I recently testified at a Senate Communications Subcommittee Hearing in support of legislation to extend the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). After the hearing I received ten questions on my testimony about affordable broadband from Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Ted Cruz (R-TX). The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society has kindly published my answers, which are much longer and more detailed than the usual answers to such questions. In this wrap-up, I want to summarize my answers and explain why I answered as I did.  The sad and simple truth is that the ACP, despite valiant efforts by many, is not likely to be extended by this Congress.  Further, whatever the fate of the multiple ACP extension legislation efforts, they are all short-term in impact.  We need Congress and the FCC to think about what our country is trying to accomplish long-term with the Universal Service Fund (USF) program.  Therefore, I wanted to provide answers that didn’t just address the ACP but also laid down some markers for the inevitable debate we must have about USF reform. I tried to stress above all else that Congress should skate where the puck is going, not where it is or where it was in the past. The metaphor is not mine, of course, it belongs to hockey great Wayne Gretzky trying to explain how his approach to the game differed from his peers.  But it has been a North Star to guide all of the successful policy initiatives I have been involved in. Here are some of the key principles I hope underly the upcoming debate.

[Blair Levin is the Policy Advisor to New Street Research and a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings Metro​.]

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Under Secretary Dr. Basil Gooden announced today that USDA is making available $25 million through the Broadband Technical Assistance (BTA) Program to help local organizations, cooperatives and Tribes expand affordable, high-speed internet projects in rural communities. Funding is made possible by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. USDA will begin accepting applications on June 21, 2024. USDA encourages applicants to consider projects that will advance the following key priorities:

• Assisting rural communities recover economically through more and better market opportunities and through improved infrastructure;
• Ensuring all rural residents have equitable access to USDA Rural Development (RD) programs and benefits from RD funded projects; and
• Reducing climate pollution and increasing resilience to the impacts of climate change through economic support to rural communities.

Cable companies often make it sound like DOCSIS 4.0 is right around the corner. This is the technology upgrade that will increase overall speeds to multiple gigabits while also providing the option for symmetrical speeds. ATX Networks, a leading manufacturer of electronics for cable companies published the results of a survey in May of cable company executives that shows almost half of cable companies intend to implement DOCSIS 4.0 by the end of 2025. The survey showed that cable companies are taking different approaches on how to upgrade to DOCSIS 4.0. About one-third of the respondents to the survey said they would be happy to get symmetrical speeds using a network with the overall capacity of 1.2 GHz. Other cable companies intend to also upgrade the overall bandwidth capability of the network to 1.8 GHz. Finally, the survey showed that 15% percent of the cable companies don’t have plans to upgrade to DOCSIS 4.0. There are still cable companies that believe the best option is to convert directly to fiber. But that is by far the most expensive option.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has rejected a bid by AT&T to no longer be the “carrier of last resort” for phone service in California. The ruling is a win for people who still use landlines. Being a carrier of last resort requires the company to provide basic telephone service. That often means installing and maintaining old fashioned copper landlines for those who have nothing else, and the state’s biggest carrier of last resort is AT&T. AT&T argued landlines serve a dwindling number of customers, maintaining them is often unnecessary and it curtails investment in modern technologies. But the CPUC got thousands of complaints from older people and those in rural areas, where they say wireless and fiber optic technology is unreliable or expensive.“Our vote to dismiss AT&T’s application made clear that we will protect customer access to basic telephone service—no matter where they live, income, or access to other forms of communication,” said Commissioner John Reynolds, who was assigned to the proceeding.

Spectrum announced the launch of Spectrum Internet, Mobile, TV and Voice services to more than 2,000 homes and small businesses in Rutherford County (NC). Spectrum’s newly constructed fiber-optic network buildout in Rutherford County is part of the company’s approximately $5 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund-related investment in unserved rural communities, partly offset by $1.2 billion in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) RDOF auction. The company’s RDOF expansion will provide broadband access to 1.3 million customer locations across 24 states in the coming years. Spectrum has also won more than $700 million in state broadband expansion subsidies, which, combined with Spectrum investment, will connect another 300,000 homes and small businesses.

It looks like Congress will remain deadlocked over how to release spectrum for 5G. And that situation could push industry players to other, secondary spectrum sources. "This is a case where nobody really wins and everyone is unhappy," wrote Blair Levin, a policy adviser to New Street Research and a former high-level FCC official, in a note to investors regarding ongoing spectrum negotiations in Congress. However: "That unhappiness is unlikely to translate to legislation in the near-term," he added. At issue is legislation that could potentially reinstate the FCC's auction authority, which has been missing for more than a year. It could also pave the way for commercial operations—including 5G—in the valuable lower 3GHz band. According to Levin, the stalemate regarding the legislation will likely last until after the November presidential elections. 

Cable company Charter Communications is cutting around 1,000 jobs as part of its efforts to consolidate its call center operations. Charter said it would work to transfer some affected employees to open jobs in other locations. In its latest financial filing, Charter reported around 101,000 full-time employees. News of Charter's cuts trickled out across a number of local reports. In a sign of Charter's difficult financials, the company also confirmed that it would raise rates on some of its services for the second time in less than six months. Charter isn't the only US cable company to cut jobs in recent weeks. Cable operator Cable One said it will shave 4% of its employees – around 120 positions – in an effort to "enhance the company's ability to grow."