Federal

Commissioner Simington Addresses MWC 2024

 The U.S is at a critical juncture for regaining leadership in driving future international spectrum allocation decisions.  The U.S is in serious risk of marooning itself and becoming a mid-band spectrum and technology island, given U.S. allocations in the 3 and 6 GHz bands that increasingly diverge from the harmonization in the rest of the world.  To stave off such an outcome, the U.S.

FCC Explores How Broadband Data Caps Impact Competition and Consumers

Fixed and mobile broadband Internet access service providers (BIAS providers) have responded to increasing demand for more data by offering higher bandwidth plans. Many of these BIAS

It’s not easy to keep urban areas connected to broadband

The telecommunications industry is pinning its hopes on the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program to bring broadband to all hard-to-reach rural locations across the U.S.

The Opportunities When You Start at 99%: Connecticut’s State Broadband Director

When it comes to connectivity, Connecticut (pun intended) is in the enviable situation of having 99 percent of its locations already powered by broadband. But statewide usage statistics—from the American Community Survey and providers’ adoption data—showed that only about 87 percent of its locations actually subscribe to internet.

Comments to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Regarding Project LEIA

Adoption is now the primary barrier to closing the digital divide. While deployment subsidies have been the bread and butter of broadband policy for decades, now that implementation of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA’s) Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program is underway, broadband policy must retool for a future that prioritizes adoption efforts to address the leading causes of Internet non-use rather than the dwindling problem of lack of deployment. Digital inclusion efforts that can address adoption gaps

An Update on Implementing the National Spectrum Strategy: The National Spectrum Research and Development Plan

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is thrilled by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s publication of the National Spectrum Research and Development Plan. Whether you’re talking about 5G, WiFi, advanced manufacturing, or missions to the moon and beyond, 21st-century American innovation often depends on sufficient access to spectrum.

Antitrust’s Blind Spots: When Markets Fix Problems Faster Than Regulators

One of the enduring ironies of antitrust law is that governments often step in to solve perceived problems that market forces are already addressing. A prime example: the breakup of AT&T in 1984 didn’t bring about the demise of the Bell telephone monopoly. The real shift came from new fiber optic networks—launched around 1984—and the development of cellular networks. Now, we see the same pattern with Google.

Milton's Four Horses Ride Through Florida

Tornadoes, heavy rain, hurricane-force wind, and storm surge. Any of these could devastate a community.

Kamala Harris’s Rural Broadband Flop

In 2021 Vice President Kamala Harris (D-CA) agreed to lead the administration’s $42 billion plan for expanding high-speed internet to millions of Americans. That year, she tweeted that “we can bring broadband to rural America today.” Today, nearly three years after Congress passed the infrastructure bill that created the program, not one home or business has been connected through it.

We're building more middle mile but it's not affordable enough

The federal government has set aside $42 billion to connect last-mile communities and just under $1 billion for the middle mile networks that will provide the backbone to reach those unserved homes.