Friday, August 2, 2024
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When Will Nevada Implement Its Digital Equity Plan?
It’s time to prepare your Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program applications!
Net Neutrality
Benton Institute Statement on Sixth Circuit Stay of Net Neutrality Rules | Benton Institute for Broadband & Society Broadband Funding
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Net neutrality is officially on hold after the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the rule from taking effect. The court granted a stay, extending an earlier temporary pause. This time, net neutrality will be blocked until the court says otherwise after reviewing the petitions from broadband providers who opposed the rule. Those internet service providers (ISPs) successfully showed they would likely succeed on the merits of their challenge, the panel of judges wrote. While restoring net neutrality was always going to be contentious, its fate looked even bleaker after the Supreme Court gutted Chevron deference, a legal standard where courts deferred to expert agencies in many cases about regulation. Experts predicted net neutrality would be ripe for disruption after Chevron’s downfall, and the judges’ opinion notes that prior courts that upheld net neutrality relied on Chevron. In a concurring opinion, Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton writes that the FCC’s flip-flopping on net neutrality between administrations makes it difficult to even apply the lower standard of Skidmore deference, thought to potentially be a fallback now that agencies can no longer rely on Chevron deference. Citing Skidmore, Judge Sutton writes, “An agency’s power to persuade turns on the thoroughness of its reasoning, its technical expertise, and its ‘consistency with earlier and later pronouncements,’” especially those contemporaneous with the statute’s enactment,” he writes. “The problem is, we do not know which group of experts to respect.” He adds, “The consistency query makes matters worse. The Commission’s ‘intention to reverse course for yet a fourth time’ suggests that its reasoning has more to do with changing presidential administrations than with arriving at the true and durable ‘meaning of the law.’”
In February of 2017, Tom Rutledge, then-CEO of Charter, was asked how changes in Washington were about to impact the company. At the time, analysts were curious about what would happen if the newly inaugurated Trump administration overturned the net neutrality rules that the Obama administration had put in place. “It didn’t really affect us,” Rutledge, who is now Charter’s chairman, said, “but it had the potential of affecting us.” To net neutrality advocates, that comment—along with similar ones made by top executives at companies including AT&T and Comcast—was seen as a smoking gun. When the Trump administration did, in fact, repeal the net neutrality rules in late 2017, Rutledge’s remarks were held up as evidence that when the rules were in place, even broadband head honchos said business was unaffected. It’s been seven years since then, but the debate over net neutrality’s impact on businesses—and consumers—is now as relevant as ever.
The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved Montana, Oklahoma, and Vermont's Initial Proposals for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. This approval enables Montana, Oklahoma, and Vermont to request access to funding and begin implementation of the BEAD program—a major step towards closing the digital divide and meeting the President’s goal of connecting everyone in America with affordable, reliable, high-speed Internet service. One year from Initial Proposal approval, states must submit a Final Proposal that details, among other things, the outcome of the subgrantee selection process and how the state will ensure universal coverage. Today’s action allows states to request:
- Montana: Over $628 Million
- Oklahoma: Over $797 Million
- Vermont: Over $228 Million
On June 26, 2024, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded the Nevada Governor's Office of Science, Innovation and Technology (OSIT) over $9 million to implement the state's Digital Equity Plan, the first state to receive funding under the Digital Equity Capacity Grant program. As NTIA continuously awards the states funding to get started on their digital equity goals, we are taking a broad look at each state's implementation timeline as well as some highlights from each of their plans.
On July 24, 2024, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration published the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Competitive Grant Program. The Competitive Grant Program is the third (and final) set of funds available from the Digital Equity Act (DEA) authorized by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021. This article summarizes information about the NOFO, provides application strategies, and provides our best guesses for things NTIA will look for in your application. That said, you, your partners, subgrantees and anyone in your organization who will take part in submitting your application should read the NOFO as it is the best source of information about the grant program. For the first time, DEA funds are open to organizations other than state governments! Eligible entities (see list below) and US Territories may apply for funds to join this historic digital equity movement. The Competitive Grant Program will create lasting and meaningful change by focusing on covered populations, measurable implementation strategies, and stakeholder engagement.
Ciena is well known in the telecommunications space as an optical transport vendor, but when the company saw all the money becoming available from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, it wanted to get in on that action. About two years ago, the company made the decision to get into the fiber access business to homes and businesses. Recently Ciena CEO Gary Smith said that investments in fiber broadband access, fueled by "massive public funding around the world," are projected to grow the 10G and above PON market by a 55% CAGR to approximately $7 billion by 2027. To that end, Ciena was at the Fiber Broadband Association’s Fiber Connect conference, where the excitement around BEAD was high. Ciena has been supporting middle-mile and long-haul networks for many years, and Kevin Sheehan, Ciena’s CTO of the Americas, said access was “a natural extension” and “complementary to everything else Ciena does.” The company’s access offerings include optical network terminals (ONTs), optical line terminals (OLTs), routers and switches.
Public Interest Groups Urge FCC To Lower Broadband Costs, Increase Consumer Choice for Apartment Residents
The Federal Communications Commission may propose rules and seek public comment on how to best lower costs and address the lack of choice for broadband services available to households in apartments, condos, public housing, and other multi-tenant buildings. Thirty-one organizations wrote to the FCC to express their support for opt-out of bulk billing arrangements. As they exist now, bulk billing arrangements sacrifice consumer choice to preserve in-building monopolies at the expense of tenants. For the many tenants trapped with high-cost or less-capable internet that does not meet their needs, an opt out option provides a vital escape. This is especially true for those eligible for low-income plans or Lifeline subsidy, which by definition are not available in a bulk billing arrangement. It also introduces competitive pressure to ensure that landlords and ISPs do not enter sweetheart deals at the expense of tenants—particularly low-income tenants. The best way to determine whether bulk billing does more harm or more good, whether providers genuinely need 100% sign up to make service viable, or other questions as to whether allowing opt out better serves the public by offering more competition, is to move forward with a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The FCC can add questions that have emerged as a result of the recent barrage of presentations, and receive broad public input to address these questions.
In 2024, the Federal Communications Commission ordered Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile to pay nearly $200 million total for sharing customers' location data. The FCC fined AT&T around $57 million, Verizon around $47 million, and T-Mobile $92 million (including $12 million for Sprint, which merged with T-Mobile in 2020). The companies, which paid the fines under protest, now want appellate courts to reverse the FCC's ruling. “The Commission’s forfeiture order is unconstitutional, inconsistent with the limitations of the Communications Act, and arbitrary and capricious,” AT&T writes in papers filed with the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Chamber of Progress wrote to Donald trump asking him to clarify his position on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act as voters and donors assess the candidates in this year’s general election. Section 230 is the legal bedrock for online speech. People deserve to know whether Trump still plans to repeal the law that’s enabled online platforms to host user posts, or whether he plans to rewrite the rules for speech online. Republicans often rail against Section 230, but it’s a key tool in enabling free expression online.
The Federal Communications Commission intends to recharter the Disability Advisory Committee for a period of two years. The FCC is seeking nominations for membership. The mission of the Committee is to make recommendations to the FCC regarding disability issues specified by the Commission. Such disability issues may include advanced communications services and equipment, access to 911, hearing aid compatibility, the National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program, telecommunications relay services, telecommunications services and equipment, access to televised emergency information, accessible user interfaces on video programming apparatus and access to program guides and menus provided by navigation devices, audio description, and closed captioning. The DAC will provide recommendations to the FCC on those disability access issues specified by the Commission after reviewing relevant data and information and performing those analyses that are necessary to respond to the questions or matters before it. Nominations for membership must be submitted to the FCC no later than Monday, September 30, 2024.
Altice USA reported results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2024. Fiber customer growth continued in Q2 2024 with 40k fiber net additions, driven by migrations of existing customers and fiber gross additions. Penetration of the fiber network reached 15.3% at the end of Q2 2024, up from 9.4% at the end of Q2 2023. Optimum Mobile line net additions of 33k in Q2 2024, compared to 16k in Q2 2023. Mobile customer penetration of the broadband base was 5.8% at the end of Q2 2024, up from 3.8% at the end of Q2 2023. Broadband net losses were 51k in Q2 2024, compared to 37k in Q2 2023. Broadband subscriber net losses in the quarter were principally driven by seasonal university disconnects, continued competitive and macro pressures, and less activity in the low-income segment which is partially attributable to the impact of the Affordable Connectivity Program sunsetting.
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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