Federal
How to Fix the Universal Service Fund
The Universal Service Fund (USF) is inefficient, ineffective, and funded by a regressive tax mechanism. Several reforms could improve the program:
New York Attorney General James Secures $615,000 from Companies that Supplied Fake Comments to Influence FCC’s Repeal of Net Neutrality Rules
New York State Attorney General Letitia James (D-NY) secured $615,000 from three companies—LCX, Lead ID, and Ifficient—that supplied millions of fake public comments to influence a 2017 proceeding by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to repeal net neutrality rules.
Are the FTC’s tools strong enough for digital challenges?
In a period of only nine days—April 25 to May 3, 2023—the the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced initiatives to look at unfair and deceptive acts involving AI and proposed banning Meta Platforms from targeting young users. These come on top of two years of antitrust aggressiveness and consumer protection assertiveness. But both actions beg the question, “Are the tools strong enough for the task?” Both the AI and Meta activities are indications of the limitations that FTC Chair Lina Khan and the agency face as a result of being tied to industrial-era statutes and procedures.
Chairwoman Rosenworcel's Update to Members of Congress Regarding the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program
In the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act (the Act), Congress directed the Federal Communications Commission to establish the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program to advance our national security by supporting the removal, replacement, and disposal of communications equipment and services produced or provided by Huawei Technologies Company or ZTE Corporation from our nation’s communications networks.
House Commerce Committee Continues Oversight of Federal Broadband Programs
The House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation held a hearing on May 10 discussing federal funding for broadband deployment as part of ongoing efforts to
Secure Internet Routing
Networks make routing decisions based on these whispers, following the path back to the network that says it is number six. Sometimes those whispers are right. Sometimes they are wrong.
Why is TDS So Keen on Extending A-CAM? And What’s at Stake for the FCC?
TDS has been taking every opportunity to talk up the Federal Communications Commission's Alternative Connect America (A-CAM) program and why the company is so excited about a possible extension to the program, even as the US gets set to award an unprecedented $42.5 billion for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) rural broadband program. “A-CAM has been absolutely revolutionary for improving our hardest-to-serve rural areas,” said TDS Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs Andrew Petersen. TDS is rather unique among publicly-held broadband providers in that it is eligible
The FCC and USF
The Federal Communications Commission quietly won two court cases over the last month that most folks have not heard about. A group of complainants brought a suit against the FCC, saying that the agency didn’t have explicit direction from Congress for the creation of the Universal Service Fund (USF) or the authority to delegate the operation of the USF to a third party.
FCC Seeks Comment on Modifying the Calculation of Broadband Benchmarks
The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB or Bureau)—in coordination with the Office of Economics and Analytics—seeks comment on modifying the calculation of the FCC's broadband reasonable comparability benchmarks for the Urban Rate Survey (URS or Survey). In particular, the Bureau seeks comment on methods for calculating benchmarks for a wider spectrum of service speeds as well as other proposed improvements. The FCC seeks comments on whether it should change how it calculates its broadband benchmarks using data collected through the URS.
