Benton Foundation

[Commentary] It might not be surprising that major industries would mount a big fight over how to deploy a swathe of currently unused spectrum. However, a dispute over a chunk of spectrum located in the 5.9 gigahertz (GHz) band also pits different parts of the federal government against each other and, even in Washington’s ever-more partisan environment, has Republicans and Democrats on both sides. As such, the dispute offers some important insights into the political gamesmanship surrounding spectrum allocation.

The National Digital Inclusion Alliance’s first Net Inclusion Summit in Kansas City, Missouri, brought together activists from around the country who are working towards the same goal: for everyone, from all walks of life, to have access to the Internet. As a student of Florida International University (FIU), I had the opportunity to attend the Net Inclusion Summit, along with my classmate, Romina Angelelli, and our professor, Dr. Moses Shumow. During my time at the summit, I attended some incredibly informative lectures by excellent speakers. But it was the tour around Kansas City to different organizations addressing the digital divide that moved me beyond measure. The tour went to three locations that have successfully built networks to provide Internet access in underserved communities: Juniper Gardens, Reconciliation Services, and Wayne Miner. To see those community leaders in action, their passion illuminated, and to hear about their experience first-hand was inspiring.

The Federal Communications Commission held its monthly meeting on August 4, covering prison phone rates, the FCC’s program for providing affordable communications equipment for people with hearing and vision loss, and new rules to create a pathway for 100% compatibility with wireless hearing aid devices.

Just one year ago, Dr. Colin Rhinesmith joined the Benton Foundation as our Faculty Research Fellow. We want to aid both policymakers and practitioners in the design, implementation, and evaluation of digital inclusion and broadband adoption strategies. The goal is open, affordable, high-capacity broadband access, adoption and use for all Americans. Our partnership has produced important research and, we’re happy to announce, will continue for the next year. To date, Dr. Rhinesmith’s research has delved much deeper into broadband adoption barriers than large, national surveys have. Although many of these surveys have identified non-adopters’ belief that the Internet and broadband aren’t relevant to their lives as a major barrier, Colin’s interviews with low-income individuals and families revealed that they did indeed understand the value of broadband connectivity. Many people explained to Colin that cost remained the most significant barrier to their full adoption of broadband in the home. Consumers, you see, consider broadband service to be relevant if other barriers -- and, most notably price -- are overcome. Dr. Rhinesmith’s research showed that policymakers needed to address low-income consumers ability to pay for broadband rather than their willingness to pay. Frankly, the people Colin spoke with were making choices between broadband service and having enough money to feed their families.

This week, Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party swept into Philadelphia (PA) for the 2016 Democratic National Convention. The party unveiled its platform, which contains a plan for universal broadband, a commitment to an open Internet both here and abroad, and -- ironically, it turns out -- cybersecurity promises. Just prior to the convention, Wikileaks released e-mails from top Democratic National Committee staffers, resulting in the resignation of party Chairwoman Rep Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL). The shadow cast by the leaks was the backdrop to a convention that featured Clinton making history as the first woman nominated by a major political party in the U.S. to be President. Let’s unpack some of the most important parts of DNC 2016.

This week, Donald Trump and the Republican Party rolled into Cleveland, Ohio for the 2016 Republican National Convention. In a spectacle of full of cheers, jeers, and fears, Donald Trump officially accepted the Republican nomination. Importantly, the GOP unveiled the party platform, which addresses universal broadband, Internet governance, and EdTech. The convention itself was a high-tech affair, with social media and live-streaming used as popular tools. The press, some of which had been previously blacklisted by the Trump campaign, was in full force, as reporters streamed and tweeted their way through the four-day convention. Let’s unpack some of the most important parts of RNC 2016.

On July 13, 2016, the Benton Foundation published the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition's Connecting Anchor Institutions: A Broadband Action Plan.

Connecting our nation’s schools, libraries, health clinics and other community anchor institutions (CAIs) to next generation high-speed broadband is an important national priority. In an effort to provide federal, state and local leaders with policy options to ensure that all anchor institutions have high-speed connections to the Internet, the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition is releasing “Connecting Anchor Institutions: A Broadband Action Plan.” The report is published by the Benton Foundation. SHLB is the leading advocate for open, affordable, high-capacity broadband for our nation’s community anchor institutions and their communities. The recently launched Grow2GiG+ Initiative is a campaign designed to help bring gigabit speed-and-beyond networks to all anchor institutions in America by 2020.

“Anchor institutions are the lifeblood of our communities, and access to high-speed Internet at our nation’s anchor institutions is the first rung on the ladder to success,” said John Windhausen, Jr., Executive Director of SHLB. “The SHLB Action Plan gives policymakers a road map for designing a broadband strategy that promotes education, health care and community enrichment.”

"The Benton Foundation is publishing the Action Plan because our top priority for 2016 and beyond is affordable broadband access and adoption for all Americans," said Adrianne B. Furniss, the foundation's executive director. "I can think of no better partner than the SHLB Coalition and its diverse members. Community anchor institutions, as is so well-articulated in the report, are on the front lines ensuring that the benefits of the Internet are widely available to everyone, promoting equity for all."

[Commentary] The Benton Foundation is publishing the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition’s Connecting Anchor Institutions: A Broadband Action Plan because our top priority for 2016 and beyond is affordable broadband access and adoption for all Americans. As the Federal Communications Commission has determined, broadband Internet access service is, unquestionably, essential to education, public health, and public safety. And broadband has an important economic impact. It creates efficiencies, improves productivity, and accelerates innovation. In a global, competitive economy, we need every American contributing to our prosperity, to educating today and tomorrow’s workers and entrepreneurs, to improving our civic dialogue, and to enriching our culture. But if we want every American to be able to make these contributions and take full advantage of the vast opportunities that broadband can deliver, we need to focus on bridging the critical gaps in our digital infrastructure and close the nagging, persistent divides in broadband deployment and adoption. I call the places these divides exist ‘digital desserts.’ To realize universal broadband adoption, I can think of no better partner than the SHLB Coalition and its diverse members. Community anchor institutions, as is so well-articulated in the report released today, are on the front lines ensuring that the benefits of the Internet are widely available to everyone, promoting equity for all.

The House Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a Federal Communications Commission oversight hearing on July 12 – just for fun. The staff for the subcommittee’s majority framed the hearing as an examination of both the FCC’s “policy decisions and the process by which it reaches them under Chairman [Tom] Wheeler’s leadership.” The staff teed up four issues in particular: privacy and broadband providers, set-top TV boxes, media ownership rules, and management of the Lifeline program. All five FCC commissioners testified.

In his written testimony, FCC Chairman Wheeler updated the subcommittee on the FCC’s progress regarding Open Internet rules recently upheld in court, the world’s first incentive auction aimed at convincing television broadcasters to relinquish spectrum licenses, efforts to accelerate the development and deployment of 5G wireless technology, a proposal to encourage competition in the Business Data Services (also known at Special Access) marketplace, the FCC’s Lifeline Modernization order, a proceeding on how to ensure consumers have the tools they need to make informed choices about how and whether their data is used and shared by their broadband providers, set-top boxes, and the need to improve the 911 system.

Press reports of the hearing focus on the sparring over the Lifeline program which makes telephone service more affordable for low-income households. FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai has expressed concerns that households may be receiving extra or unneeded subsidies, which are against the program's rules. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), the Ranking Member of the subcommittee, ripped into Commissioner Pai at the hearing, pressing him on whether he had actually found evidence of fraud and if his investigation into the program had considered that some addresses include more than one household, for example homeless shelters or veterans' homes, where residents might be entitled to multiple subsidies. “Because they exist in my congressional district, in everyone’s congressional district,” she said. “And if you’re using those multi-household addresses to allege that there’s fraud, then, you know what, you’ve got to be really careful with this.” Chairman Wheeler came armed with stats showing that more than two million people getting lifeline subsidies were in those multiple-dwelling units.

“I agree completely congresswoman,” Commissioner Pai responded. “That’s why I said we don’t know, it’s potentially fraudulent and we need to investigate given the magnitude of that number.” “So you don’t know, you’re just saying it might be?” Rep Eshoo shot back. She then repeatedly asked Pai whether he had found concrete evidence of fraud in the Lifeline program. “No, just answer me, yes for no,” she said, eventually. “Have you uncovered any fraud so far?” “To date, I have not reached that conclusion,” Pai replied.

Rep Frank Pallone (D-NJ) released a report concluding that recent Republican allegations of $500 million of waste, fraud, and abuse in the Lifeline program are based on faulty assumptions and bad data. The research found that the Republican claims relied solely on a faulty assumption that all Lifeline beneficiaries living in multi-household addresses — including veteran group homes, nursing homes, and homeless shelters — received their phones due to fraud. The investigation has uncovered no evidence to support this assumption, and found that 43 percent of the multiple-household filings were submitted out of an abundance of caution for consumers whose information had already been verified.