Friday, September 15, 2023
Headlines Daily Digest
Digital Connectivity and Lifeline Awareness Week
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Washington State Sets Digital Equity Goals
USTelecom offers suggestions on preventing digital discrimination
Digital Equity
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Digital Equity
The Washington State Broadband Office released its draft Digital Equity Plan in September, giving the public a full 60 days to submit comments and feedback. This wide berth for civic participation reflects the state's vision of ensuring every Washingtonian has affordable broadband and the tools to participate in our digital society. Here's a look at how exactly Washington plans to achieve its vision, and what this means for state residents experiencing the digital divide.
As detailed below, there are several steps the Federal Communications Commission can take as part of carrying out Congress’s direction to take into account technical and economic feasibility as it adopts rules in to eliminate digital discrimination. As an initial matter, when evaluating technical and economic feasibility, the FCC should account for the capital constraints that internet service providers (“ISPs”) face and the multi-faceted business decision-making processes that they implement to optimize investment. The FCC should refrain from adopting rules that would unreasonably disrupt ISP business decisions and thereby deter deployment of next-generation networks. Further, as the FCC considers implementing the law's requirement to revise the FCC's public complaint process, for complaints where the FCC determines that a prima facie (that is, upon initial examination) showing of digital discrimination has been presented, it should permit ISPs to raise arguments based on feasibility barriers. In particular, first, the FCC should create rebuttable presumptions where, in certain predictable circumstances there are feasibility hurdles that would lead an ISP to prioritize investing in deployment elsewhere. Second, the FCC should enable an ISP to demonstrate that it designed its policies and practices that direct its deployment investment in a non-discriminatory manner to allocate resources based on the company’s business goals, and that it applied those policies and practices consistently across the areas at issue.
The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) submitted projections of demand and administrative expenses for federal universal service support mechanisms for the fourth quarter of 2023. The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau, in consultation with the FCC's Office of Managing Director, previously directed USAC to carry forward up to $211.50 million in unused funds from prior funding years to the extent necessary to satisfy funding year 2023 Rural Health Care program demand. Further, for the fourth quarter 2023, OMD instructed USAC to apply $73.76 million of the $211.50 million in unused funds to offset the $163.81 million projected Rural Health Care program demand. This offset reduces the fourth quarter 2023 contribution factor to a level below what the contribution factor would be based on USAC’s filings. The projected demand and expenses, after application of the Rural Health Care offset, is $2.07883 billion. The projected collected interstate and international end-user telecommunications revenues for the fourth quarter of 2023 is $8.172483 billion and the adjusted quarterly contribution base for universal support mechanism is $6.032716 billion. So, the proposed unadjusted contribution factor for the fourth quarter of 2023 is 34.5 percent. If the FCC takes no action regarding the projections of demand and administrative expenses and the proposed contribution factor within the 14-day period following release of this Public Notice, they shall be deemed approved by the FCC.
AT&T CFO Pascal Desroches said it's a safe bet that AT&T and BlackRock's joint venture—Gigapower—will tap into Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding; but stressed the importance of targeting those funds in “areas that make sense for us.” Deroches said “We are not getting dollars for the sake of getting dollars. We want to make sure we can get an appropriate return on those.”
Most people assume that when they have broadband issues they don’t have fast enough broadband speeds, but in many cases, problems are caused by high jitter and latency. Because when data is transmitted over the internet it is broken into small packets Jitter happens when incoming data packets are delayed and don’t show up at the expected time or in the expected order. The primary cause of jitter is network congestion, which happens when places in the network between the sender and the receiver are sent more data packets than can be processed in real-time. Bandwidth constraints can occur anywhere in a network where there is a possibility of overloading the capacity of the electronics—known as "chokepoints." A common cause of overloaded chokepoints is old or inadequate hardware. Faster speeds don’t reduce jitter, and can actually increase it, especially if you have an old inadequate Wi-Fi modem and upgrade to a faster technology like fiber. The best solution to lowering jitter is for broadband providers and customers to replace equipment that causes chokepoints.
Spectrum launched the Internet, Mobile, TV, and Voice services to more than 200 homes and small businesses in Craven County, North Carolina. Spectrum’s newly constructed fiber-optic network buildout in Craven County is part of the company’s approximately $5 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF)-related investment in unserved rural communities, which includes $1 billion won in the Federal Communications Commission’s RDOF auction.
Spectrum
Sen. Kennedy introduces bill to require FCC to release previously auctioned spectrum, expand 5G access to rural Americans
Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) introduced the 5G Spectrum Authority Licensing Enforcement (SALE) Act to require the Federal Communications Commission to release previously auctioned spectrum in order to expand 5G broadband access to rural communities. The legislation would temporarily grant the FCC auction authority so that it may complete spectrum transfers and allow broadband services to provide 5G network coverage to Americans in rural areas. Kennedy’s legislation would grant the FCC a one-time, temporary authority to issue licenses purchased in auctions that were held before March 9, 2023 (when the FCC’s Congressional authorization ended).
The Federal Communications Commission has been ramping up our work to promote space-based innovation. To keep pace with the increase in both the complexity and number of applications for space services before the agency, the [FCC] will vote on new rules to streamline our satellite policies to expedite the processing of space and earth station applications [which] will promote competition and innovation by making it easier for new companies to enter the market. I also have put before my colleagues a plan to provide long-term regulatory certainty by [ensuring] all operators can access the spectrum they need for successful commercial space launches [via additional] airwaves for vital links to launch vehicles, [and a simpler process] for new competitors to get reliable access to the spectrum they need. At the same time, I am working with my colleagues to unlock the kind of space-based technology that supported the Maui fire rescue effort, [as we] are on the cusp of a much broader effort to bring together terrestrial wireless and satellite capabilities to accomplish what neither network can do on its own. The FCC is developing a new regulatory framework to support direct satellite-to-smartphone communications [in what] we call the Single Network Future. Our approach is designed to make it easier for satellite operators to collaborate with wireless carriers to access their terrestrial spectrum and fill gaps in coverage from space to the phone in your pocket. The [FCC] is also [working on] in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (ISAM) capabilities [by] exploring ways [that communications can enable] it [to] help us repair and refuel satellites in space, assemble whole systems in orbit, or even build entire new industries that advance our scientific frontiers and national security. [Finally, the FCC] put in place rules that reduced by 80 percent the amount of time operators regulated by the FCC have to deorbit retired satellites. This is big because it helps reduce the risk of collisions that can cause space communications failures.
The STOP CSAM Act of 2023 (S. 1199) would authorize appropriations to establish the Child Online Protection Board to adjudicate complaints against interactive computer service providers (such as Internet service providers, social media companies, and municipal broadband providers). The bill also would authorize the appropriation of funds to appoint guardians at litem (attorneys and social workers who protect child victims throughout court proceedings) and trustees who facilitate restitution payments owed to child victims.
Powerful tech leaders—including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg—expressed unanimous agreement that the government needs to intervene to avert the potential pitfalls of artificial intelligence (AI). However, there was little apparent consensus about what a congressional framework should look like to govern AI, as companies forge ahead amid a tense industry arms race. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) said Congress’s “difficult job” ahead will be finding ways to enhance the benefits of the technology while minimizing its risks. But Sen. Schumer's remarks made it clear that lawmakers are at least months away from unveiling a legislative framework to address AI. Ultimately, lawmakers, industry and civil rights leaders and tech industry advocates say the US can’t afford a repeat of past attempts to craft tech legislation because of AI’s potential to discriminate and its critical role in national security.
US Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced a bipartisan legislative framework to establish guardrails for artificial intelligence (AI). The framework lays out specific principles for upcoming legislative efforts, the establishment of an independent oversight body, ensuring legal accountability for harms, defending national security, promoting transparency, and protecting consumers and kids. The framework would:
- Establish a Licensing Regime Administered by an Independent Oversight Body
- Ensure Legal Accountability for Harms
- Defend National Security and International Competition
- Protect Consumers and Kids
California lawmakers passed a bill known as the Delete Act (Senate Bill 362) that would allow consumers, with a single request, to have every data broker delete their personal information. Data brokers include a variety of businesses that gather and sell people’s personal information, such as their address, marital status and spending habits. Those companies include credit reporting agencies, people-search sites and data analytic firms that work with political campaigns. The Senate approved the legislation a day after it was passed by the Assembly. The bill heads to the governor’s desk for consideration.
Ofcom’s Communications Market Report 2023 shows that 86% of UK households take fixed broadband. This report summarises our research to understand broadband performance. It is based on two main sources of data: data collected by SamKnows from volunteers who connect a hardware monitoring unit to their broadband router; and data provided to Ofcom by the UK’s four largest broadband providers. Superfast products accounted for 93% of all home broadband lines. The share of residential broadband connections that were superfast products (those with an advertised speed of 30 Mbps or higher) increased from 91% to 93% in the year to March 2023, while 11% of lines were ultrafast products with advertised speeds of at least 300 Mbps. Average residential download speeds have continued to increase. UK home broadband connections' median average download speed was 69.4 Mbps in March 2023, a 10.1 Mbps (17%) increase year-on-year, as people upgraded to higher-bandwidth services. The gap between average urban and rural speeds has narrowed. There was a 26% difference between average urban (70.3 Mbps) and rural (56.0 Mbps) download speeds during the 8-10 pm peak-time period, down from 58% in 2022.
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 David L. Clay II (dclay AT benton DOT org) — we welcome your comments.
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