What's on the agenda for policymakers.
Agenda
42.5 Billion Reasons to Pass Permitting Reform Now
In the wake of the bipartisan resolution on the debt ceiling, Congress now has the opportunity to take another timely and unifying step forward for our nation—one that will help ensure a connected economy in which everyone can fully participate in its many opportunities. Nearly $42.5 billion in federal broadband infrastructure investment is poised to begin flowing to the states. With broadband providers and communities ready, willing, and eager to proceed, the single most intractable barricade remains—the ability of the gears of government to grind all progress to a halt.
FCC Announces the Start Date for Performance Measures Testing for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, Bringing Puerto Rico Together Fund, and the Connect USVI Fund
The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) announces January 1, 2024 as the start date for the requirement to begin one year of pre-testing and reporting of speed and latency results for the Bringing Together Puerto Rico Fund Stage and the Connect USVI Fund Stage 2. Testing will begin on January 1, 2025. For the carriers participating in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), pre-testing will begin on January 1, 2025, and testing will begin on January 1, 2026.
The agenda for the meeting will include final reports and recommendations from each of the three Communications Equity and Diversity Council (CEDC) working groups including Innovation and Access, Digital Empowerment and Inclusion, and Diversity and Equity.
The June 15, 2023, meeting is the closing meeting of the CEDC under its current charter, ending June 29, 2023. This agenda may be modified at the discretion of the CEDC Chair and the DFO.
2023 Broadband Legislation
I guess it’s inevitable that a $42.5 billion grant program would attract a lot of legislative action trying to set some parameters on how to spend the money. Recent hearings conducted by the House Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology looked at issues that would expedite the deployment of broadband infrastructure. The subcommittee is considering 32 bills related to broadband infrastructure, many of the bills still in draft form. Following are just a few bills that show the breadth of House legislation being considered:
How the FCC may be forced to grapple with AI, too
The Federal Communications Commission — which has jurisdiction over radio, television, cable, and satellites — isn’t best known for grappling with cutting-edge technology. But amid the rise of generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney, the communications regulator may be forced to tackle artificial intelligence, an area that’s beginning to intersect with
Why TikTok wants its new data privacy trial held in Illinois
TikTok is being sued over data privacy — again.