Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

Acting on instruction from Congress in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Federal Communications Commission has invited comment on the effect of the Infrastructure Act on Universal Service Fund (USF) programs and how the FCC can reach its goals of universal deployment, affordability, adoption, availability, and equitable access to broadband throughout the United States.

The House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held an oversight hearing on the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

Benton Institute for Broadband & Society Executive Director Adrianne B Furniss announced the 2022 Charles Benton Digital Equity Award winners at The National Digital Inclusion Alliance's Net Inclusion 2022 event. "We are here to honor three people who have demonstrated commitment, innovation, leadership, and collaboration: the very skills we need to navigate us through very trying, interlocking crises—and to steer us to a more equitable, more just society," said Furniss.

"The Federal Communications Commission has long banned internet service providers from entering into sweetheart deals with landlords that guarantee they are the only provider in the building," said Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. "But the record in this proceeding has made it clear that our existing rules are not doing enough and that we can do more to pry open to the door for providers who want to offer competitive service in apartment buildings. That’s why we take three steps today.

As 2021 turned into 2022, the Federal Communications Commission transformed the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program into the Affordable Connectivity Program. Congress created the Affordable Connectivity Program through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and provided the FCC $14.2 billion to subsidize broadband service for low-income households. Broadband providers will receive up to $30/month (or up to $75/month if the household is on Tribal Land) for providing service to low-income households.

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is proud to share the news that Benton Senior Counselor Andrew Jay Schwartzman has been awarded the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School Law Alumni Society’s highest honor, the James Wilson Award, “for a lifetime of public service.” In a February 3 virtual ceremony, Penn Law Dean Theodore Ruger said that Schwartzman—a member of Penn’s 1968 undergraduate class and the law school class of 1971—“is known as the dean of public interest commu

The internet has failed to nourish our news and information diet the way we hoped it would twenty years ago. The norm is major platforms poaching the news they distribute directly from newspaper and television newsrooms while failing to make any meaningful investments in journalism despite generating billions of dollars in advertising revenue that traditional media once depended upon. Solutions have been suggested; one option is vigorous anti-trust to break up monopolies.

On January 7, 2022, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) requested public comment on policy and program considerations associated with new broadband grant programs authorized and funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act: the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, the Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program, and the State Digital Equity Planning Grant Program.

February 4 was the deadline for written public input on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act broadband programs that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will administer. Much attention is rightly being paid to the many billions of dollars NTIA will distribute to states in the coming months to ensure broadband networks reach everyone in America. However, there's been less attention given to a provision in the new law creating a new vehicle for broadband deployment: private activity bonds.

This is the right decision. It will ensure that the people of California will continue to have unfettered internet access, blocks internet providers from discriminating against websites for financial or political gain, and reduces the chance that their customers will be ripped off.