Report on past event

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel delivered remarks on April 6th, 2023, about the state of communications infrastructure in Indian Country to the 2023 Reservation Economic Summit. "I believe affordable broadband access is a prerequisite for full participation in our society and economy." This statement made by Rosenworcel in her speech highlights the importance of universal broadband access. Rosenworcel discusses the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has brought attention to the digital divide affecting low-income families and rural communities.

Representatives of the Federal Communications Commission visited Baltimore to hear about residents’ experience of digital discrimination in the city. Some said the city’s past continues to affect technology access today. Some residents told the FCC that the city’s majority-Black population is concentrated in areas where internet service is slow. Others said multi-generational households often lack the funds to pay for high-speed internet service.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew tried to allay mounting national security concerns about the Chinese-owned video app but encountered open hostility in his first appearance before Congress, a five-hour thrashing that underscored the popular app’s precarious future in the United States. Lawmakers from both parties sought to tie Chew personally to the Chinese Communist Party, frequently interrupted him and called him “evasive.” While he p

The Federal Communications Commission has big plans for that future. Because a few months ago, I announced a shake-up at the Federal Communications Commission. I shared my plans to reorganize the agency to create a new Space Bureau. This effort is part of what I believe needs to be a broader rethinking of satellite policy in the United States. There are now new technologies in the space industry, thousands of satellite applications pending before the agency, and so many more innovations on the horizon that I believe we cannot keep doing things the old way and expect to thrive in the new.

If governments are to truly close the digital divide, they must focus on encouraging community broadband adoption and making sure residents have tools to access high-speed internet, not just on installing infrastructure. While there has been a lot of recent talk about the need to better map broadband availability, panelists at Nextgov and GCN’s Emerging Tech Summit warned that there must also be a similar emphasis on ensuring that people can take advantage of internet access, or else some communities will not feel the benefits. And while investing in new broadband networks is a tangible way

While I think that fixed wireless technology can efficiently serve all communities, this is especially true for rural communities, because fixed wireless is high-speed, reliable, and perhaps most importantly, can be deployed quickly. Rural America needs access to high-speed and reliable technologies today, not years from now, in order to remain competitive in our nation’s economy.

With Affordable Connectivity Program enrollment picking up, we’ll need to address the longevity of the program’s funding before too long. We’re much better off addressing the issue quickly and with certainty—and there are three basic reasons why that is so. First, we must keep the millions of Americans who have signed up for the program secure in their access to broadband. Second, there are millions more who are eligible, and we need to get them signed up.

States are poised to play a critical role in the broadband funding landscape, but each state has a different approach to selecting broadband projects and administering funds.

Much of the hype around broadband funding is focused on the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, but money continues to flow from the Capital Projects Fund (CPF). To date, the US Treasury Department has awarded nearly $5 billion from the CPF across 33 states. That amount is almost half of the Treasury Department’s $10 billion allotment for the fund. States that have received funding thus far expect to connect 1.4 million households as a result. The CPF was created in March 2021, but Treasury only began approving state funding requests June 2022.

Vice President Kamala Harris (D-CA) highlighted the impact of American Rescue Plan Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act investments to date while announcing new milestones in the effort to increase access to affordable, reliable, high-speed internet and close the digital divide including: