Programs to promote broadband access need a sustainable, reliable source of funding beyond the current one-time federal infusion, and should partner with local community organizations to succeed, said panelists Thursday at the FCC Communications Equity and Diversity Council’s “Lessons Learned from the Pandemic” virtual roundtable. “We cannot fund [broadband access programs] only at one time, during a crisis,” said Ovidiu Viorica, who manages the broadband and technology program for the New Mexico Public School Facilities Authority. “We have to make the funding predictable, and continuous because that's what it's going to take.”
California policymakers should reconsider what counts as free broadband service as it doles out public housing grants, said the California Broadband and Video Association (CalBroadband) Tuesday. In a petition at the California Public Utilities Commission, the state cable association raised concerns with a December CPUC resolution (T-17775), saying services made free by the federal affordable connectivity program (ACP) aren’t truly free. CalBroadband’s petition should be rejected, two consumer advocates responded Wednesday.
Delaware and several municipalities seek to increase awareness of the federal affordable connectivity program, Gov. John Carney (D) said Tuesday. Local leaders in Dover, Wilmington and other cities and towns plan outreach efforts over the next month, the governor’s office said.
Senate Privacy Subcommittee Chairman Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., urged the FCC Tuesday to “adopt strong rules” as part of its implementation of the Safe Connections Act “to protect the privacy of domestic violence survivors and to ensure their access to critical phone and broadband services.” Comments are due April 12, replies May 12, in docket 22-238 on FCC implementation of the statute to improve access to communications services for survivors of domestic violence (see 2303130007). The FCC should “ensure the process is made easy for survivors of domestic violence to access the privacy, safety, and financial protection provided in the bill,” Blumenthal said in a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “I agree with survivor advocacy and direct service organizations that the Commission should adopt rules that lower barriers to access Lifeline and the Affordable Connectivity Program. Setting the standard of survivor identification to be self-attestation, rather than requiring a third-party to ‘vouch’ abuse and financial difficulties, can enhance survivor agency and access to low-cost phone service programs.” Blumenthal also supports “strengthening the FCC’s privacy rules to protect domestic violence survivors that are accessing support resources, such as shelters and assistance hotlines.”
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., pressed the FCC Thursday for a detailed accounting of its distribution of money to four broadband programs enacted via the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and COVID-19 aid measures. Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., meanwhile, led refiling of the Funding Affordable Internet with Reliable (Fair) Contributions Act.
New Competitive Carriers Association President Tim Donovan met with officials from the FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology, including on the “recent lapse” of the FCC’s auction authority and the need of CCA members for certainty on the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program “before the July 15 deadline for participants to submit their first reimbursement requests.” The future of the affordable connectivity program is “front of mind for many of CCA’s carrier members,” CCA said in a filing posted Wednesday in 18-89 and other dockets. CCA continues to work with the commission and Congress to develop a “strong” spectrum pipeline and “3.1-3.45 GHz offers a chance for valuable mid-band spectrum,” the filing said. CCA also discussed the C band, citizens broadband radio service band and 12 GHz.
The FCC awarded more than $7 million in grants through the affordable connectivity program's Your Home, Your Internet and ACP Navigator pilot programs Wednesday (see 2303100034). "I’m very happy to see that the Your Home, Your Internet Pilot Program will be making a difference in 23 communities in the United States," said Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. The commission awarded about $5 million through the Your Home pilot and $2.5 million through the ACP Navigator pilot. Also Wednesday, commissioners adopted an order directing the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau to issue another notice of funding opportunity of up to $10 million for the national competitive outreach grant and the tribal competitive outreach grant programs.
The administrative law judge process at the FCC is “completely broken” and “something you would find in a banana republic,” not the U.S., former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said during a Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy webinar Wednesday. O’Rielly noted review by an ALJ was recently “activated” as part of the review of the Standard/Tegna deal (see 2303100082.)
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., pressed the FCC in a letter we obtained ahead of its planned sending Thursday morning for a detailed accounting of its distribution of money to four broadband programs enacted via the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and COVID-19 aid measures. Thune in December began his own review of all federal broadband programs’ oversight of funding disbursals. Cruz has joined Thune in raising concerns about some of these programs since taking over as lead Commerce Republican in January.
The National Urban League had separate meetings with FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks about digital equity efforts and raised concerns about barriers to accessing and adopting broadband. The group emphasized the need for a granular data collection to "better understand what is keeping households offline" and said community organizations are "best situated ... to perform this work," per an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 22-69. NUL also cited "the importance of providing communities with updated skills to use the internet." The group backed "continued funding" for the affordable connectivity program and sought an annual report on "the state of digital discrimination" to assist the commission in establishing rules to combat digital discrimination.