High-speed internet access is crucial for economic opportunity and social participation. However, broadband policies have not kept pace with dramatic changes in technology and markets. The administration should: 

• Adopt Technology-Neutral Policies: Adopt technology-neutral policies that recognize that costs vary by technology and context, moving beyond outdated concepts of "high-cost areas."
• Consider Competition Holistically: Evaluate market competition across all available broadband technologies including fiber, cable, fixed wireless, 5G, and satellite services, rather than focusing on individual technologies in isolation.
• Promote Market Competition Over Price Regulation: Rely on market competition to discipline prices rather than implementing direct price controls. Address affordability challenges through targeted low-income support programs rather than broad price regulation that can discourage investment and innovation.
• Set Subsidies on Demand and Cost: Set explicit per-location funding limits considering consumer demand, deployment speed, and alternative technologies like LEO satellites.
• Restore Program Focus: Return broadband programs to their core mission of expanding connectivity. Recent programs have added numerous unrelated requirements that increase costs and complexity while reducing effectiveness.
• Reform Low-Income Support: Provide technology-neutral vouchers while preventing providers from identifying recipients to avoid price discrimination.
• Modernize Spectrum Allocation: Develop new market-based mechanisms to determine use patterns (e.g., licensed, unlicensed, shared, etc.) based on revealed valuations rather than technical claims and lobbying. Ensure all users, including government agencies, face opportunity costs of spectrum use.
• Require Rigorous Evaluation: Build evaluation into every program focused on measuring outcomes achieved relative to costs, not just compliance. 

In a November 26 letter to Members of Congress, Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel offered an update on the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, emphasizing the need for full funding of the program. The consequences of the continued lack of full funding for the Reimbursement Program are significant for our national security and rural communities ... In light of these concerns, and the need to ensure that our Nation’s communications networks are free of this vulnerable and insecure equipment, the Commission stands ready to assist Congress in efforts to fully fund the Reimbursement Program.

Panel 1: Finishing the Job on the BEAD Program

As power moves to a new administration, the future of the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program - is likely to come center stage. What kind of changes can we expect from the NTIA, and potentially the FCC, as Donald Trump returns to the White House. Will the new administration stay the course or tweak aspects of BEAD?

• Eric Frederick, Chief Connectivity Officer, Michigan High-Speed Internet Office
• Diane Rinaldo, Executive Director, Open RAN Policy Coalition
• Ronnie K. Hammond, Director, Office of Statewide Broadband, Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development
• Other panelists have been invited
• Christopher Cole (moderator), Senior Reporter, Telecom, Law360

Panel 2: A Return to Spectrum Authority?

Since the Federal Communications Commission’s authority to conduct spectrum auctions lapsed in March 2023, advocates have been clamoring for Congress to renew it. Thus far, their efforts have fallen flat. As the FCC looks to explore additional spectrum opportunities, the authority’s lapsing casts a long shadow. With a new Congress on the horizon and a potentially reshuffled FCC, what factors will facilitate - or hinder - a revival of auction authority authority? And what impacts might this have on future spectrum strategies, the broader economy, and the U.S.’s competitive edge in wireless technologies?

• Scott Blake Harris, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Crest Hill Advisors LLC
• Shiva Goel, Senior Advisor for Spectrum Policy, NTIA, U.S. Department of Commerce
• David Redl, Founder and CEO, Salt Point Strategies
• Jeff Blum, Executive Vice President, External & Government Affairs, EchoStar
• Other panelists have been invited
• Kelcee Griffis (moderator), Telecom Reporter, Bloomberg News

Panel 3: Reforming the Universal Service Fund, and Renewing the Affordable Connectivity Program?

While lawmakers say they support empowering underserved communities, the biggest disappointment for broadband advocates in 2024 was the expiration of the Affordable Connectivity Program. Its fate has become intertwined with potential changes in the Universal Service Fund. To complicate matters, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down the USF as unconstitutional, and the Supreme Court is widely expected to review that decision next year. How will these two twin issues play out in the new administration, and in the next Congress?

• Roslyn Layton, Senior Vice President, Strand Consult
• Amy Huffman, Policy Director, National Digital Inclusion Alliance
• Mignon Clyburn, Principal, MLC Strategies, LLC
• Harold Furchtgott-Roth, Senior Fellow and Director, Center for the Economics of the Internet, Hudson Institute
• Other panelists have been invited
• Ryan Tracy (moderator), Co-Writer, Capitol Account

Panel 4: With Chevron Deference Dead, Will Courts Check the Next Administration?

The Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo marks the end of Chevron deference, fundamentally altering the regulatory landscape that federal agencies navigate. This change has profound implications for the FCC's authority on critical issues including Net Neutrality and digital discrimination. A second Trump administration will face a transformed regulatory environment where agency rulemaking powers are significantly constrained. Additionally, are we likely to see more litigation about Section 230 content moderation under the Trump Administration? How will the FCC approach Big Tech, and how will courts react? 

• Joel Thayer, President, Digital Progress Institute
• Nathan Leamer, CEO, Fixed Gear Strategies
• Other panelists have been invited
• Lynn Stanton (moderator), Senior Editor, Wolters Kluwer’s TR Daily

During this informative session, industry and policy leaders will discuss the challenges to and advances in providing telehealth services to communities of color and low-income individuals, the potential risks of bias in the use of artificial intelligence-based telehealth and how to mitigate those risks, and key telehealth policy updates that will take effect in 2025 and how these updates will impact telehealth services to communities of color and low-income individuals.

Lunch will be served.

Register here by December 5, 2024. Space is limited.