Multichannel News

On April 1, Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) CEO Radha Sekar wrote to Federal Communications Commissioner Michael O'Rielly to respond to his concerns that E-rate funds may be used to potentially overbuild fiber networks. Specifically, Commissioner O'Rielly had written to Sekar in March seeking answers as to whether government broadband subsidies should be used to subsidize wide area networks (WANS) where government subsidies have already been used to lay fiber as well as how many of those were being subsidized.

With the Save the Internet Act, a bill to restore network neutrality, having passed the House, activists at Fight for the Future are looking to get enough Republican Senators on board to push it through the Senate. In the last Congress, before the Democrats regained control of the House, the Congressional Review Act aimed at rolling back the deregulatory Restoring Internet Freedom Order narrowly passed the Senate with the help of independents who caucus with the Democrats and three Republicans: Sens John Kennedy (R-LA), Lisa Murkowski (R-AR) and Susan Collins (R-ME).

The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on how the Federal Communications Commission collects and maps data on the availability of broadband connectivity. Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) said it was crucial to have accurate broadband maps on where broadband is and isn't available at certain speeds if the country wants to close the digital divide, and that inaccurate maps waste money and stifle opportunity for economic development in rural areas. He wanted to know how long the FCC's data collection process (form 477) had been deficient.