Rep Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) introduced the Saving Americans' Valuable Earnings on the National Affordable Connectivity Program (SAVE on ACP) Act to strengthen the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), complete the equipment removal of China-based companies Huawei and ZTE, and allow the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reauction certain spectrum licenses to create more responsive networks for consumers. Rep Gallego's SAVE on ACP Act would:

• Provide $6 billion for the ACP and modernize eligibility and verification to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse.
• Provide an additional $3.08 billion to the "rip and replace program" in the Secure and Trusted Communications Act of 2019.
• Require the FCC to reauction certain spectrum licenses for unassigned spectrum that the FCC has previously auctioned.

All 51 New York City Council members have signed a letter imploring Sen Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to renew funding for a vital federal program that’s helped nearly 1 million low-income households afford internet service in the city by taking up to $30 off their monthly internet bills. Money for the $14.2 billion program ran out in April, threatening the progress that had been made in closing the digital divide over the past couple years. When the program started in December 2021, about a quarter of New York City’s households lacked a broadband subscription. Black, Latino, low-income and senior households were particularly unlikely to have a high-speed subscription. With City Council members across the political aisle joining the call for renewed funding, the issue is a unifying one. Very rarely—and certainly not for some time—have all 51 members signed on to the same letter.

CentraCom, a leading provider of high-speed internet, phone, and TV services, previously announced the launch of its Extended Broadband Discount (EBD) program. This initiative is designed to bridge the gap for current Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) recipients after the FCC discontinued the program due to a lack of funding. Understanding the critical role internet access plays in today's world, CentraCom is committed to keeping its customers connected. The CentraCom EBD program extends a similar discount to current ACP recipients who are CentraCom subscribers. This will help ensure uninterrupted internet service and continued access to online resources for education, work, healthcare, and more. All ACP recipients, as of May 31, 2024, will receive the EBD service through January 31, 2025.

By mid June, we will have blown past the halfway mark in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment challenge process—with more than thirty states having completed their “challenge windows” and another handful set to close imminently. But the “challenge window” is only part of the overall challenge process, and there are reasons for communities to stay engaged with the process even after that window closes. Communities—don’t sleep on the rebuttal window! The mandatory challenge process for states consists of three phases: the challenge window, the rebuttal window, and the determination window. During the challenge window, eligible challengers can present evidence that locations are incorrectly categorized as served, underserved, or served. Those same eligible entities can participate in the rebuttal window, where they supply evidence refuting a challenge that was made by someone else. Not all challenges are created equally. While we might primarily think of challenges that make the map more accurate, some challenges could, in fact, make the map less accurate. The bottom line: it may be up to communities to rebut those challenges.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel proposed a highly controversial rule change that would ban bulk billing practices in MDUs (multi-dwelling units). The justification for the proposed ban is that residents are required to pay for broadband or cable TV service even if they don’t want to buy the service or would prefer to buy from somebody else. The FCC proposal would allow tenants to opt out of any bulk-billing arrangements. From a tenant perspective, it’s not hard to understand folks who would rather not pay for traditional cable TV as part of the rent. Broadband is trickier. A large majority of tenants want broadband. The biggest problem I see with the proposed rules is that the FCC wants to create a universal rule to apply to a widely divergent market. There are landlords who provide super-fast broadband at an affordable rate, and there undoubtedly are landlords who charge high rates for inferior broadband. There are no rules I can imagine that would satisfy all situations.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel called on the agency to update the Citizens Broadband Radio Service.  Building on years of successful interagency collaboration, the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking would, if adopted by a vote of the FCC, launch a proceeding that would seek comment on a wide range of potential rule changes to improve the Citizens Broadband Radio Service for all current and future users of the 3.55-3.7 GHz band (3.5 GHz band). The 3.5 GHz band uses a three-tiered access and authorization model that protects Incumbent Access users, allows for geographically licensed operations following the FCC’s 2020 auction of Priority Access Licenses, and permits opportunistic licensed-by-rule General Authorized Access use.  The NPRM would, if adopted, propose rules to add definitions to part 96 related to protection of federal incumbent users and modify other part 96 rules governing such protections. The NPRM would also propose to sunset rules related to the transition of grandfathered wireless broadband services in the 3.653.7 GHz band.  In addition to the specific proposals related to federal protection, the NPRM would seek comment on, among other things, whether to align 3.5 GHz protection methodologies with those in adjacent bands, revisit our Environmental Sensing Capability approval procedures, and facilitate the continued introduction of Citizens Broadband Radio Service in areas outside of the contiguous United States.  

Every other year, the Federal Communications Commission asks for input on the state of competition in the domestic communications market, to help inform a report to Congress. This year, EchoStar—now the parent company of Dish Wireless—took the opportunity to accuse T-Mobile US of a series of “anticompetitive” acquisitions and actions, as well as to ask the FCC to impose and enforce a stricter spectrum screen in order to give players other than the three national incumbent wireless operators—like EchoStar—a better chance to compete. While EchoStar said that “Together, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon hold the vast majority of the nation’s supply of suitable and available spectrum,” it singled out T-Mobile as being on a “multi-year stampede to further consolidate the wireless industry,” starting with its Sprint merger. EchoStar’s preferred remedies for the FCC to take to address the competitive landscape? A spectrum screen of 25 percent and a low-band-specific spectrum screen of 25 percent.

The US Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has launched a collaborative project to adapt NIST’s digital identity guidelines to support public benefits programs, such as those designed to help beneficiaries pay for food, housing, medical, and other basic living expenses. Through a cooperative research and development agreement, NIST will work with the Digital Benefits Network (DBN) at Georgetown University’s Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation and the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) to develop resources that help providers balance security, privacy, equity and usability. The collaboration will rely on NIST’s established process of extensive community engagement to gather input from a variety of voices, including federal partners, state benefit program administrators, state IT and cybersecurity leaders, digital identity experts, technologists, advocates, and those with direct experience navigating the US public benefit landscape.

Washington is fumbling through a slate of potential artificial intelligence regulations—some focused on global competition, some on AI-generated deepfakes and some arguing that the government should get its arms around how it’s using AI before it tells anyone else how to do it. All the while, the tech continues to rapidly evolve with little oversight. The most sweeping plan on the table for now is Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) proposed “roadmap” that sets out bipartisan legislative priorities, but that’s more of a plan to have a plan, and less an actual piece of legislation. A survey from the pro-regulation Artificial Intelligence Policy Institute shows that voters largely feel positive about the roadmap’s regulatory priorities but might still need a bit more education about what they would actually do.