broadband access for their residents. In fact, as a recent report from The Pew Charitable Trusts demonstrates, states are finding innovative and creative ways to advance their broadband goals — stepping up with financing, infrastructure, regulatory and communication strategies, and plenty of public-private partnerships.

[Anne Stauffer is director of The Pew Charitable Trusts’ work on fiscal federalism, broadband research, and student loan research]

Over 10 million newly-unemployed Americans are being urged if not ordered to shelter in place for their own health and that of their communities. A broadband connection makes it possible for their children to continue to learn, for workers to look for new jobs, and for families to connect with doctors and loved ones. Fortunately, the Federal Communications Commission has a tool that can keep these people connected, the Lifeline program. The FCC should act now to ensure that everyone who files for unemployment is automatically enrolled in Lifeline and immediately see a reduction in their communications bill. That should be part of immediate action by the FCC to expand Lifeline to provide a $50/month subsidy for broadband service. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai must feel the fierce urgency of now. Lives are at stake. Give them a lifeline. 

Between Jan 29 (shortly after COVID-19 appeared in the US) and March 26 there was a 105% spike in people active online at home between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm. So why hasn’t the internet ground to a halt? The answer lies in the lessons of Mother’s Day and freeway traffic jams.

• Watching Netflix is the new Mother's Day phone call: In the days of analog telephone service, the network was designed with enough capacity to handle the surge in calls that happened on Mother’s Day and other holidays. In regards to COVID-19, Because, of Mother’s Day-like planning, network capacity was sitting there waiting for our workday usage.
• Freeway Traffic Jams: The digital internet is like a freeway: a common connection shared by many users simultaneously. When the demand on the freeway increases above a certain level, the traffic slows; it doesn’t stop like the one-lane bridge, but bumper-to-bumper data packets move at a slower rate. Users in most cities were experiencing normal network conditions, but 88 of the largest 200 U.S. cities have seen internet speeds decline in the past week.

Where the Internet has broken: The internet has already broken in one significant way: there are too many Americans for whom it is not available. Henceforth, broadband will be recognized for what it is: a critical two-way connection that can no longer be considered a luxury.

[Tom Wheeler served as the 31st chairman of the Federal Communications Commission from 2013-2017]

The Federal Communications Commission voted to adopt a $200 million telehealth program to support healthcare providers responding to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Congress appropriated the funds as part of the CARES Act. Through the COVID-19 Telehealth Program, the FCC will help healthcare providers purchase telecommunications, broadband connectivity, and devices necessary for providing telehealth services. Funding applications from healthcare providers will be processed on a rolling basis.

The FCC also adopted final rules to stand up a Connected Care Pilot Program. This separate three-year Pilot Program will provide up to $100 million of support from the Universal Service Fund (USF) to help defray health care providers’ costs of providing connected care services and to help assess how the USF can be used in the long-term to support telehealth. 

My family has been forced into a social experiment. One of our daughters is in second grade at a private religious school. Her twin sister, who has special needs, attends a public school. Can you guess which one went online immediately? It’s not mainly a problem of resources. The private school went online in two days with Zoom. I’m teaching all my law-school classes online. New York, the country’s biggest school system, is going online. Why not Berkeley? District officials feel that some students may not have computers to access online services, so they’d rather let everyone drown than save as many as possible and fulfill their educational mission. Starting next week Berkeley plans to post limited lesson plans online and offer students two 90-minute office-hour sessions a week. The federal government can help. It should push districts to go fully online. Teachers union contracts should be modified to permit true online learning. Charter schools, many of which have already gone online, should be expanded. And parents should demand that their schools live up to state constitutions that guarantee an appropriate public education.

[Solomon is a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley]

As prisoners increase their reliance on phone visits during the new coronavirus, telecommunications companies are asking the Federal Communications Commission to waive a fee on inmates’ interstate and international calls. The push by Securus Technologies LLC and Network Communications International Corp. highlights a years-long policy debate at the FCC over how to rein in prison call rates. The phone providers must pay a fee equal to 20% of revenue from every interstate and international prison call to the FCC’s Universal Service Fund. The fund subsidizes phone and broadband service for low-income Americans, schools, telehealth and rural areas. The providers pass along the fee to their customers.

Some advocates are opposed, and it’s not clear whether the FCC will grant the providers’ request. “From what I see, the relief is not warranted, but they are granting a lot of waivers,” former Democratic FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said, referring to the Securus petition. Consumer advocacy groups, including Worth Rises, Media Justice and OC Inc., the advocacy arm of the United Church of Christ, say prisoners can ill-afford expensive phone calls during the pandemic. The groups oppose the phone companies’ fee-waiver requests, arguing that the providers are unlikely to share the savings with customers. They argue that the companies should still be charged the fee, but not be allowed to pass the cost onto their customers.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA) sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai demanding the FCC reassure broadcasters that the agency will not revoke licenses for airing legally protected speech. On March 25, President Donald Trump’s campaign sent letters to certain broadcasters regarding the airing of an advertisement critical of the President’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. The campaign team told the broadcasters that continuing to air the advertisement “could put [the] station’s license in jeopardy.”  Chairmen Pallone and Doyle wrote that such threats are contrary to the Constitution and the Communications Act. “At a time when autocratic governments around the world are using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to suppress press freedoms, we must reaffirm – not undermine – America’s commitment to a free press,” Pallone and Doyle wrote.  “By remaining silent, the FCC sends a disturbing signal that it sanctions these threats and that broadcaster licenses could be in jeopardy.”