Universal Broadband

The receding ice has opened new passageways for high-speed internet cables. Point Hope, a gravel spit in northwest Alaska, is along one of the new routes. 

The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau announced that the launch of the Lifeline National Verifier would be delayed until early 2018 due to ongoing work by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) to ensure Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) compliance. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said, "“The Lifeline program is an important tool for closing the digital divide but for too long, it’s plagued by waste, fraud, and abuse.

The Federal Communications Commission takes a fresh look at how the Universal Service Fund’s Lifeline program can effectively and efficiently help close the digital divide for low-income consumers. Our efforts are three-pronged. First, we seek to direct Lifeline funds to the areas in which they are most needed, to encourage investment in networks that enable 21st Century connectivity for all Americans.

[Commentary] Net neutrality is founded on the core principle that everyone should have equal access to the internet, regardless of what content the individual chooses to consume. It is the only way we can ensure a level playing field for all citizens of this country. We have many sources of disparity we already reckon with regularly — income, education, race, health, gender, geographic location, and the list goes on. Why are we creating another one?

Two-thirds of Americans over 65 use the Internet. Half have a home broadband connection. And two-fifths have a smartphone. These numbers reflect progress. But they also reflect a connectivity gap. Compared to the overall population, older adults’ Internet usage is 23 percentage points lower, home subscriptions are 22 points lower, and smartphone adoption is 35 points lower. Since I became Chairman, we’ve been focused on updating our rules to ensure that high-speed infrastructure is built and maintained everywhere.

Telecommunications and electric cooperatives are playing an important role in bringing high-speed broadband to rural America, according to a new report from the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR). Using FCC data, researchers identified 87 cooperative gigabit deployments as of December 2016. The majority of the nation’s 260 telecom cooperatives have deployed fiber-to-the-home.  About 60 of the nation’s 900 electric cooperatives have deployed fiber, and that number is growing fast.

The Federal Communication Commission released a proposed update to the Rural Health Care Program last week, in an effort to satisfy the rapidly expanding need for broadband telehealth programs.

On Nov 16, the Federal Communications Commission released a ‘re-think’ of the Lifeline program. The FCC decision focuses squarely on prior criticisms, and plans to scale back the $2.25 billion annual program in three important ways. First, it proposes to only support facilities-based providers, and might prevent resellers (telecommunication providers who provide service, but don’t own and operate their network) from offering subsidized subscription plans.

The FCC’s latest efforts to quote “reform” the Lifeline Program, will actually decrease the availability of service less for those who stand to benefit the most. As you well know, connecting the unconnected is no easy task. Costs of just a couple dollars a month can be insurmountable for families that struggle to put food on the table each day. But what the FCC majority proposed to do earlier this month, is to take away no-cost service offerings, and eliminate the business model of 70% of providers in the current market

In addition to ditching its own network neutrality rules, the Federal Communications Commission also plans to tell state and local governments that they cannot impose local laws regulating broadband service. This detail was revealed by senior FCC officials in a phone briefing with reporters, and is a victory for broadband providers that asked for widespread preemption of state laws. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's proposed order finds that state and local laws must be preempted if they conflict with the US government's policy of deregulating broadband Internet service, FCC officials said.