Friday, June 14, 2024
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Illinois, Oregon, and Puerto Rico’s “Internet for All” Initial Proposals Approved
Rep Gallego Introduces Bill to Extend, Improve the Affordable Connectivity Program
Blueprints for BEAD: Stakeholders May Use Rebuttal Power to Prevent New Errors in BEAD Maps
Broadband Funding
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The universal service contribution factor for the third quarter of 2024 will be 34.4 percent | Federal Communications Commission
Digital Discrimination
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Biden-Harris Administration Approves Illinois, Oregon, and Puerto Rico’s “Internet for All” Initial Proposal
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The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved Illinois, Oregon, and Puerto Rico’s Initial Proposals for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris Administration’s “Internet for All” initiative. This approval enables Illinois, Oregon, and Puerto Rico to request access to funding and begin implementation of the BEAD program. Today’s action allows the entities to request access to:
- Illinois: More than $1 billion
- Oregon: More than $688 million
- Puerto Rico: More than $334 million
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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.
Sen Gillibrand Announces Legislation To Renew The Affordable Connectivity Program, Provide Low-Cost Internet To Nearly Two Million New York Households
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Sen Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) held a video press conference to announce her bipartisan legislation to renew the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), a federal program that provides financial assistance to low-income households to help them afford high-speed internet. The program ran out of funding in May, and as a result, over 23 million American households—including over 1.7 million in New York—have since lost access to this critical benefit, which helped them afford the broadband services they need to work remotely, complete online coursework, attend telehealth appointments, and more. The Secure and Affordable Broadband Extension Act would provide $6 billion for the ACP and continue providing this discount to families in need. Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), J.D. Vance (R-OH), Peter Welch (D-VT), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Steve Daines (R-MT), John Fetterman (R-PA), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Angus King (I-ME), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Mike Crapo (R-ID), and Jim Risch (R-ID) cosponsor this legislation.
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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.
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In 2021, California did something truly remarkable and forward looking by approving historic legislation that allocated a record $6 billion to bring equitable and affordable high-speed broadband service to all its citizens. The multiyear investment aimed to close the digital divide by building the largest “middle-mile” and “last-mile” high-speed broadband internet project in the nation. However, with the state facing a record $44.9 billion budget deficit this year, Gov Gavin Newsom (D-CA) plans to cut $2 billion for the program he previously championed. California lawmakers must not backtrack on that commitment. We must continue this investment and reconsider a state bond, as the Legislature did in 2021, to fully fund and complete the unfinished work. As a former state assemblymember who served during severe budget deficits after the Great Recession, I certainly understand that this year’s budget situation is a very difficult one. But California made a promise to expand broadband for all, and we must complete the full 10,000 miles as quickly as possible and not leave unconnected and underconnected communities waiting.
[Luis A. Alejo is a Monterey county supervisor, former state assemblymember and a board member of the California Middle Mile Advisory Committee and the California State Association of Counties.]
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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.
Lack of broadband in homes of children attending school will make the problems in our educational system worse, not better
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I am confident in opining that the lack of broadband in homes of children attending school will make the problems in our educational system worse, not better. The fact that the problem of reading scores pre-dates the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) does not make it less of a problem. Nor does it address the question of whether ACP can be helpful in addressing low reading scores, particularly as artificial intelligence develops personalized ways to assist young readers in overcoming specific decoding problems that serve as barriers to their learning to read. Again, I would urge Congress to skate where the puck is going, not where it is or where it was in the past. We should recognize the importance of in-home connectivity for students to be able to do their best in their educational pursuits. In short, I believe the United States is capable of both using technology to improve educational outcomes for school children, while also protecting children from potential harms from the use of technology. I would hope that we could all agree with those goals and develop policies accordingly.
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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.
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A new regulatory framework to address digital discrimination has created a chilling effect felt across the broadband industry mainly because of its unclear enforcement, according to aides to Republican Federal Communications Commissioners. “Out of fear of running afoul of the rules, companies will certainly avoid otherwise planned investments,” said Erin Boone, chief of staff and wireless advisor for Republican FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington. Boone spoke about the policy at a Federalist Society event in Washington. The lightning rod of the discussion was the FCC's Digital Discrimination order, which permits the FCC to investigate companies for alleged broadband access discrimination “not justified by genuine issues of technical or economic feasibility.” Boone echoed Commissioner Simington’s dissenting opinion that the language in the digital discrimination order's compliance requirements was not specific enough for companies to confidently follow.
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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.
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A contentious battle over spectrum between the US Commerce Department and the US Department of Defense (DoD) may have finally come to an end. But the US wireless industry might not be pleased at the outcome. However, the contours of that new agreement among agencies within the Biden administration are not clear. It's also unclear whether Congress will be able to pass any legislation built on the deal. At issue is the Spectrum and National Security Act of 2024, introduced in April by Sen Maria Cantwell (D-WA). Broadly, the legislation seeks to reinstate the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) auction authority, clarify the nation's approach to spectrum management, fund the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) and add more money to the FCC's rip-and-replace program. The new agreement likely paves the way for spectrum sharing in bands including the lower 3GHz. That would please the US cable industry but represent a blow to lobbying efforts by the US wireless industry, led by its trade association CTIA.
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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.
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The same generative artificial intelligence tools that are supercharging the work of both skilled and novice coders can also produce flawed, potentially dangerous code. Multiple studies have shown that more than half of programmers are using generative AI to write or edit the software that runs our world—and that number keeps rising. In 2022, GitHub found that developers who used its AI coding assistant worked 55 percent faster than those who didn't. But the productivity gains come with a price. One study from Stanford found that programmers who had access to AI assistants "wrote significantly less secure code than those without access to an assistant." Another study from researchers at Bilkent University in 2023 found that 30.5 percent of code generated by AI assistants was incorrect and 23.2 percent was partially incorrect.
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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.
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As part of its ongoing strategic review, Crown Castle said it will cut between 3,000 and 5,000 small cell nodes out of its 2024 construction plans. The company also announced it will cut 10 percent of its workforce. Crown Castle's move casts yet another shadow over the small cell industry in general. For years, companies in the US wireless industry have suggested that network operators would eventually invest heavily into densifying their networks with more small cells, as a way to improve their overall network capacity. But that big push hasn't materialized. Crown Castle counts a total of around 115,000 small cell nodes in operation or under contract across the country.
NIST Launches Collaborative Research Effort on Digital Identity to Support Secure Delivery of Public Benefits
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.
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Remote work was uncommon prior to the pandemic. But since then, the share of Californians who work from home has increased dramatically, from 6% in 2018–19 to 19% in 2021–22. Most workers consider remote work to be a desirable job benefit and more people would like to work from home than currently do so, according to Public Policy Institute of California surveys. As working conditions continue to shift, the largest group currently working remotely is college-educated parents of young children—but remote work varies considerably by education, income, race/ethnicity, and other demographic characteristics. Education levels play a key role in who is able to work from home. Working Californians with high levels of education are more likely than others to work remotely for all or most of their work week. Much of this difference is driven by the occupations held by these highly educated—and highly paid—workers. Professional and scientific jobs lend themselves to remote work more readily than does manual labor or service sector jobs in areas such as food service or retail.
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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.
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Business leaders have high expectations for the year ahead, thanks to the increasing ubiquity and potential of artificial intelligence (AI). The International Data Corporation (IDC) canvassed over 650 global technology leaders, and 81% of them expect to see moderate to high growth for their businesses in the next 12 months. The study (which was commissioned by Expereo) found 69% of businesses are preparing to take on AI or already using it at scale. However, there are some roadblocks to get past, among them the need for robust network infrastructure to fully support AI. Only 14% of respondents said their networks are ready to support AI. Networks that do not scale flexibly on demand or deliver high application performance hinder companies from implementing large AI projects. Other issues include lack of network bandwidth for very large data transfer, or networks that don’t provide adequate connectivity to the cloud or between clouds.
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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