Premium – Broadband Breakfast https://broadbandbreakfast.com Better Broadband, Better Lives Wed, 03 Jan 2024 14:57:16 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.3 https://i0.wp.com/broadbandbreakfast.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-logo2.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Premium – Broadband Breakfast https://broadbandbreakfast.com 32 32 190788586 12 Days of Broadband: State Regulations and Children’s Safety Online https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2024/01/12-days-of-broadband-state-regulations-and-childrens-safety-online/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=12-days-of-broadband-state-regulations-and-childrens-safety-online https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2024/01/12-days-of-broadband-state-regulations-and-childrens-safety-online/#respond Wed, 03 Jan 2024 14:31:39 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=56649 January 3, 2024 – A nationwide push to restrict teenagers’ online actions gained ground in 2023 as several states implemented stringent laws targeting social media use among youth.

In March, Utah ventured into uncharted territory when Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed two measures, H.B. 311 and S.B. 152, mandating parental consent for all minors – 17 and under – before they can register for platforms like TikTok and Meta’s Instagram. For decades, the default standard of the 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act has been no restrictions on social media use by kids 13 and over.

The pair of bills, which do not go into effect until March 2024, require individuals under 18 to gain parental consent to open a social media account, bar minors from accessing social media platforms between the hours of 10:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m., and grant parents full access to their child’s social media accounts.

In October, Utah announced a lawsuit against TikTok, alleging that the app deploys addictive features to hook young users. The lawsuit raises additional concerns regarding user data and privacy, citing that TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, is legally binded with the Chinese Communist Party. 

Arkansas, Montana may be following Utah

Soon after, Arkansas took a similar step as Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed Act 689, named the Social Media Safety Act, in April 2023. The newly approved act, aiming to mandate age verification and parental consent for social media users under 18, was set to come into effect on September 1. 

However, on that very day, U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks granted a preliminary injunction following a petition from the tech trade industry group, NetChoice Litigation Center. Their contention was that the new law infringed upon the First Amendment’s freedom of expression guarantee.

In May, Montana Gov. Greg Ganforte signed legislation banning TikTok on all devices statewide, threatening fines up to $10,000 per violation for app providers like Google and Apple. Before the law took effect on January 1, Federal Judge Donald Molloy stopped the TikTok ban in late November, stating that the law exceeds state authority and violates the constitutional rights of users. 

Shortly after, TikTok filed a lawsuit against Montana. Judge Molloy found merit to numerous arguments raised by TikTok, including that TikTok has a number of safeguards in place surrounding user data.

Is Age verification a First Amendment issue?

Consumer groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have raised issues with the fact that many of these bills extend beyond merely mandating age verification solely for minors; they now necessitate age verification through proof of legal documents for anyone seeking to utilize social media within the states.

The issue was much discussed at a Broadband Breakfast Live Online session in November 2023, where child safety advocate Donna Rice Hughes and Tony Allen, executive director of Age Check Certification Scheme, agreed that age verification systems were much more robust than from a generation ago, when the Supreme Court struck down one such scheme. They disagreed with civil liberties groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

On TikTok, 13 states joined in enacting bans over the use of the Chinese-owned platform being installed on government-issued devices. That brings to 34 the total number of states that have banned TikTok on government devices due to national security concerns. Additionally, more than 40 public universities have barred TikTok from their on-campus Wi-Fi and university-owned computers in response to these state-level bans.

See “The Twelve Days of Broadband” on Broadband Breakfast

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2024/01/12-days-of-broadband-state-regulations-and-childrens-safety-online/feed/ 0 56649 12 Days of Broadband: Net Neutrality Is the Issue That Never Dies https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2024/01/12-days-of-broadband-net-neutrality-is-the-issue-that-never-dies/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=12-days-of-broadband-net-neutrality-is-the-issue-that-never-dies https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2024/01/12-days-of-broadband-net-neutrality-is-the-issue-that-never-dies/#respond Tue, 02 Jan 2024 13:57:32 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=56704 January 2, 2024 – The net neutrality debate was alive and well in 2023, more than 11 years since Verizon filed arguments against the Federal Communications Commission before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in July 2012 in a partisan issue that has dominated telecom politics for more than a decade.

In the latest twist in the saga, the FCC proposed in October 2023 to reclassify broadband internet as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act.

If ultimately approved, the move would give the FCC broader authority over broadband providers. Crucially, the commission would be able to require that internet traffic is not sped up or slowed down artificially, meaning businesses could not pay providers for preferential treatment.

The issue is a contentious one at the FCC, and the commission can only take it up now that Democrats have a 3-2 majority, after several years of a 2-2 agency. Along with the strong digital discrimination rules adopted in November, it’s part of a Democratic effort to expand regulatory oversight of broadband as it becomes more essential for daily life.

Republicans in Congress and at the FCC oppose this, arguing it makes providers less likely to invest in new infrastructure. 

Controversy over Title II Reclassification

Title II brings a host of other regulatory powers, but the commission is proposing to abstain from wielding more than two dozen of the most onerous provisions on broadband providers if the service is recategorized. Those include explicit rate regulation and immediate Universal Service Fund contribution.

Net neutrality has been a longstanding goal of the Biden administration and Democratic FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, who referenced it in a letter to lawmakers after being confirmed as chairwoman in December 2021. 

“You’re dealing with the most central infrastructure in the digital age. Come on, it’s time for a national policy,” Rosenworcel said before voting in favor of the proposal at the commission’s October open meeting. It would pass 3-2 along party lines, putting the rules up for public comment.

That set the commission up for an earful: more than 40,000 comments on the proposed net neutrality rules have since been filed with the agency. Reply comments on the proposal are due January 17, 2024.

The broadband industry is largely opposed to the move. AT&T and T-Mobile, in addition to trade groups and conservative think tanks, filed comments arguing that the practices net neutrality rules are designed to combat are not widespread. They say using Title II authority to enforce net neutrality principles would stifle investment in broadband, both by opening providers up to sanctions for previously legal conduct and by introducing the potential for future commissions to pick up the 27 Title II provisions the FCC is choosing to forego.

“No ISP takes that assurance seriously,” AT&T said of the commission’s proposal not to regulate broadband prices as part of the rulemaking.

Advocacy groups like Public Knowledge argued the anticompetitive practices net neutrality rules aim to prevent are only uncommon because states like California enacted their own net neutrality laws.They said the move would protect consumers who depend on reliable and consistent internet access.

Broadband “is not a luxury but a necessity for education, communication, and participation in the economy,” the group said. “The FCC’s proposed action will restore its ability to oversee this essential service.”

This was expected to some degree. The Trump-era FCC received comments from many of the same players in 2017 when it repealed net neutrality rules – substantially similar to the 2023 proposal – set up by the 2015 commission under Obama. 

A prolonged nomination to break a deadlock

The commission was unable to move on the issue until this year because Democrats lacked a majority. President Joe Biden first nominated net neutrality advocate Gigi Sohn, a former FCC staffer and co-founder of Public Knowledge, to the FCC’s vacant fifth seat in 2021, but her nomination turned into a prolonged political fight. 

Republican senators hung on her position on the board of a nonprofit streaming service that was shut down after large telecoms sued for copyright infringement. They alleged Sohn would be unable to remain impartial on matters related to broadcasting and copyright – even after she moved to recuse herself from related issues.

Votes repeatedly stalled along party lines before Sohn withdrew her name from consideration in March of this year, citing campaigns against her nomination by telecom lobbyists.

“The unrelenting, dishonest and cruel attacks on my character and my career as an advocate for the public interest have taken an enormous toll on me and my family,” she said in a statement announcing her withdrawal.

Commissioner Anna Gomez had a comparably smooth nomination process. Biden announced her nomination in May after Sohn stepped back and the Senate voted to approve her four months later, finally giving Democrats a 3-2 majority on the FCC. Rosenworcel wasted no time taking advantage of the new math, announcing her intention to reinstate net neutrality rules one day after Gomez was sworn in as a commissioner in September.

Potential legal roadblocks

Following the October vote to move forward with the proposal, Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr pointed out a potential legal hurdle to reclassifying broadband as a Title II service this time around. The Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority has been less deferential to agencies’ interpretation of the law, and might consider the reclassification too significant a move for an agency to make without explicit approval from Congress.

Experts disagree on how likely a Supreme Court intervention is, as the FCC’s previous reclassifications of services under the Communications Act – both the 2015 net neutrality rules and a classification of DSL under Title II in 1998 – have passed legal muster.

At a House oversight hearing in November, Republican Commissioner Nathan Simington asked Congress to “put an end to the continued whipsawing of industry over the Title II fight” by passing new legislation governing the internet ecosystem. A Democratic bill that would codify broadband as a Title II service stalled after being introduced in both the House and Senate last summer.

See “The Twelve Days of Broadband” on Broadband Breakfast

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2024/01/12-days-of-broadband-net-neutrality-is-the-issue-that-never-dies/feed/ 0 56704 12 Days of Broadband: Nearly 10 Months Without FCC Spectrum Authority https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2024/01/12-days-of-broadband-nearly-10-months-without-fcc-spectrum-authority/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=12-days-of-broadband-nearly-10-months-without-fcc-spectrum-authority https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2024/01/12-days-of-broadband-nearly-10-months-without-fcc-spectrum-authority/#respond Mon, 01 Jan 2024 14:51:00 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=56786 January 1, 2024 – Nearly 10 months have passed since the Federal Communications Commission lost its authority to auction off fresh spectrum licenses on March 9, 2023. Further, there are no available bands in the nation’s spectrum pipeline. 

This prolonged situation has raised industry concerns about the future of 5G stemming from the scarcity of accessible mid-band spectrum and the uncertainty surrounding upcoming spectrum auctions.

The ongoing spectrum standstill prompted the need for a bill to be pushed forward to enable the FCC to authorize the sale of 8,000 2.5 GigaHertz (GHz) spectrum licenses sold to companies last year. President Biden signed the 5G Sale Act to reinstate limited FCC authority to auction the 2.5 GHz licenses on December 19.

T-Mobile is poised to leverage the over $300 million worth of spectrum licenses it secured to fortify its existing 5G networks. 

Otherwise stagnant spectrum pipeline prompts worries

A years-long battle between the Defense Department and the commercial telecommunications industry over access to the 3.1-3.45 GHz S-band raged between military and commercial establishments.

The Defense Department produced a report in December finding that the agency cannot currently share S-band spectrum with commercial users. The Pentagon currently uses the band for its air, land and sea-based radars, weapons systems and other electronics.

The Defense Department was required to produce the report investigating the potential for commercial use of the spectrum in conjunction with the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which administers use of the airwaves by federal agencies. The study was required by the 2021 Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act. 

This spectrum band is considered important because it allows for longer-range transmissions than the millimeter-wave spectrum that makes up much of what has so far been available in the U.S.

The NTIA will continue to study opening the band in the future, either by exploring options that would make spectrum sharing possible or moving a government system to another band. 

National Spectrum Policy released

That and other studies laid out in the Biden Administration’s National Spectrum Policy released in November are set to be complete within the coming two years. The White House’s plan calls for a two-year study on potentially repurposing five spectrum bands, a total of 2,786 megahertz, and identifies the lower 3 GHz and the 7-8 GHz bands as primary contenders for a strong pipeline of spectrum for private sector use. 

The plan also calls for the federal government to develop a new process aimed at increasing communication in decision making between government and private sector stakeholders.

The last time the federal government freed up spectrum for commercial use was when the 3.45-3.55 GHz band was made available under Republican FCC chief Ajit Pai in 2020.

This uncertainty about spectrum places the U.S. in a troubling position. The government’s reservoir of new spectrum for private sector allocation appears to be drying up. The typically bipartisan process of replenishing it has ground to a halt.

Months of delays and disagreements over reauthorization

Many thought the shock of the lapse of the FCC’s spectrum auction authority would prompt quick action in the 118th Congress.. 

The House Energy and Commerce Committee cleared in May a bill that would reinstate FCC spectrum auction authority for three years. That bill would allow for, but not mandate, an auction of the lower 3 GHz band.The bill stalled after clearing the Energy and Commerce Committee.

In an Expert Opinion piece in Broadband Breakfast, Joel Thayer argued that unnecessary intergovernmental infighting is now jeopardizing the nation’s 5G rollout.

“What’s more, the advent of AI will require even more data transmissions over our 5G networks and will inevitably strain them. Without a refilled spectrum pipeline, data-driven applications—like AI—will become a pipedream for the U.S.,” he wrote.

See “The Twelve Days of Broadband” on Broadband Breakfast

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2024/01/12-days-of-broadband-nearly-10-months-without-fcc-spectrum-authority/feed/ 0 56786 12 Days: Middle Mile Investments and the Push for Internet Exchange Points https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-middle-mile-investments-and-the-push-for-internet-exchange-points/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=12-days-middle-mile-investments-and-the-push-for-internet-exchange-points https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-middle-mile-investments-and-the-push-for-internet-exchange-points/#respond Sat, 30 Dec 2023 13:33:35 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=56627 December 30, 2023 – In 2023, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s awarded nearly all of the $1 billion available for the projects under the Enabling Middle Mile Program by mid-July. The last batch of awards were announced in September, and included four additional $50 million grants. 

In addition to the federal funds awarded an additional $848 million in funding for projects is being put forward by reward recipients. That’s the equivalent of 47 percent of the total project cost, or a more than 93 percent “match” of the federal project funds.

That brings the total to $1.8 billion that has been allocated for middle-mile investments. These investments will facilitate the installation of over 12,000 miles of fiber-optic cable, to be laid within 1,000 feet of 6,961 community anchor institutions.

Over 40 states and territories are embarking on ambitious plans to address deficiencies in middle-mile infrastructure, backed in part by the NTIA’s Enabling Middle Mile program, but also by the Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment Program. These initiatives aim to improve connectivity and bolster the national internet framework.

Notably, companies like Zayo will utilize $90 million in middle mile funding to establish new routes connecting major cities like Dallas, Atlanta, El Paso, and regions between Oregon and Nevada through Northern California. The NTIA’s Middle Mile program enables companies to establish middle mile connections in areas where the return on investment is usually lacking.

Rising awareness about role of carrier-neutral Internet Exchange Points

This year marked a notable rise in recognizing the vital roles played by not only middle-mile infrastructure, but also carrier-neutral Internet Exchange Points in overcoming challenges for affordable rural broadband.

The NTIA’s program did not fund any carrier-neutral internet exchange points projects when it announced awards, despite receiving several IXP applications. 

In 2023, a significant gap remains in the infrastructure for carrier-neutral IXPs across the United States. Fourteen states and three territories have yet to establish these critical points, hindering efficient data transfer.

Experts urged states to set aside a percentage of their BEAD allocations for building internet exchange points in their state at Mountain Connect in August.

Kansas is one state which appears to have taken that advice. The Sunflower State recently granted $5 million to Connected Nation to build the state’s first carrier-neutral IXP. In conjunction, Kansas will utilize a $42 million award from the NTIA’s Middle Mile program to create a 682-mile open-access middle-mile fiber optic network, that will connect to the IXP in Wichita. The IXP stands to reduce IP transit pricing to below 10 cents per megabit, an expected 90% reduction in cost as compared to current transport and transit pricing through Kansas City, Missouri. 

As states strive to close the connectivity gap and propel their digital ecosystems forward, the critical need for robust middle-mile infrastructure and Internet Exchange Points remains at the forefront of the national agenda.

Will $1 Billion in NTIA funding be enough?

Industry leaders disagreed on whether $1 billion for NTIA’s Middle Mile program would be enough to deploy all the necessary infrastructure to connect Americans, speaking at a Broadband Breakfast for Lunch event at Connect X in May.

Having received more than 260 applications requesting $7.47 billion in funding from the Middle Mile program, the NTIA might require additional funding in the future to build out middle-mile projects and carrier-neutral IXPs necessary to close the digital divide.

And, while attention is naturally focused on the $42.5 billion in BEAD funding, that federally-funded broadband infrastructure could be less effective without more internet exchange points, experts highlighted at Broadband Breakfast’s Digital Infrastructure Investment Summit on December 5.

While emphasizing “last mile” builds, or connections to individual homes and businesses, BEAD connections are only part of the puzzle, said Tom Cox, vice president of state and government affairs at Connected Nation, a nonprofit that works with states to expand broadband access.

“If you don’t figure out a way to solve the transport issue, and if you don’t figure out a way to solve the latency issue, a lot of this BEAD money is going to be kind of all for naught,” said Cox

See “The Twelve Days of Broadband” on Broadband Breakfast

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-middle-mile-investments-and-the-push-for-internet-exchange-points/feed/ 0 56627 12 Days: FCC Issued Rules Against Digital Discrimination https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-fcc-issued-rules-against-digital-discrimination/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=12-days-fcc-issued-rules-against-digital-discrimination https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-fcc-issued-rules-against-digital-discrimination/#respond Fri, 29 Dec 2023 14:50:27 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=56638 WASHINGTON, December 29, 2023 – In a vote split 3-2 along party lines, the Federal Communications Commission moved to adopt rules aimed at preventing discrimination in access to broadband services, on November 15.

Under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the agency was tasked by Congress to enact regulations in 2023 aimed at eliminating digital discrimination and preventing its recurrence. The law amended the Communications Act to include the standard that “subscribers should benefit from equal access to broadband internet access service within the service area of a provider of such service.” (47 U.S.C. 1754)

The FCC’s new rules ban service providers from broadband discrimination by implementing a “disparate impact” standard. This standard aims to hold internet service providers accountable for practices that result in unequal broadband access among marginalized groups, irrespective of the providers’ intentions.

The shift departs from the former “disparate treatment” norm, which long upheld that either the government or third-party plaintiffs had to present proof of deliberate discrimination by a business to establish liability.

The new regulations implement a rule that digital discrimination can occur even if there is no discriminatory intent, based on criteria like income or race, is involved.

How will the agency conduct enforcement?

The commission will now have enforcement powers available, and investigations may be initiated through a complaint process.

Broadband providers criticized the agency and threated to sue because of the potential broad application of the new standard, fearing it might penalize routine business practices. Their efforts aimed to narrow the definition of digital discrimination to actions specifically designed to disenfranchise particular communities.

Before the agency’s action in mid-December, 24 organizations penned a letter to Congress urging its members to oppose the FCC’s rulemaking in mid-December.

Differing views on the rule’s effect

Experts held differing views regarding the probable effects of the FCC’s rules at a November Broadband Breakfast Live Online event. 

At the event Harold Feld, senior vice president at public interest group Public Knowledge, maintained that the rules’ impact would be minimal for the initial 60 days after implementation, and then, most likely remedy only the “worst and most visible disparities” in broadband access. 

Center for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institution Director Nicol Turner-Lee cautioned that demonstrating instances of discrimination poses a significant challenge, as evidenced in other sectors such as housing, healthcare, and employment.

Others in the industry have raised concern that the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program may not effectively address the issues faced by marginalized groups. In a recent Expert Opinion piece, Emma Gautier from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance contended that urban areas, significantly impacted by digital redlining, might face greater obstacles in obtaining BEAD funding. This challenge stems from the infrastructure law’s predominant emphasis on rural development. 

The situation is further complicated by flawed FCC maps, she said which exaggerate coverage, speeds, and competition, making it notably difficult or perhaps impossible for most urban zones tagged as “served” to access BEAD funds.

See “The Twelve Days of Broadband” on Broadband Breakfast

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-fcc-issued-rules-against-digital-discrimination/feed/ 0 56638 12 Days: In 2023, a Rising Tide of Open Access Networks https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-in-2023-a-rising-tide-of-open-access-networks/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=12-days-in-2023-a-rising-tide-of-open-access-networks https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-in-2023-a-rising-tide-of-open-access-networks/#respond Thu, 28 Dec 2023 15:01:52 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=56706 December 28, 2023 – Open access networks in 2023 saw signs of change as major telecom players, including AT&T and T-Mobile, dipped their toes in the market – and smaller competitive and municipal players also continued strong.

The collaboration known as the Gigapower joint venture, forged between AT&T and private equity investment giant BlackRock in May, lent new legitimacy to the open access approach, which separates the provision of broadband services from the network operator.

Another major operator venturing into the space is T-Mobile, which is set to become the primary tenant in a recently established $500 million partnership between Tillman FiberCo and private equity firm Northleaf Capital Partners.

The joint venture will allow T-Mobile to offer fiber Internet services to customers in markets across Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Nevada and Texas, all without investing a dime in the infrastructure.

In an industry long characterized by a preference for vertically-integrated ownership and control, incumbent providers are pivoting towards a model that emphasizes sharing networks.

What are open access network?

In an open access network, broadband infrastructure is owned by one entity, which can be either a public or a private entity and is often operated by a separate network operator. The network operator leases or shares the infrastructure with multiple retail internet service providers.

One can think of an open access network as a real-world implementation of the 7-layered Open Systems Interconnection model by the International Organization for Standardization. The OSI model is a broader construct for understanding the physical layer, data link layer, network layer, etc., in internet networking.

However, understanding the basics of the “layer cake” approach helps conceptualize the unique business and technical dimensions behind open access networks.

In an important contribution to this discussion, Broadband Breakfast’s Digital Infrastructure Investment Summit on December 5 demonstrated exactly how many forms open access networks can take. After a keynote presentation on the “Past and Future of Open Access Networks” by COS Systems Mikael Philipsson, a panel delved into diverse perspectives on such networks in the U.S.

The panel emphasized the differences and variations in several last-mile broadband deployments, including those of SiFi Networks, UTOPIA Fiber, Google Fiber, municipalities like the Eastern Shore of Virginia Broadband Authority and what panelists called the “utility lease model.”

In other sessions at the summit, panelists voice the belief that shared infrastructure is poised to become more common in broadband networks.

Regarding the AT&T-BlackRock joint venture of Gigapower, AT&T President of Broadband and Connectivity Initiatives Erin Scarborough highlighted scalability as a pivotal factor guiding AT&T’s choices, speaking at a Broadband Breakfast Live Online event in September.

Although Scarborough emphasized AT&T’s preference for the ownership model, she noted the agreement will allow the company to expand outside its traditional footprint.

“The model used by the joint venture will make sense to other ISPs, gain a lot of traction, and help break down historical biases telecos have had about not controlling all the assets,” predicted Gigapower CEO Bill Hogg during the event.

T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert has also publicly acknowledged potential network capacity limitations for the company’s fixed wireless access service. At a conference in San Francisco in September, he said the open access model offers a “capital-light way to enter [the fiber] business and take advantage of [T-Mobile’s] embedded customer base and fantastic brand.”

Traditionally pioneered by municipalities

The large telecos appear to be displaying a newfound openness in their approaches to achieving growth. However, the open access model has historically been pioneered by  municipalities, city-owned utilities, and cooperatives in the U.S.

Founded by a consortium of 11 Utah cities in 2004, UTOPIA Fiber expanded its fiber footprint across five cities in Utah this year. UTOPIA now offers its 10 Gigabit services to residents in 19 cities spanning four states. The government organization completely funds the open access builds and network operations through subscriber revenue.

The acceptance of open access might gain new traction through the Washington state legislature. This year, a bill would require all state funding from the federal Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program, nearly $1 billion, to be used to build open-access networks in the state. The bill did not pass in 2023, but 14 of Washington’s 28 Public Utility Districts are committed to deploying citywide open access networks to improve access to telecommunications services. Initiatives like the one to build countywide dark fiber led by the Lewis County PUD are happening across the state.

In Vermont, 22 communities partnered with Great Works Vermont Internet to build open access fiber that is expected to serve 30,000 locations.

A number of city’s collaborated with SiFi Networks this year to announce citywide open access fiber builds. The company set an ambitious goal to pass 40,000 homes per month in early 2023.

For example, the network in Placenta, California will see 20,000 homes, businesses and institutions served by open access, alongside 70,000 households in Oceanside, California. The company announced agreements to partner with Cleveland, Ohio, Saratoga Springs, New York, and Sugarland, Texas this year.

How will the momentum behind open access networks – from telco giants to scrappy innovators to persistent municipalities – play out in 2024?

See “The Twelve Days of Broadband” on Broadband Breakfast

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-in-2023-a-rising-tide-of-open-access-networks/feed/ 0 56706 12 Days: Biden’s Signature CHIPS Act Spurs Investments and China Concerns https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-bidens-signature-chips-act-spurs-investments-and-china-concerns/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=12-days-bidens-signature-chips-act-spurs-investments-and-china-concerns https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-bidens-signature-chips-act-spurs-investments-and-china-concerns/#respond Wed, 27 Dec 2023 15:55:11 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=56694 December 27, 2023 — August 2023 marked the one year anniversary of President Joe Biden’s signature law, the CHIPS and Science Act. On that occasion, the White House touted $166 billion dollars of new semiconductor investments and manufacturing projects into the United States.

As both Biden and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo have been quick to note, American ingenuity invented the semiconductor. But today, the U.S. currently produces only 12 percent of the world’s supply, none of which are the most advanced. This is down from 40 percent in 1990.

The CHIPS Act provides $52 billion to incentivize chip companies to build factories in the U.S., aiming to reduce reliance on Asia for the crucial components used in everyday electronics. Over the summer, during the one-year anniversary, Biden administration officials touted investment commitments from companies like Micron, IBM and Wolfspeed.

The influx of cash is a relief for an industry disrupted by pandemic-related shutdowns’ impact on global supply chains. Automakers were especially impacted by the chip shortage, forcing production cuts and inventory reductions.

“The innovation and technology funded in the CHIPS Act is how we plan to expand the technological and national security advantages of America and our allies; these guardrails will help ensure we stay ahead of adversaries for decades to come,” Raimondo said.

White House takes a victory lap

In creating a 25 percent tax credit for capital investments in semiconductor manufacturing, the administration cited how companies have announced more than $166 billion in manufacturing in semiconductors and electronics, and at least 50 community colleges in 19 states have announced new or expanded programming to help American workers access jobs in the semiconductor industry.

In August, the Commerce Department announced the first round of grants under CHIPS to support the development of open and interoperable wireless networks, and the National Science Foundation and the Energy, Commerce, and Defense Departments announced progress toward establishing the National Semiconductor Technology Center.

Among the other milestones touted by the administration include:

  • Supporting U.S. Semiconductor Manufacturing through $39 billion in semiconductor manufacturing incentives.
  • The receipt of more than 460 statements of interest from companies for projects across 42 states interested in receiving CHIPS funding.
  • The Department of Commerce has also stood up CHIPS for America, a team of more than 140 people working to support implementation of all aspects of the CHIPS incentives program.
  • The Treasury Department’s proposed rule, in March, to provide guidance on the Advanced Manufacturing Investment Credit, that 25 percent investment tax credit.

Outstanding questions and labor shortage issues

There are also outstanding questions about whether the incentives in the law are sufficient to help level the playing field for U.S. companies versus lower building and operating costs in Asia.

The legislation requires companies receiving funds to commit to certain wage and labor requirements, including offering childcare benefits — measures some Republican legislators have criticized. Tensions between the U.S. and China also continue around supply chains for critical minerals needed for chip production.

For example, South Korea requested in May that the U.S. reassess the guardrail provisions it adopted in the CHIPS Act. South Korean companies Samsung and SK Hynix represent two of the world’s top manufacturers of memory chips and have invested billions of dollars in Chinese chip factories. The country is a leading chipmaker and also a major investor in the U.S.’s chip sector.

At Broadband Breakfast’s “Made in America” Summit on June 27, panelists raised concerns about workforce shortages in the country’s pursuit to become more independent in the sourcing of semiconductor chips.

In fact, they said, the industry could face a shortage of about 70,000 to 90,000 workers over the next few years.

Sign up for the Broadband Breakfast Club to access the complete videos from the Made in America Summit.

Maryam Rofougaran, cofounder and CEO of 5G chip manufacturer Movandi Corporation, pointed to a decrease in interest from high schoolers and college students in the field that is leading to a lack of skilled American workers in the development of the semiconductors.

Rofougaran called for immigration policies to be more friendly as America continues to look for highly skilled people in the semiconductor field, citing her own personal journey of immigration from Iran. “Immigration has been one of the greatest things for the U.S.,” she said.

Gene Irisari, head of semiconductor policy at Samsung, asked, “Where are all these workers going to come from? They can’t just come from the clusters where the semiconductor fabs are being created.

How will the CHIPS Act impact the AI race?

Indeed, in the chips race, China is both an ally and competitor. “China is a large supplier of raw materials needed for manufacturing and a large consumer of microchips,” said Shawn Muma, director of supply chain innovation and emerging technologies at the Digital Supply Chain Institute, speaking at the “Made in America” Summit.

But the CHIPS Act could also be a major front in the artificial intelligence race, with China’s ability to remain competitive depending on its ability to produce its own chips, as U.S. restrictions on the export of that product to the adversarial nation will hobble its ability to move forward.

“U.S. chip export sanctions are a huge roadblock” for AI development in China, said Qiheng Chen, a senior analyst at consulting firm Compass Lexecon, said at an August 2023 event by the Asia Society Policy Institute.

And former National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien said that United States needs to collaborate more with its allies to ensure semiconductor supply chain resilience.

Speaking at a Hudson Institute event in September 2023, the  former chairman of strategic advisory firm American Global Strategies said that it was necessary to collaborate with allies to onshore, moving plants onto domestic land, and “friend-shore,” moving plants into allying countries, manufacturing plants.

Failing to do so will subject the U.S. and its allies to additional risks in the future, he said.

See “The Twelve Days of Broadband” on Broadband Breakfast

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-bidens-signature-chips-act-spurs-investments-and-china-concerns/feed/ 0 56694 12 Days: For State Broadband Offices, 2023 Was All About BEAD https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-for-state-broadband-offices-2023-was-all-about-bead/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=12-days-for-state-broadband-offices-2023-was-all-about-bead https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-for-state-broadband-offices-2023-was-all-about-bead/#respond Tue, 26 Dec 2023 14:00:39 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=56671 December 26, 2023 – The Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act’s landmark $42.5 billion broadband expansion effort was front and center in the broadband world in 2023. 

The Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program got closer to breaking ground as maps were finalized, allocations were made, and states got to work drafting and refining their proposals for implementing the program.

Mapping was a central concern early in the year, as states pushed the Federal Communications Commission for more time to contest its coverage data. The commission had released the initial version of its broadband map in November 2022, and the updated version would be used by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to determine relative need among states and territories and make final BEAD allocations.

The commission ultimately held to its January 13 deadline and unveiled the second version of its map in May.

Based on the data in that map, the NTIA made its BEAD allocations the next month. Texas saw the largest, at over $3.3 billion, with California taking home $1.8 billion. Missouri, Michigan, and North Carolina each received more than $1.5 billion and 14 other states were slated to get more than $1 billion to fund new broadband infrastructure.

All plans are due by December 27

That kicked off the planning phase. States have to get their proposals for administering BEAD funds approved by the NTIA. Those plans are due December 27, but some states have got theirs in early, with Louisiana and Virginia leading the pack.

As states worked to get their proposals together, the NTIA issued two important waivers for the BEAD program: one for the Infrastructure Act’s Buy America requirements and one for the original BEAD financing requirements.

The Build America, Buy America, or BABA, provision of the Infrastructure Act requires federally funded projects to spend 55 percent of their component costs with American suppliers and to manufacture materials in the United States.

That raised flags among the broadband industry, as deploying the fiber-optic cable favored by BEAD involves equipment full of semiconductors only manufactured at scale in Southeast Asia.

The NTIA released in August a proposed waiver for BEAD participants, releasing them from BABA requirements for all electronics and from the 55 percent component cost requirement for certain pieces of fiber equipment.

The waiver gives potential BEAD participants more breathing room and makes meeting BABA requirements feasible, Nokia’s Vice President of Broadband Policy Lori Adams said at a Broadband Breakfast event. The company announced a major manufacturing plant in Wisconsin for the fiber equipment that still needs to be American-made under the waiver, which it plans to get operational in 2024.

Alan Davidson, the agency’s administrator, testified at a December House oversight hearing that the finalized waiver will be coming in “weeks, not months.” 

Changes to the Letter of Credit requirements

The NTIA also issued in November a waiver to its letter of credit requirements. The agency’s original rules had mandated that BEAD grant recipients get a letter of credit from an accredited bank for 25 percent of total project costs. That involves putting up an equal amount of cash as collateral, which advocates and broadband providers warned was too restrictive and would prevent small companies from participating.

After months of pressure, the NTIA listened. Its November waiver opens the door for states to use a variety of other means to ensure the financial viability of projects, including performance bonds, which providers only pay out if the project fails, and completion milestones to lower the LOC as infrastructure is deployed and free up more money.

The first – and so far the only – state to have its full BEAD proposal approved by the agency was Louisiana. The NTIA greenlighted the first volume of the proposal, which outlines plans to accept and process challenges to government broadband coverage data, in September and approved the second volume, which details the state’s plan to award grants under the program, on December 15. 

That gives the state one year to accept grant applications and make their selections before submitting a final proposal to the agency.

Two others, Virginia and Kansas, have received approval on their volume ones, allowing them to follow Louisiana’s lead and start accepting broadband data challenges.

Several others have submitted their plans and are awaiting approval. Just as with the proposal process, they will likely be looking to Louisiana for lessons on implementing the BEAD program.

See “The Twelve Days of Broadband” on Broadband Breakfast

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-for-state-broadband-offices-2023-was-all-about-bead/feed/ 0 56671 12 Days: Broadband Mapping Efforts Ramped up in 2023 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-broadband-mapping-efforts-ramped-up-in-2023/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=12-days-broadband-mapping-efforts-ramped-up-in-2023 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-broadband-mapping-efforts-ramped-up-in-2023/#respond Mon, 25 Dec 2023 14:00:17 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=56657 December 25, 2023 – The Federal Communications Commission continued to refine its broadband coverage maps in 2023. The process drew heavy scrutiny because of its importance to state-level allocations for the Biden administration’s $42.5 billion broadband expansion effort.

In 2020, the Broadband DATA Act mandated the FCC create maps that don’t simply take as fact the inflated coverage claims of internet service providers. The first version of the map was released in November 2022, but the task of mapping every home and business in the United States and determining their broadband access is a daunting one, and the map still included many incorrectly marked locations. 

The commission gave states until January 13 to contest the coverage, but not location, data. Those challenges would be incorporated into an updated version of the map, which would ultimately be used to gauge relative need among states and territories and determine how much BEAD money each would receive. That allocation was slated to be finalized in late June. 

That got the year off to a rocky start, as many states were under the impression that both coverage and location data – the coordinates, addresses, and categorization of homes and businesses – could be challenged before the January deadline. 

Many states and advocacy groups asked for an extension to both the challenge and BEAD allocation deadlines, citing a lack of time and resources to gather correct information. But the FCC held firm and kept the cutoff at January 13.

The commission released a new map in May that incorporated the challenges it had received and its own continued data collection efforts. Almost 330,000 new unconnected locations were represented, and more than 3 million homes and businesses had their broadband availability information corrected.

But states were still underwhelmed. The Maine broadband office said it was “disappointed to see claims of advertised speeds at locations where we know it is not possible to receive that level of service.”

BEAD awards were handed down by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Commerce Department agency tasked with handling the program, on June 26. Nineteen states were slated to receive more than $1 billion to expand broadband infrastructure.

There was still work to be done, though. States would be required by the program to conduct their own challenge processes to further refine FCC coverage data before awarding grants under BEAD. The deadline for proposals on how to administer that process is December 27.

Early bird states submitted their challenge proposal separately 

But some early bird states submitted their challenge proposals separately from the rest of their BEAD implementation plans and got the go-ahead to begin from NTIA: Louisiana, Virginia, and Kansas.

Those states used a template process set up by the NTIA. That template allows for some modifications to existing FCC data. Kansas and Louisiana, for example, are attempting to phase out old infrastructure by designating all copper DSL service as inadequate regardless of what speeds an ISP claims to provide. All three are requiring ISPs to prove their reported coverage for an entire census block group or apartment building if enough residents contest the government data.

According to draft plans that have yet to be approved by the NTIA, every other state in the nation is planning to take up its model process, with many opting for the DSL and area challenge modifications used by the states that have already kicked things off.

FCC issued the third version of its public-facing broadband map

The FCC is also continuing its mapping effort to improve the baseline for future BEAD challenges and other funding programs. The commission released a third version of its public-facing map in November. This time, staff processed 4.8 million challenges to coverage data and 1.5 million challenges to location data.

Louisiana is done accepting challenges and is slated to wrap up adjudication in early 2024. Virginia is not far behind – providers can submit rebuttals through December, after which the state will weigh the submitted evidence and finalize its map. Kansas’s approval came later, and the state is still accepting challenges to FCC coverage data.

Other state broadband heads urged states to over communicate about the process at the Broadband Breakfast Digital Infrastructure Investment Summit in December. Only local governments and nonprofits can submit challenges under BEAD rules, and making sure those entities are prepared will be crucial to getting maps ready for grant applications, they said.

In Maryland, which is planning for its challenge process to start up in February, some county governments lack full time IT departments and will need assistance from the state to be successful, said broadband office director Rick Gordon.

“Once addresses are claimed as served, we don’t have the ability to go back and change that, so we have to be very careful,” he said.

See “The Twelve Days of Broadband” on Broadband Breakfast

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-broadband-mapping-efforts-ramped-up-in-2023/feed/ 0 56657 12 Days: How Soon Will the Affordable Connectivity Program Expire? https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-how-soon-will-the-affordable-connectivity-program-expire/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=12-days-how-soon-will-the-affordable-connectivity-program-expire https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-how-soon-will-the-affordable-connectivity-program-expire/#respond Sat, 23 Dec 2023 14:00:42 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=56662 December 23, 2023 – Around $3.6 billion in funds are projected to be remaining from the $14.6 billion Affordable Connectivity Program, a federal assistance initiative that has supported 1 in 6 Americans (or 22 million American households), in sustaining their internet subscription costs during 2023. 

These remaining funds are anticipated to be depleted by May 2024 if enrollment continues at the current rate, according to the ACP Dashboard monitoring tool developed by the advocacy group Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

A bipartisan majority of voters – 78 percent – support the continuation of the program, according to a national survey conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and RG Strategies in January 2023. This sentiment includes 64 percent of Republicans, 70 percent of Independents, and 95 percent of Democrats,

Despite receiving strong bipartisan public support, the program faced criticism last week from Republican leaders in the House and Senate commerce committees. They expressed concerns about the administration’s spending, labeling it as “wasteful,” and conveyed skepticism regarding the ACP’s effectiveness in a letter addressed to Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.

Efforts to continue ACP

Throughout this year, there have been numerous endeavors aimed at extending and enhancing the program.

In May, during a congressional oversight hearing, Alan Davidson, the administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, conveyed to Congress members that the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program would suffer adverse effects if continued funding for the ACP is not found.

In an Expert Opinion piece for Broadband Breakfast, Ryan Johnston, senior policy counsel at Next Century Cities, also linked the two issues: If the ACP is allowed to end, the federal government could end up overspending on every broadband deployment. In other words, BEAD networks will be unable to link millions of Americans without ACP.

In August, 45 bipartisan members of Congress publicly expressed support for extending ACP. In October, the Biden administration asked Congress for $6 billion to extend the ACP through December 2024. In November, a bipartisan letter signed by 26 Republican and Democratic governors urged Senate leaders to continue funding the program.

Broadband providers also want to see the program continued, asking Congress in September to use money from another yearly broadband subsidy to keep the ACP afloat.

The FCC event initiated the ACP Transparency Data Collection in November to enhance comprehension of the program. This collection gathers fresh data concerning price details, plan characteristics, subscription rates, and the attributes of program participants. Presently, the data collection initiative is expected to coincide with the depletion of the fund.

Next Century Cities’s Johnston and Lauren Gaydos, director of the Glen Echo Group, speaking during a Broadband Breakfast event in December, expressed concern over the arduous task of reenrolling individuals if the program terminates and then restarts. That would erode trust in the program’s stability and reliability.

Also on the program, Christine Parker, senior GIS analyst at ILSR’s Community Networks Initiative, highlighted that program participation has steadily increased by 3 percent each month. She emphasized that there are no signs of this trend slowing down during the event. And Johnston said that, in his previous discussions with the FCC and the Universal Service Administrative Company, neither agency intends to issue a notice signaling the end of the program.

Instead, both agencies plan to wait until the final possible moment to guarantee the securing of ACP funding.

See “The Twelve Days of Broadband” on Broadband Breakfast

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-how-soon-will-the-affordable-connectivity-program-expire/feed/ 0 56662 12 Days: Pole Attachment Changes in 2023 Set Stage for BEAD Implementation https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-pole-attachment-changes-in-2023-set-stage-for-bead-implementation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=12-days-pole-attachment-changes-in-2023-set-stage-for-bead-implementation https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-pole-attachment-changes-in-2023-set-stage-for-bead-implementation/#respond Fri, 22 Dec 2023 14:00:29 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=56643 December 22, 2023 – Pole attachments continued to be a hot button issue in 2023 as the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program got closer to breaking ground.

Broadband providers often attach fiber to wood poles owned by utility companies when expanding their infrastructure. Those poles sometimes need to be replaced to accommodate the extra equipment, either because the pole cannot bear additional weight or to comply with zoning laws.

The biggest disagreement centers on which party has to pay for those replacements. The Federal Communications Commission has authority under the Communications Act to set the terms of pole attachment deals between telecommunications providers and investor-owned utilities. That doesn’t cover all broadband deployments as some broadband providers are not registered telecom carriers and some poles are publicly owned, not to mention the 24 states with their own laws reverse-preempting the FCC on the issue, but it’s a big enough deal for telecoms and utilities to push the agency to intervene.

The standing policy was to allow pole owners to allocate all replacement costs to an attacher if a replacement was “necessitated solely” by the need to accommodate new equipment. But telecom companies argued they were in practice footing the bill for poles that needed replacing anyway, which utilities disputed. The commission first took comments on changes to the cost sharing regime in March 2022, but entered 2023 without issuing a ruling.

Coalitions continued pressing, with utilities signing a letter in January cautioning against shifting more replacement costs on to them. They said doing so would “cause many utilities to reconsider, for the first time in four decades, whether dropping everything to perform voluntary and premature pole replacements is worth the time, effort and expense.”

Telecom companies fired back in April, writing to the commission that “pole owners have exploited their monopoly power to receive windfalls by pushing the entire cost of pole replacements onto a new user of their pole.”

Action late in 2023

The proceeding sat in limbo for much of 2023, with groups still pushing for FCC action as BEAD money was allocated in June and states got to work drafting their plans for awarding grants under the program.

In a Broadband Breakfast Live Online event in October, utilities said that cost for those replacements should be shouldered by broadband providers. But that’s unfair to providers because pole owners benefit from attachers putting in new poles, countered a broadband industry trade group.

The commission announced in November it would be considering new rules on the issue at its December 13 meeting. The version of those rules that were ultimately approved set up the Rapid Broadband Assessment Team, an agency group that will be responsible for quickly resolving disputes that would otherwise slow down broadband deployment.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said the move was an effort to ease potential friction for BEAD deployments. RBAT, as the commission calls it, will screen cases for placement on the FCC’s accelerated docket, meaning they will be fast-tracked for resolution in under 60 days. For instances too complex or novel for the accelerated docket, the group is tasked with working to resolve them through mediation or other means.

The new rules also expand the definition of a “red tagged” pole, the replacement cost of which cannot be allocated entirely to an attacher by FCC rules. The term previously covered poles that failed to meet safety standards and had been placed on a utility’s replacement schedule for any reason other than accommodating new telecom equipment.

Now, only the latter is required to prevent utilities from shifting all replacement costs to attachers, effectively requiring pole owners to pay for some replacement costs more often.

The FCC is still taking comments in the proceeding, this time asking for input on a defined timeline for processing bulk attachment applications and on when telecoms can do their own contracting work to prepare poles for attachments. Those comments are due in February 2024.

See “The Twelve Days of Broadband” on Broadband Breakfast

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-pole-attachment-changes-in-2023-set-stage-for-bead-implementation/feed/ 0 56643 12 Days: Is ChatGPT Artificial General Intelligence or Not? https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-is-chatgpt-artificial-general-intelligence-or-not/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=12-days-is-chatgpt-artificial-general-intelligence-or-not https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-is-chatgpt-artificial-general-intelligence-or-not/#respond Thu, 21 Dec 2023 20:13:26 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=56608 December 21, 2023 – Just over one year ago, most people in the technology and internet world would talk about passing the Turing test as if it were something far in the future.

This “test,” originally called the imitation game by computer scientist Alan Turing in 1950, is a hypothetical test of a machine’s ability to exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human.

The year 2023 – and the explosive economic, technological, and societal force unleashed by OpenAI since the release of its ChatGPT on November 30, 2022 – make those days only 13 months ago seem quaint.

For example, users of large language models like ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, Meta’s Llama and many others are daily interacting with machines as if they were simply very smart humans.

Yes, yes, informed users understand that Chatbots like these are simply using neural networks with very powerful predictive algorithms to come up with the probabilistic “next word” in a sequence begun by the questioner’s inquiry. And, yes, users understand the propensity of such machines to “hallucinate” information that isn’t quite accurate, or even accurate at all.

Which makes the Chatbots seem, well, a little bit more human.

Drama at OpenAI

At a Broadband Breakfast Live Online event on November 22, 2023, marking the one-year anniversary of ChatGPT’s public launch, our expert panelists focused on the regulatory uncertainty bequeathed by a much-accelerated form of artificial intelligence.

The event took place days after Sam Altman, CEO of the OpenAI, was fired – before rejoining the company on that Wednesday, with a new board of directors. The board members who forced Altman out (all replaced, except one) had clashed with him on the company’s safety efforts.

More than 700 OpenAI employees then signed a letter threatening to quit if the board did not agree to resign.

In the backdrop, in other words, there was a policy angle behind of corporate boardroom battles that was in itself a big tech stories of the year.

“This [was] accelerationism versus de-celerationism,” said Adam Thierer, a senior fellow at the R Street Institute, during the event.

Washington and the FCC wake up to AI

And it’s not that Washington is closing its eyes to the potentially life-altering – literally – consequences of artificial intelligence.

In October, the Biden administration issued an executive order on AI safety includes measures aimed at both ensuring safety and spurring innovation, with directives for federal agencies to generate safety and AI identification standards as well as grants for researchers and small businesses looking to use the technology.

But it’s not clear which side legislators on Capitol Hill might take in the future.

One notable application of AI in telecom highlighted by FCC chief Jessica Rosenworcel is AI-driven spectrum sharing optimization. Rosenworcel said in a July hearing that AI-enabled radios could collaborate autonomously, enhancing spectrum use without a central authority, an advancement poised for implementation.

AI’s potential contribution to enhancing broadband mapping efforts was explored in a November House hearing. AI faced skepticism from experts who argued that in rural areas where data is scarce and of inferior quality, machine learning would struggle to identify potential inaccuracies. Initially, the FCC regarded AI as having strong potential for aiding in broadband mapping.

Also in November, the FCC voted to launch a formal inquiry on the potential impact of AI on robocalls and robotexts. The agency believes that illegal robocalls can be addressed through AI which can flag certain patterns that are deemed suspicious and analyze voice biometrics for synthesized voices.

But isn’t ChatGPT a form of artificial general intelligence?

As we’ve learned through an intensive focus on AI over the course of the year, somewhere still beyond passing the Turing test is the acclaimed concept of “artificial general intelligence.” That presumably means that it is a little bit smarter than ChatGPT-4.

Previously, OpenAI had defined AGI as “AI systems that are generally smarter than humans.” But apparently sometime recently, the company redefined this to mean “a highly autonomous system that outperforms humans at most economically valuable work.”

Some, including Rumman Chowdury, CEO of the tech accountability nonprofit Humane Intelligence, argue that framing AGI in economic terms, OpenAI recast its mission as building things to sell, a far cry from its original vision of using intelligent AI systems to benefit all.

AGI, as ChatGPT-4 told this reporter, “refers to a machine’s ability to understand, learn, and apply its intelligence to solve any problem, much like a human being. ChatGPT, while advanced, is limited to tasks within the scope of its training and programming. It excels in language-based tasks but does not possess the broad, adaptable intelligence that AGI implies.”

That sound like something that an AGI-capable machine would very much want the world to believe.

Additional reporting provided on this story by Reporter Jericho Casper.

See “The Twelve Days of Broadband” on Broadband Breakfast

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/12-days-is-chatgpt-artificial-general-intelligence-or-not/feed/ 0 56608 Broadband Breakfast Presents the 12 Days of Broadband https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/broadband-breakfast-presents-the-12-days-of-broadband/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=broadband-breakfast-presents-the-12-days-of-broadband https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/broadband-breakfast-presents-the-12-days-of-broadband/#respond Thu, 21 Dec 2023 20:05:43 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=56604 December 21, 2023 – With the Winter Solstice upon us, Broadband Breakfast today presents the first of its “12 Days of Broadband,” a series on the top 12 stories in 2023.

We kicked off this annual tradition last year with a series of 12 articles available to Broadband Breakfast Club members.

Between today and January 3, 2024, we’ll be rolling out a story a day every day (except Sundays). Besides keeping you entertained, we hope that each piece builds to larger discussion about what was new in 2023 – and what we can expect in 2024.

In our last Broadband Breakfast Live Online of the year, on Wednesday, December 27, 2023, we’ll talk about the first six stories in the series.

And, in our first Broadband Breakfast Live Online of 2024, on Wednesday, January 3, I’ll be joined by a group of tech journalists to talk about the complete series of 12 stories.

Of course, you’ll have to wait until the next day of broadband to find out the next story. But for now, please enjoy:

Curious about the 12 Days of Broadband last year?

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/12/broadband-breakfast-presents-the-12-days-of-broadband/feed/ 0 56604 A Hidden Issue Potentially Impacting BEAD Implementation: Pole Attachments https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/10/preview-a-hidden-issue-potentially-impacting-bead-implementation-pole-attachments/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=preview-a-hidden-issue-potentially-impacting-bead-implementation-pole-attachments https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/10/preview-a-hidden-issue-potentially-impacting-bead-implementation-pole-attachments/#respond Tue, 03 Oct 2023 09:37:02 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=54507

The heat that arose over the course of 2022 on the topic of pole attachments shows no signs of abating. Indeed, the rollout of the broadband infrastructure program under the bipartisan infrastructure law may be heightening tensions over the topic.

Now, some experts are claiming that concerns about access to poles could delay fiber builds funded by the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

In order to deploy broadband networks, fiber and cable companies must run wires either underground or above ground. Utility poles, the poles that support public utility services such as electricity, are an attractive option to minimize deployment costs and reach every address in a provider’s jurisdiction.

The specific controversy generally centers around the rates that broadband companies seeking to put fiber on utility poles need to pay the owners of the poles, often utilities. Internet companies claim that utility companies place an undue financial burden on attachers, which can hinder builds through the federal grant programs coming down the pipeline.

Utilities often require that new attachers pay the price of pole replacement or else the cost to make the poles ready for new attachments. This financial burden is felt particularly heavily by new entrants that do not have the necessary capital to invest in these poles. In fact, Google Fiber faced these hurdles in Nashville in 2016 when pole attachment permits became hard to acquire and financially burdensome.

Pole attachments differ from pure conduits

Pole attachments differ from conduits, which are structures containing one or more ducts — a single enclosed path for conductors, cables or wire — usually placed in the ground, in which cables or wires may be installed. Service providers may rent conduit, often owned by utilities or other providers, for their broadband networks.

read more….

Read the three reports on BEAD produced in advance of the BEAD Implementation Summit on September 21, 2023. Register now and receive a copy of each of the three reports!

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]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/10/preview-a-hidden-issue-potentially-impacting-bead-implementation-pole-attachments/feed/ 0 54507 A Deep Dive into the BEAD Program’s Matching Funds https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/09/a-deep-dive-into-the-bead-programs-matching-funds/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-deep-dive-into-the-bead-programs-matching-funds https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/09/a-deep-dive-into-the-bead-programs-matching-funds/#respond Wed, 06 Sep 2023 13:16:19 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=53641

Following announcements from large fiber equipment providers that they are building fiber equipment manufacturing plants in the United States, the telecommunications industry is turning its focus from domestic manufacturing requirements to other regulatory burdens that have the potential to bar Broadband Equity Access and Deployment projects.

Of those regulations, matching and letter of credit requirements could be the major hurdles. Rules for the $42.5 billion BEAD program require that grantees produce a match of at least 25 percent of total program awards on top of a letter of credit. A letter of credit certifies that a bank will reimburse the federal government with 25 percent of program awards in the event of a default.

“Nobody wants to see BEAD funding go to waste. But requiring applicants to provide a 25 percent match and a 25 percent letter of credit risks shutting out those best-placed to bridge the digital divide and does little to protect U.S. taxpayers,” Connect Humanity CEO Jochai Ben-Avie told Broadband Breakfast. Connect Humanity is a digital equity advocacy group that invests in community connectivity providers.

Matching requirement

Many small, rural, minority and women-owned internet service providers and municipalities are ready and willing to build affordable, high-speed broadband in America’s least served and most marginalized communities, said Ben-Avie. “But, unlike the large incumbents, they don’t have millions of dollars spare to scale the BEAD capital hurdle,” he said. He called the letter of credit requirement a test of a provider’s ability to lock up working capital rather than the provider’s ability to deliver high-speed broadband.

read more….

Read the three reports on BEAD in advance of the BEAD Implementation Summit on September 21, 2023. Register now and receive a copy of each of the three reports!

Or – sign up for the Broadband Breakfast Club and receive access to all Premium Content!

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/09/a-deep-dive-into-the-bead-programs-matching-funds/feed/ 0 53641 Precursors to BEAD Implementation: A Deep Dive Into Prior Broadband Programs https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/08/precursors-to-bead-implementation-a-deep-dive-into-prior-broadband-programs/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=precursors-to-bead-implementation-a-deep-dive-into-prior-broadband-programs https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/08/precursors-to-bead-implementation-a-deep-dive-into-prior-broadband-programs/#respond Thu, 24 Aug 2023 18:24:06 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=53370

The process of rolling out broadband funds under the country’s bipartisan infrastructure law has begun in earnest, with the White House announcement in June of allocations for each state under the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program. States, meanwhile, are deeply in the midst of planning for BEAD implementation.

The Broadband Breakfast community will be exploring the details of this rollout at the BEAD Implementation Summit in Washington on Sept. 21, 2023. In preparation for the summit, Broadband Breakfast is producing three monthly reports.

In our July 2023 Exclusive Report, we reviewed the state allocations under BEAD, considering the approaches being taken by a multitude of state broadband offices.

In this August 2023 Exclusive Report, we’re considering some of the precursor programs to BEAD — and what those involved in the BEAD Implementation can learn from these prior programs.

In our September 2023 Exclusive Report, we’ll be considering the role of matching funds and public-private partnerships in the rollout of BEAD.

read more….

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]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/08/precursors-to-bead-implementation-a-deep-dive-into-prior-broadband-programs/feed/ 0 53370 A Deep Dive into Allocations Under the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/07/a-deep-dive-into-allocations-under-the-broadband-equity-access-and-deployment-program/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-deep-dive-into-allocations-under-the-broadband-equity-access-and-deployment-program https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/07/a-deep-dive-into-allocations-under-the-broadband-equity-access-and-deployment-program/#respond Fri, 28 Jul 2023 16:00:23 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=52726

The Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program will invest $42.5 billion in high-speed internet across the country. With White House funding announcement on June 26, 2023, state broadband offices have begun to react and release reports on their next steps in the landmark broadband infrastructure measure.

States react to award allocations

The BEAD program is implemented by the Commerce Department and its National Telecommunications and Information Administration allocates funds directly to state broadband offices, which are in charge of developing their own programs and issuing subgrants to qualifying internet service providers. ISPs can include private, public/municipal, or cooperative entities. States have a lot of work to do to prepare for the federal funding coming down the pipeline.

In late 2022, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration awarded BEAD planning grants that funded state processes in developing a five-year action plan for BEAD awards. States have 270 days from the receipt of planning grants to release their five-year plans intended to “provide a foundation for alignment with future initial and final proposals.”

The NTIA has provided states with a five-year action plan template that includes a statement of a clear vision for broadband deployment and digital equity. It outlines goals and objectives that ensure all residents will have access to high-speed internet and empower local municipalities to develop and implement lasting broadband infrastructure across the state or territory.

Additionally, states must list all existing broadband programs or offices, relevant partnerships with stakeholders, and a needs and gaps assessment with obstacles and barriers residents face in connecting to the internet.

State digital equity plans must identify the barriers to digital equity and measurable objectives for documenting and promoting the availability, affordability and accessibility of digital equity programs. They must provide an assessment of how the objectives will impact and interact with other state economic and social goals.

Louisiana was the first state to publicly release its five-year and digital equity plans in May. Since then, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio and Utah, have released drafts of their five-year plans for public comment. Maine, Michigan, Montana and Utah also released their draft digital equity plans. And Virginia and Louisiana have both released the first volume of their draft BEAD Initial Proposals.

read more….

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]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/07/a-deep-dive-into-allocations-under-the-broadband-equity-access-and-deployment-program/feed/ 0 52726 How the CHIPS Act Took Center Stage of Biden’s Re-industrialization Agenda https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/06/how-the-chips-act-took-center-stage-of-bidens-re-industrialization-agenda/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-the-chips-act-took-center-stage-of-bidens-re-industrialization-agenda https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/06/how-the-chips-act-took-center-stage-of-bidens-re-industrialization-agenda/#respond Tue, 06 Jun 2023 19:23:47 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=51509

The increasingly hostile technology race between the United States and China now revolves around the key to the modern economy: semiconductors. Semiconductors are the microprocessors that power smartphones and washing machines and automobiles. Indeed, these chips are needed in advanced weaponry and artificial intelligence. That places them at the focal point of international tension.

Simply put, semiconductors are the world’s new oil.

And, as both President Joe Biden and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo have been quick to note, American ingenuity invented the semiconductor. But today, the U.S. currently produces only 12 percent of the world’s supply, none of which are the most advanced. This is down from 40 percent in 1990.

The technology and machinery needed to create the most advanced semiconductor chips is so complex and sophisticated that the world’s supply is manufactured by only a handful of companies.

Taiwan hosts the world’s largest producer, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. It manufactures chips for leading chip design companies, including Apple, Nvidia, Qualcomm and Broadcom. TMSC alone accounts for around 60 percent of the global market for semiconductors, and more than 90 percent of the most advanced ones.

This is especially concerning for America’s national security in light of the mounting threat that Taiwan appears to face from its neighbor, the People’s Republic of China. The PRC itself hosts almost 300 semiconductor manufacturing plants, and China has launched initiatives of its own to invest in domestic production through the China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund. Established in 2014, this fund was aimed at achieving self-sufficiency for China in the semiconductor industry.

[much more…]

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]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/06/how-the-chips-act-took-center-stage-of-bidens-re-industrialization-agenda/feed/ 0 51509 But for the BEAD Program, $1 Billion in Middle Mile Funding Wouldn’t Be Enough  https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/05/but-for-the-bead-program-1-billion-in-middle-mile-funding-wouldnt-be-enough/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=but-for-the-bead-program-1-billion-in-middle-mile-funding-wouldnt-be-enough https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/05/but-for-the-bead-program-1-billion-in-middle-mile-funding-wouldnt-be-enough/#respond Wed, 17 May 2023 13:51:14 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=50858 To watch the video recording, Broadband Breakfast for Lunch at Connect (X), become a Broadband Breakfast Club member.

NEW ORLEANS, May 17, 2023 – Industry leaders disagreed on whether the National Telecommunication and Information Administration’s $1 billion Middle Mile program will be enough to deploy all the necessary infrastructure to connect Americans, speaking at a Broadband Breakfast event at the Connect (X) conference on May 10.

Although the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act allocates only $1 billion to middle mile broadband deployment, other federal investments will address the funding gaps, said Telecommunications Industry Association Vice President of Government Affairs Melissa Newman.

Applications for the Middle Mile program were due on September 30, 2022. NTIA has not yet announced the winners, but agency officials have said that they will do so this Spring, or by June 21, 2023.

The NTIA is set to announce the amount of $42.5 billion funds that it will award to each state through the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program by June 30, 2023. The money will be used to connect unserved and underserved homes through “last mile” services, or broadband connections to the home.

But, in addition to the $1 billion through the Middle Mile program, the BEAD program can make up for the gaps in middle mile deployment if $1 billion proves inadequate.

Middle mile is the infrastructure that runs between communities and connects the internet backbone to last mile builds. Last mile connections then hook up homes and businesses.

Will $1 billion be enough?

There is simply not enough money in the Middle Mile program, said Drew Colbow, director of operational strategy at wireless and fiber infrastructure provider Crown Castle. The ideal investment in middle mile would be between up to $7 billion, he said.

Lawmakers in California invested an additional $3.25 billion in middle mile investments in July of 2021 to its open access, state-owned middle mile network. In fact, most of the American Rescue Plan Act funds in California went to the state’s middle mile initiative, said Joshua Broder, CEO of telecommunications consultant and fiber construction company Tilson.

Federal agencies have a history in investing in middle mile, said panelists. The Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, a key part of the $7.2 billion in federal investment under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, invested over the bulk of its money into more than 1,600 miles of middle mile infrastructure.

Mapping middle mile investment may prove to be a challenge, panelists said. Although the NTIA will release the names and locations of its awardees, identifying the locations of other, privately-funding middle mile projects may be more difficult.

State broadband officials may be able to help in coordinating between last-mile and middle-mile project builders, said Veneeth Iyengar, Executive Director of ConnectLA, the state broadband office for Louisiana.

Also participating on the panel was Paul Challoner, vice president for network product solutions at Ericsson, who addressed the critical importance of bringing middle mile deployments to cell towers.

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]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/05/but-for-the-bead-program-1-billion-in-middle-mile-funding-wouldnt-be-enough/feed/ 0 50858 Revisiting the NTIA’s Middle Mile Program Ahead of Funding Announcements https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/05/revisiting-the-ntias-middle-mile-program-ahead-of-funding-announcements/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=revisiting-the-ntias-middle-mile-program-ahead-of-funding-announcements https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/05/revisiting-the-ntias-middle-mile-program-ahead-of-funding-announcements/#respond Mon, 08 May 2023 20:12:55 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=50725

In a late April Senate appropriations committee hearing, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the department and its telecom agency, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, are aiming to get money from its $1 billion Enabling Middle Mile Infrastructure grant program out of the door by the end of June — in line with its goal of spring for release.

“We are working so hard to get the middle mile money out by the end of June — that would be my goal,” Raimondo said.

The program is among several historic funds that emerged from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, and it aims to expand the transport route that connects the internet backbone to the last mile, which in turn plugs into homes and businesses.

The NTIA said late last year it received 235 applications worth more than $5.5 billion for the program, whose application deadline was September 30, 2022.

[much more…]

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]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/05/revisiting-the-ntias-middle-mile-program-ahead-of-funding-announcements/feed/ 0 50725 Green Energy Provisions Meet Smart Grid and Broadband Infrastructure https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/04/green-energy-provisions-meet-smart-grid-and-broadband-infrastructure/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=green-energy-provisions-meet-smart-grid-and-broadband-infrastructure https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/04/green-energy-provisions-meet-smart-grid-and-broadband-infrastructure/#respond Thu, 20 Apr 2023 16:39:02 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=50357

It was the last of three landmark legislative packages to pass Congress and be signed by President Joe Biden, in August 2022. But the Inflation Reduction Act, with its goal of directing $400 billion in federal funding to clean energy, is a central part of the administration’s strategy to revitalize American industry.

Taken together with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of November 2021 and the CHIPS and Science Act of July 2022, the three laws amount to more than $2 trillion in federal investment for enhancing – and dramatically reshaping – the physical and industrial capacity of America’s $25 trillion economy.

Broadband infrastructure is a crucial part of this investment, as are the semiconductor manufacturing efforts by the CHIPS Act. (Broadband Breakfast will review “middle mile” broadband investment in May 2023, and the CHIPS and Science Act in June 2023, in exclusive reports for Breakfast Club members.)

But make no mistake: The Biden administration’s vision for the new American economy is one that is determinedly green and high-tech. It has a goal of substantial lowering the nation’s carbon emissions by the end of the 2020s.

[much more…]

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]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/04/green-energy-provisions-meet-smart-grid-and-broadband-infrastructure/feed/ 0 50357 Content Moderation, Section 230 and the Future of Online Speech https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/03/content-moderation-section-230-and-the-future-of-online-speech/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=content-moderation-section-230-and-the-future-of-online-speech https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/03/content-moderation-section-230-and-the-future-of-online-speech/#respond Wed, 08 Mar 2023 23:23:43 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=49138

In the 27 years since the so-called “26 words that created the internet” became law, rapid technological developments and sharp partisan divides have fueled increasingly complex content moderation dilemmas.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court tackled Section 230 for the first time through a pair of cases regarding platform liability for hosting and promoting terrorist content. In addition to the court’s ongoing deliberations, Section 230—which protects online intermediaries from liability for third-party content—has recently come under attack from Congress, the White House and multiple state legislatures.

Members of the Breakfast Club also have access to high-resolution videos from the Big Tech & Speech Summit!

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]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/03/content-moderation-section-230-and-the-future-of-online-speech/feed/ 0 49138 What to Know About Build America, Buy America Provisions in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/02/what-to-know-about-build-america-buy-america-provisions-in-the-bipartisan-infrastructure-law/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=what-to-know-about-build-america-buy-america-provisions-in-the-bipartisan-infrastructure-law https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/02/what-to-know-about-build-america-buy-america-provisions-in-the-bipartisan-infrastructure-law/#respond Tue, 07 Feb 2023 12:22:19 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=48316

It’s a central concern looming over the broadband industry as it prepares for a massive infusion of federal funds for infrastructure deployment: Will the providers of fiber optic networks be required to use equipment that is not readily available within the United States?

In mid-January, the Fiber Broadband Association sent a letter to Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications, Media and Broadband, about an issue the group said was “harming project planning and investment.”

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]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/02/what-to-know-about-build-america-buy-america-provisions-in-the-bipartisan-infrastructure-law/feed/ 0 48316 What You Need to Know About the FCC’s Maps and the Challenge Process https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/01/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-fccs-maps-and-the-challenge-process/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=what-you-need-to-know-about-the-fccs-maps-and-the-challenge-process https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/01/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-fccs-maps-and-the-challenge-process/#respond Mon, 09 Jan 2023 14:19:10 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=47532

The allocation of billions of dollars of broadband infrastructure money is contingent on the big update to the broadband map of the Federal Communications Commission, which has set Jan. 13, 2023, as the deadline for challenges to a preliminary version released on Nov. 18, 2022.

That deadline is intended to set a timeline for the version of the map — after challenges — that will guide the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a U.S. Commerce Department agency, in divvying out to the states by this June 30 the $42.5 billion from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program, which emerged from the Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act of November 2021.

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]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/01/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-fccs-maps-and-the-challenge-process/feed/ 0 47532 State Broadband Offices Face Major Challenges With Limited Resources https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/01/state-broadband-offices-face-major-challenges-with-limited-resources/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=state-broadband-offices-face-major-challenges-with-limited-resources https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/01/state-broadband-offices-face-major-challenges-with-limited-resources/#respond Mon, 02 Jan 2023 16:00:35 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=47286 From the 12 Days of Broadband:

State broadband officials must administer funding programs, build broadband availability maps, promote digital equity, coordinate with federal agencies, and much more. They have consistently argued that engaging robust staking engagement and diverse partnerships is indispensable to their success.

Although the bulk of the broadband industry’s scrutiny is now directed federal government, the source of what many experts call a “once-in-a-generation” investment in broadband infrastructure, once those grants are issued to the states, state officials must plan and oversee the final disbursal of those funds.

 Download the complete 12 Days of Broadband report

Many states’ broadband offices are young, understaffed, and under-resourced. In a conversation with Broadband Breakfast, Ramon S. Hobdey-Sanchez, the broadband program manager at the Idaho Department of Commerce, explained that his small office faces myriad challenges, both geographic (extensive mountains and rivers) and technical (limited middle-mile infrastructure).

Hobdey-Sanchez said his office seeks to educate Idaho communities. With representatives from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the state recently hosted a local-coordination conference attended by hundreds of Idahoans, he said, adding that his constituents are concerned about navigating the complexities of grant writing and local permitting regimes.

At October’s AnchorNets 2022 conference, Louisiana’s broadband director, Veneeth Iyengar, said extensive and recurring local feedback has illuminated his office’s “blindspots.” 

Glen Howie, broadband director of Arkansas and an alumnus of Louisiana’s broadband office, has said that he, too, encourages ground-up leadership from local officials. “It’s not really about Washington, and it’s not even really about Little Rock, it’s about” local communities, Howie told the audience at Broadband Breakfast’s Digital Infrastructure Investment conference in November.

At Digital Infrastructure Investment, Kenrick Gordon, Maryland’s broadband director, said that his state prioritizes the funding applications of community-backed providers.

A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development told Broadband Breakfast that the Keystone State has partnered with Penn State Extension assess the accuracy of the FCC’s mapping data and facilitate a forthcoming bulk challenge. The spokesperson emphasized the importance of public participation in the challenge process as well.

Illinois broadband officials have in part credited the successes of the state’s mapping initiative to specialized local knowledge provided by community leaders. Maine Connectivity Authority President Andrew Butcher told Broadband Breakfast that he will rally communities and other stakeholders to correct the Federal Communications Commission’s newly released national broadband map. 

Kansas broadband director, Jade Piros de Carvalho, said her office lacks the resources to submit a fabric challenge, but asked Kansans to submit individual challenges.

Hobdey-Sanchez said he hopes to submit a bulk challenge to the FCC’s map by mid-January. Idaho will soon build a state broadband map, he said, and is likely to announce the award of the mapping contract by the end of December.

There is no shortage of state-mapping models, and existing maps often clash with the FCC’s datasets. Georgia and North Carolina, for instance, which used a fabric-based and a speed-test model, respectively, suggest that Washington has severely overestimated service coverage, according to a report published earlier this year.

In October, Piros de Carvalho and Joshua Breitbart, senior vice president of New York State’s ConnectALL program, told the 2022 INCOMPAS Show that input from private industry helps state officials structure funding programs to be more attractive to private dollars. Kansas “encourage[s] new entrants into markets that have been ignored or are only being served by satellite or DSL,” the Kansas director said.

States must also bolster the broadband workforce, which many experts say is too small and inexperienced. “What we’re focused on in Ohio is building out career pathways so that individuals can understand what the different paths there are for them to move up in the industry,” said Eric Leach, deputy director of Ohio Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation, at a November Broadband Breakfast Live Online event discussing a state partnership with Ohio State University. “It’s really about creating a career ladder,” he added.

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/01/state-broadband-offices-face-major-challenges-with-limited-resources/feed/ 0 47286 Legislators Discuss Banning TikTok Over Growing Security Concerns https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/legislators-discuss-banning-tiktok-over-growing-security-concerns/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=legislators-discuss-banning-tiktok-over-growing-security-concerns https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/legislators-discuss-banning-tiktok-over-growing-security-concerns/#respond Fri, 30 Dec 2022 17:00:52 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=47280 From the 12 Days of Broadband:

Year by year, tensions between the U.S. and China continue to grow. And in this Cold War 2.0, the battle over information technology and policy often appears to be at the heart of the conflict.

Chinese telecommunications equipment giant Huawei has been effectively barred from the U.S. market for well over a year. But the constraints are tightening. And while Huawei has been central to China’s global communications aspirations, disputes over technology are now affecting all sorts of Chinese-owned companies. Even ByteDance’s TikTok, arguably the world’s hottest social media company with more than 100 million U.S. users, now appears in jeopardy.

 Download the complete 12 Days of Broadband report

After two decades in which the countries’ economies and technology industries converged, they are now coming apart. Remember the American perception of China at the time of the Beijing Summer Olympics of 2008? China was regarded as a global competitor, but not an adversary.

Contrast that with the near-boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics of 2022 by American officials over persecution of the Uyghurs and retrenchment of political freedom in Hong Kong. Just prior to this year’s games, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and declared that “friendship between the two States has no limits,” effectively blessing the Russian invasion of Ukraine that happened later in February.

And now that Xi has entered, in October, his 11th year of rule, he’s broken free of the two-term limit that had governed Chinese leaders in the modern era. Xi’s continuing hold on power seems to highlight divergences between the world’s two economic superpowers.

Take bans on Chinese hardware. In November, the Federal Communications Commission published a modification of certification rules that will bar technologies from the U.S. that are considered threats to national security.

The commission’s latest action will keep Huawei, ZTE and many other companies from gathering data on and surveilling American citizens. The action will also keep the FCC from issuing further authorizations for covered technologies, without which those technologies may not be imported to or marketed in the United States. 

The FCC first took steps against these Chinese manufacturers in 2019 by disallowing the use of Universal Service Funds for their purchase.

In March 2020, then-President Donald Trump signed into law the Secure Networks Act, requiring the FCC to prohibit the use of moneys it administers for the acquisition of designated communications equipment. The act promoted the removal of existing equipment deemed compromised through a $2 billion reimbursement program designed to “rip and replace” Huawei and other Chinese equipment out of telecommunications networks, particularly those of rural broadband providers.

The latest FCC action aims to stop entities from “re-branding” or “white labeling” equipment by those covered Chinese manufacturers.

And now legislators are going after Chinese-owned apps like TikTok.

On Dec. 14, the Senate unanimously passed a measure to ban TikTok from U.S. government devices, in a move designed to limit perceived information-security risks stemming from the social media app. The measure, by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., follows similar actions by state governments, including Maryland.

The app is itself is in jeopardy of being banned outright in the United States under a bill introduced on Dec. 13 by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis. and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill. They said the move was warranted by the Chinese potentially using the video sharing platform to spy on Americans.

Speaking at a Broadband Breakfast Live Online event on Dec. 7, Rick Lane, CEO of Iggy Ventures, said that he supported such a ban and predicted that it would happen within six months.

If that were to happen, information policy in the United States might look a lot more like that of China. There, American apps like Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube are banned.

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/legislators-discuss-banning-tiktok-over-growing-security-concerns/feed/ 0 47280 Will Congress Permanently Extend the Affordable Connectivity Program? https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/will-congress-permanently-extend-the-affordable-connectivity-program/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=will-congress-permanently-extend-the-affordable-connectivity-program https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/will-congress-permanently-extend-the-affordable-connectivity-program/#respond Thu, 29 Dec 2022 18:00:16 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=47277 From the 12 Days of Broadband:

Some say that people are not enrolling in the Federal Communications Commission’s new subsidy for low-income households, the Affordable Connectivity Program. Others say that at the rate people are subscribing, the fund will soon run out of money.  

At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Dec. 13, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance warned that the ACP is at risk of being deplenished. “Unless Congress takes action, this vital program will go away in just a few short years,” said the nonprofit’s executive director Angela Siefer at the hearing.

 Download the complete 12 Days of Broadband report

Jonathan Spalter, head of broadband industry association US Telecom, warned the fund could run out of money by 2024. Both Spalter and the NDIA urged Congress to make the program permanent.

Despite this, more than $10 billion of the $14.2 billion program is still unallocated, according to an analysis by the Institute for Local Self Reliance. Just over 15 million (224,000 tribal) out of 37 million households are enrolled as of December, show data from the FCC’s program administrator, the Universal Service Administrative Company.

The program builds off the Emergency Broadband Benefit funded by the $2.3 trillion Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021,  passed on Dec. 30, 2020. The temporary EBB was transformed into the longer-lasting ACP under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of November 2021. The ACP offers a discount of up to $30 per month on a wireline or wireless broadband connection ($75 on tribal lands) and a one-time device discount of $100. Eligible Americans include those on programs including SNAP, Medicaid, Federal Public Housing Assistance, Lifeline and federal Pell grants.

To close the funding and enrollment gap, this summer the FCC launched the Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program. The $100 million fund will support four separate marketing programs: The $60 million National Competitive Outreach Program, the $10 million Tribal Competitive Outreach Program, the $5 million Your Home, Your Internet Program and the $5 million ACP Navigator Pilot Program. 

Internet service providers have also been emailing subscribers about the program and hosting events in apartment complexes promoting it. Meanwhile, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration is allowing applicants for broadband infrastructure planning grants to use money toward promoting the ACP.

The National Lifeline Association, a nonprofit group advocating for these broadband programs, has been urging the continued sustainability of the fund and promoting improvements. In a survey of 60,000 ACP enrollees released Dec. 14, 95 percent said they are consuming mobile broadband beyond their monthly data caps.

With 55 percent of ACP enrollees (about 8 million subscribers) on mobile broadband, according to USAC data, the NLA is urging the FCC to make available more affordable data.

But with the race to sign on as many households as possible, the program has also fallen into predatory hands. The FCC’s Office of Inspector General found in a September report evidence of ACP enrollment fraud, where a service provider would repeatedly sign on dozens or even hundreds of households using the information of a single qualifying person. Similar evidence of fraud was found under the program’s predecessor, where providers were signing up more households than students in schools.

Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said in October that he sent letters to 13 service providers out of more than 1,300 program participants requesting information on potential “abusive, misleading, fraudulent, or otherwise predatory behaviors” in both ACP and EBB programs. 

The FCC in November ordered annual reports on the ACP to gauge who is involved in the program and how the funds are being used.

Looking forward, the Republicans, who retook the House of Representatives following the November midterm elections, have already promised heightened oversight of the FCC and increased scrutiny of broadband programs specifically. 

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/will-congress-permanently-extend-the-affordable-connectivity-program/feed/ 0 47277 How Long Will it Take Congress to Revamp the Universal Service Fund? https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/how-long-will-it-take-congress-to-revamp-the-universal-service-fund/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-long-will-it-take-congress-to-revamp-the-universal-service-fund https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/how-long-will-it-take-congress-to-revamp-the-universal-service-fund/#respond Wed, 28 Dec 2022 14:00:53 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=47274 From the 12 Days of Broadband:

The Federal Communications Commission this summer waived away the issue of revamping the Universal Service Fund, pointing to the need for Congress to give it the authority to make changes to the multi-billion-dollar fund that goes to support basic telecommunications services to low-income Americans and rural communities. 

Up to this point, the agency had a virtual megaphone to its ear with critics saying that it needs to make the changes necessitated by the fact that the nearly $9-billion fund this quarter is supported only by dwindling legacy voice service revenues as more Americans move over to broadband-driven communications services. 

 Download the complete 12 Days of Broadband report

Over the past year, the conversation over what to do with the fund has reached ever-increasingly levels of urgency. The contribution percentage — the tax on voice service providers that is often passed down to consumers — climbs with the demands of the fund. In other words, there is an inverse relationship with taxed revenues and the contribution percentage — the lower the voice revenues to draw from, the higher the percentage demanded from fund, which is adjusted by the Universal Service Administrative Company every quarter. 

Critics have urged the FCC to make significant expansions to the contribution sources of the fund, including taxing broadband revenues and forcing Big Tech to pay because they benefit from internet infrastructure. 

Still others — including AT&T — have recommended that Congress step in and have the funds come from general taxation, which was met with concern that the fund’s pot of money would fluctuate with constantly changing political personnel. 

Meanwhile, a bill that would require the FCC to study and report on the feasibility of having Big Tech pay into the fund made its way out of the Senate Commerce Committee in May. But nothing since. 

Hence the concern as to what the FCC did when it temporarily handed the hot potato over to Congress — how long will it take? 

Congress must move legislation forward, which takes months as it has other business to deal with. Even after the many months of bill passage, the FCC must draft its own proposal that must go through a public comment process. 

This was the concern of critics who said the FCC already has the legal authority to act unilaterally, without the intervention of Congress to get the process started. One of those critics includes Carol Mattey, former deputy chief of the FCC, who last year published a report saying the agency must expand the contribution base to include broadband revenues. 

Following the report’s publishing, Mattey and advocate Public Knowledge argued that the FCC has the legal authority to expand the base on its own. 

But in the FCC report to Congress on the USF this summer, the agency wasn’t so sure. 

“On review, there is significant ambiguity in the record regarding the scope of the Commission’s existing authority to broaden the base of contributors,” the report said.

“As such, we recommend Congress provide the Commission with the legislative tools needed to make changes to the contributions methodology and base in order to reduce the financial burden on consumers, to provide additional certainty for entities that will be required to make contributions, and to sustain the Fund and its programs over the long term.”

The deference to Congress pleased the two Republicans on the commission, Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington, both of whom — no less interested in the sustainability of the fund — preferred the legislative body make the determination.

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/how-long-will-it-take-congress-to-revamp-the-universal-service-fund/feed/ 0 47274 FCC Finally Releases Federal Broadband Map, But State Officials Have Doubts https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/fcc-finally-releases-federal-broadband-map-but-state-officials-have-doubts/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fcc-finally-releases-federal-broadband-map-but-state-officials-have-doubts https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/fcc-finally-releases-federal-broadband-map-but-state-officials-have-doubts/#respond Tue, 27 Dec 2022 12:00:55 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=47252 From the 12 Days of Broadband:

The Federal Communications Commission’s mapping process has drawn much scrutiny. Much of the broadband industry discusses the new map’s looming role in allocating funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the bipartisan infrastructure law largely administered by the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

But the FCC, the independent regulatory agency charged by Congress with the broadband map, seems equally focused on its long-term potential.

 Download the complete 12 Days of Broadband report

The FCC has repeatedly emphasized that stakeholder challenges to mapping data are critical to producing an accurate map. State governments, service providers, individuals, and other stakeholders can dispute the map’s availability data as well as its location data — the latter contained in the dataset called the “fabric.”

Challenges to both will be accepted on a rolling basis. FCC spokespeople have routinely used the word “iterative” to describe the processes. The agency and many experts project optimism, saying the challenged and corrected FCC maps will likely be quite accurate.

Many less sanguine industry players are primarily concerned with the next six months, however.

The FCC’s mapping data will largely determine the distribution among the states of the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program of IIJA. The NTIA, charged with overseeing BEAD funds, urged would-be challengers to submit data by Jan. 13. According to the NTIA, challenges lodged later may be processed too late for inclusion in the BEAD-allocation process.

Several state broadband officials recently told Broadband Breakfast that they believe the map will still be highly flawed at the point that BEAD grant allocations are calculated. What’s more, many said the regulatory burdens of the fabric-challenge process are quite heavy.

One official argued that after BEAD funding is allocated, many state broadband offices will lack sufficient incentive to use their limited resources to challenge federal maps.

In October, Adam Carpenter, chief data officer of the Montana Department of Administration told a Broadband Breakfast Live Online audience that, given the FCC’s contractual obligation to share fabric-challenge data with mapping vendor CostQuest associates, he would be unable to participate fully in that challenge process without legally jeopardizing his state.

Carpenter said Montana’s contract with CostQuest’s mapping rival, LightBox, bars him from submitting LightBox’s data to the FCC since that data could later be included in CostQuest’s commercial products.

When questioned at Broadband Breakfast’s Digital Infrastructure Investment conference in November, CostQuest CEO James Stegeman said, “It is not necessarily the FCC’s issue — it’s really those third parties who present issues to the states.”

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/fcc-finally-releases-federal-broadband-map-but-state-officials-have-doubts/feed/ 0 47252 Broadband Industry Grapples With High Inflation and Acute Workforce Shortage https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/broadband-industry-grapples-with-high-inflation-and-acute-workforce-shortage/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=broadband-industry-grapples-with-high-inflation-and-acute-workforce-shortage https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/broadband-industry-grapples-with-high-inflation-and-acute-workforce-shortage/#respond Mon, 26 Dec 2022 13:00:58 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=47239 From the 12 Days of Broadband:

Inflation-driven high prices for materials, supply chain disruptions, and a shortage of workforce labor are putting significant economic pressures and delays on builders of fiber networks.

Inflation has gripped the United States for almost a year and a half. The latest consumer price index report has year-over-year inflation at 7.7 percent. Over the course of the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported rates as high as 9.1 percent. The fiber industry is feeling the effects of inflation — even more so than other industries.

 Download the complete 12 Days of Broadband report

Rising costs of goods are estimated to push costs of each new mile of fiber upward an additional $4,814, according to consulting firm Dgtl Infra in a July report. Government officials warned last summer that the increased cost of deployments could be pushed onto consumers.

Supply chain stressors following the pandemic are contributing to lead times of up to 60 weeks for materials necessary for fiber deployment and operation, per a recent white paper from the Fiber Broadband Association.

One effort to combat this has been from Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo. He introduced the Network Equipment Transparency Act in February as a means of making the broadband supply chain problems more transparent. But the bill languished in the Senate, and will not likely make it through the lame duck Congress.

Furthermore, workforce shortages across the nation are threatening to place the American broadband industry in an “acute workforce shortage,” according to a WISPAPALOOZA panel in October.

Technical and worker shortages have been flagged by the agency and government officials, including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, as a key area of concern for broadband builds.

The broadband industry is flush with federal funds — not the least of which comes from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s allocations of $65 billion for broadband expenditures. A skilled workforce is required to make use of public dollars, deployment and adoption programs.

Panelists at a November Broadband Breakfast Live Online event argued that building long-term opportunities for career advancement is key to developing a sustainable broadband workforce.

One widely-touted effort is from the state of Ohio, which awarded $3 million to the Ohio State University to develop a state-wide curriculum for budding broadband and 5G workers. In June, the White House built on this thinking when it announced a challenge that encouraged employers to partner with training providers.

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/broadband-industry-grapples-with-high-inflation-and-acute-workforce-shortage/feed/ 0 47239 High Demand for Spectrum Necessitates Increased Cooperation and New Sharing Programs https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/high-demand-for-spectrum-necessitates-increased-cooperation-and-new-sharing-programs/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=high-demand-for-spectrum-necessitates-increased-cooperation-and-new-sharing-programs https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/high-demand-for-spectrum-necessitates-increased-cooperation-and-new-sharing-programs/#respond Fri, 23 Dec 2022 17:26:04 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=47234 From the 12 Days of Broadband:

No matter the year, issues of radiofrequency spectrum is an important topic because of the crucial importance of wireless transmission in modern internet connectivity.

The year 2022 saw many carve-outs of the already limited unlicensed spectrum to tackle growing demand for connections and to relieve congestions on existing frequencies.

 Download the complete 12 Days of Broadband report

Indeed, new Wi-Fi devices and a growing number of consumers are driving up the demand for unlicensed spectrum. In 2020, the Federal Communications Commission freed up the 6 GigaHertz (GHz) band to meet these demands, which sparked controversy regarding potential interference issues. 

Wireless service provider Southern Linc raised concerns that the agency’s decision to open the band traditionally used to broadcast for unlicensed use was based on outdated measurements taken in 2018. The service provider argued that since then, wireless data points have multiplied, rendering previous measurements unreflective of the current Wi-Fi environment. They encouraged the FCC to implement a thoroughly tested automatic frequency control system to effectively share the use of the 6 GHz band, and in November, the FCC approved testing of 13 proposed automated frequency coordination database systems.

The FCC’s authority to deliver on spectrum policies was scheduled to expire on Dec. 23, 2022, unless Congress is able to agree to a new continuing resolution or other measure funding the government, after its extension beyond its original Sept. 30 deadline. Commissioner Brendan Carr advocated making more spectrum available for commercial use before the expiration of its auction authority. During the year, the FCC auctioned off slices of the 2.5 GHz and 3.45 GHz bands, raising nearly $103.5 million in a single round.

The FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced in February of this year that they are teaming up to coordinate spectrum policy uses for federal and private users. The Spectrum Coordination Initiative, as it’s called, is intended to make more robust an existing cooperative framework between the two agencies that manage federal spectrum resources.

In July, the FCC also voted to adopt a program that will build incentives for larger spectrum holders to make underutilized spectrum available to smaller carriers, tribal nations, and entities serving rural areas. The program, called the Enhanced Competition Incentive Program, will have incentives including longer license terms, extensions on buildout obligations, and more flexible construction requirements. 

Congress is also working to improve spectrum sharing. In April, the Spectrum Innovation Act of 2022 passed in the House. It is currently awaiting Senate approval. The bill would “free up new airwaves for wireless broadband use by the public” such as 200 megahertz of auctioned spectrum and would “allow more opportunities for research, safety, and for the public to access faster internet speeds and more responsive networks.”

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/high-demand-for-spectrum-necessitates-increased-cooperation-and-new-sharing-programs/feed/ 0 47234 Gigi Sohn’s Political Purgatory and the Prospect of Reintroducing Net Neutrality Rules in 2023 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/gigi-sohns-political-purgatory-and-the-prospect-of-reintroducing-net-neutrality-rules-in-2023/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gigi-sohns-political-purgatory-and-the-prospect-of-reintroducing-net-neutrality-rules-in-2023 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/gigi-sohns-political-purgatory-and-the-prospect-of-reintroducing-net-neutrality-rules-in-2023/#respond Fri, 23 Dec 2022 04:39:14 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=46370 From the 12 Days of Broadband:

November’s midterm elections saw the Democrats hold on to power in the Senate, where executive and judicial appointments are confirmed. But Democrats also held to power in the previous term, yet the upper chamber did not hold votes on the prospective fifth commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, Democrat Gigi Sohn.

Sohn, who was nominated by President Joe Biden in October 2021, has been in a bit of a political purgatory since making it through the Senate commerce committee in March. Former FCC commissioners were concerned about her prospects of making it to Senate votes before the midterms, with the lingering possibility that the Republicans would win the chamber and nuke her nomination over concerns that she would not be able to remain non-partisan on the issues the FCC addresses.

 Download the complete 12 Days of Broadband report

But the predicted red wave sweeping Washington didn’t come to bear this November, and the Democrats have maintained control of the upper chamber – with an opportunity for another Senate representative when Georgia holds its run-off election on Tuesday. Analysts are now speculating that Sohn has a real shot at breaking the party deadlock at the FCC, which consists of two Democrats (Nathan Simington and Brendan Carr) and two Republicans (Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks). That could happen as early the “fist few months of 2023,” New Street Research wrote in a recent note.

Swearing Sohn in would allow the Democrats on the commission to resurrect old but important issues impacting the broadband industry and that has deeply divided the parties, notably reversing the Republican reversal in 2017 of net neutrality rules instituted during Barack Obama era. That would mean classifying broadband under Title II of the 1934 Communications Act, which would give the commission greater regulatory muscle to make providers respect the principle of common carriage, in which traffic on their networks cannot be tampered with, sped up or given preference.

But Democrat senators aren’t waiting for the commission. This summer, Senators Doris Matsui, Ca., Edward Markey, Mass., and Ron Wyden, Ore., introduced the Net Neutrality and Broadband Justice Act, which would codify net neutrality into law so that it wouldn’t bend to the changing personnel of the regulatory body. Simington has said he welcomes congressional, not FCC, action on the item.

Nor are some states. California had its net neutrality law upheld after industry trade groups challenged it at the U.S. Court of Appeals.

As Rosenworcel has firmly committed to bringing back those rules, the lag on Sohn’s nomination has given the Republicans a possible legal mechanism to challenge that authority. That’s because the Supreme Court ruled this summer that only Congress has the power to decide “major questions” of “vast economic or political significance,” though some are skeptical as to the impact on the FCC.

Despite that, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., wrote to Rosenworcel asking for pending and expected rulemakings of the commission, with a warning that – as the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee – the committee will “ensure the FCC under Democrat leadership does not continue to exceed Congressional authorizations.”

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/gigi-sohns-political-purgatory-and-the-prospect-of-reintroducing-net-neutrality-rules-in-2023/feed/ 0 46370 Commerce Department’s NTIA Preparing to Distribute IIJA Broadband Funding https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/commerce-departments-ntia-preparing-to-distribute-infrastructure-investment-and-jobs-acts-broadband-funding/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=commerce-departments-ntia-preparing-to-distribute-infrastructure-investment-and-jobs-acts-broadband-funding https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/commerce-departments-ntia-preparing-to-distribute-infrastructure-investment-and-jobs-acts-broadband-funding/#respond Thu, 22 Dec 2022 03:29:29 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=47151 From the 12 Days of Broadband:

Despite passing the one-year anniversary of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in November, the bulk of the law’s $65 billion ticketed for broadband projects has yet to be disbursed.

Grant processes for the IIJA’s flagship program, the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, will begin in earnest in 2023. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration will apportion BEAD funds among the states based on relative need, and after receiving grants, the state governments will run sub-grant programs to finance broadband-deployment and related projects. The NTIA said in November that state allocations will likely be announced by June 30.

 Download the complete 12 Days of Broadband report

Within 180 days of receiving notice of its BEAD allocation, each state must submit to the NTIA an “initial proposal,” describing the competitive subgrant process it intends to employ and other relevant factors. After submitting its proposal, each state must conduct a challenge process during which stakeholders may contest the funding eligibility of locations. NTIA will make available “not less than 20 percent of the total grant funds” once a state’s initial proposal is approved.

Next, each state must select subgrantees and submit a “final proposal” describing its compliance with its initial proposal. Both proposals must be made available for public comment. The NTIA will, after approving a state’s final proposals, release the remainder of that state’s BEAD grant. The deadlines outlined by the NTIA are such that the process will likely stretch well into 2024. 

While the NTIA and state broadband offices prepare for the BEAD program to launch, other IIJA initiatives are in full swing. The Affordable Connectivity Program provides discounts of up to $30 per month — up to $75 per month on qualifying tribal lands — on service bills and boasts upwards of 15 million enrollees. The program is a favorite child of the White House, the Federal Communications Commission, and many industry advocates.

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/commerce-departments-ntia-preparing-to-distribute-infrastructure-investment-and-jobs-acts-broadband-funding/feed/ 0 47151 Amid Big Tech Controversies, Section 230’s Future is Uncertain https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/amid-big-tech-controversies-section-230s-future-is-uncertain/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=amid-big-tech-controversies-section-230s-future-is-uncertain https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/amid-big-tech-controversies-section-230s-future-is-uncertain/#respond Wed, 21 Dec 2022 03:46:20 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=47091 From the 12 Days of Broadband:

The past year has seen many controversial decisions from big tech platforms, but 2022 might end up being the last year that such decisions are shielded by the liability protections of Section 230 of the Telecommunications Act.

Many actors are now calling for the statue’s repeal or reformulation. Conservative populists on the right argue that it enables social media giants to silence conservative speech. Progressives on the left believe it allows platforms to shirk responsibility for moderating hate speech and misinformation.

 Download the complete 12 Days of Broadband report

Of course, Section 230 still has defenders from across the political spectrum. Indeed, none of the many proposed bills for legislative change have garnered much traction. Furthermore, new Twitter CEO Elon Musk’s takeover has demonstrated the pitfalls of a pure “free speech” approach to content moderation: It took just days for his “comedy is legal again” declaration to turn into “tricking people is not OK” — during which time parody tweets reportedly cost advertisers billions. 

And despite Musk’s initially stated intention to allow all legally permissible content, he decided to suspend Ye (formerly Kanye West) from Twitter in December for tweeting a swastika graphic. Later that month, he took still bolder steps, blocking links to competitor platforms as well as suspending the accounts of several tech journalists and an account that tracked his private jet based on public flight data.

On a larger scale, Florida’s attorney general asked the Supreme Court to review a law that would limit online platforms’ ability to moderate content after an appeals court ruled that the law violated the First Amendment. A similar Texas law that forbids content moderation based on “viewpoint” is on hold pending an appeal to the Supreme Court. 

While the Court has not yet taken up those cases, it has agreed to hear two others related to Section 230: Gonzalez v. Google and Twitter v. Taamneh, both of which ask if tech companies can be held liable for terrorist content on their platforms.

Given the Court’s conservative majority, and the fact that at least one justice (Clarence Thomas) has openly argued that social media companies should be regulated as common carriers, Section 230’s 25-year reign might be coming to an end.

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/amid-big-tech-controversies-section-230s-future-is-uncertain/feed/ 0 47091 Utility Companies and Pole Attachers Debate Responsibility for Pole Replacement Costs https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/utility-companies-and-pole-attachers-debate-responsibility-for-pole-replacement-costs/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=utility-companies-and-pole-attachers-debate-responsibility-for-pole-replacement-costs https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/utility-companies-and-pole-attachers-debate-responsibility-for-pole-replacement-costs/#respond Tue, 20 Dec 2022 00:59:26 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=47014 From the 12 Days of Broadband:

Over the course of 2022, the heat has risen in the debate surrounding pole replacement costs. The issue is all the more salient with the need to attach new fiber installations as part of the large amount of federal funding for broadband.

The specific controversy centers around the rates that broadband companies seeking to put fiber on utility poles need to pay the owners of the poles, often utilities. Internet companies claim that utility companies place an undue financial burden on attachers.

Download the complete 12 Days of Broadband report

For the 27 states that have no law governing pole attachments, the Federal Communications Commission is responsible for policing the controversy. The other 23 states and the District of Columbia have undertaken the “reverse preemption” process, certifying to the FCC that they regulate pole attachments and are therefore exempt from FCC rules on the process. In June, Florida became the 24th jurisdiction to certify.

In March, the FCC voted to seek comment on establishing clear standards for how utilities and pole attachers share in the costs of pole replacements.

Commenter Schools, Health and Libraries Coalition claimed that under the current model, pole owners are not required to share information regarding the age of the pole, tagged status, replacement, and maintenance schedules. “Without such transparency, the attacher maintains little recourse to contest these costs, aside from blindly questioning them,” said SHLB.

The debate regarding which entity should bear pole replacement costs revolves around which company benefits most from the replacement. Industry trade group INCOMPAS said in a November letter to the FCC that the agency should presume that pole owners benefit from replacements. Even in the case of make-ready costs, utility pole owners benefit from pole replacements as much as attachers, said T-Mobile in response to the March Notice of Inquiry.

The Utilities Technology Council criticized this argument, saying in its comments that the benefits of pole replacements are “insignificant” for utilities in comparison to the great benefit it provides attachers.

Other temporary solutions are being considered. In May, Charter Communications representative, Marva Johnson, argued that pole replacement funds should be sponsored by states. Furthermore, some states are working to streamline broadband service provider access to utility poles by working with utility companies to identify regions in the state that have little to no infrastructure on poles.

Charter Communications urged the FCC to “promptly” proceed in requiring pole owners to share the cost of replacing poles in October. A decision by the agency on the rules governing the 27 states is still forthcoming.

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/utility-companies-and-pole-attachers-debate-responsibility-for-pole-replacement-costs/feed/ 0 47014 Fiber Finds Its Footing, Offering Future-Proof High Speeds https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/fiber-finds-its-footing-offering-future-proof-high-speeds/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fiber-finds-its-footing-offering-future-proof-high-speeds https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/fiber-finds-its-footing-offering-future-proof-high-speeds/#respond Sat, 17 Dec 2022 02:30:31 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=46985 From the 12 Days of Broadband:

If 2022 was nothing else, it was the year in which symmetrical fiber became the hands-down unquestioned technology for broadband deployment.

Fiber isn’t exactly an immature technology: It’s been in widespread use for decades. But until the 21st century, fiber-to-the-home deployments weren’t very common in the United States. In part, this was because other technologies had a strong foothold, including co-axial cables used by cable television giants, legacy copper wiring for Digital Subscriber Lines first put in place by Ma Bell and her progeny, and various forms of wireless transmissions (both terrestrial and satellite).

Download the complete 12 Days of Broadband report

FTTH deployments, as they are sometimes called, grew slowly in the first decade of the century. Google Fiber sparked widespread enthusiasm with its “Think Big With a Gig” campaign in 2010. Over the next decade, more American internet subscribers began to associate a Gigabit per second (Gbps) of connectivity as the benchmark for a modern internet connection.

Still, connectivity lagged. According to a report compiled earlier in 2022 by Michael Render of RVA LLC Market Research and Consulting for the Fiber Broadband Association, 43 percent of U.S. households have access to fiber. Yet of these 60.5 million homes passed by fiber, 24.3 million subscribe, meaning that only about 17 percent of American homes use fiber at home.

Yet now, with the rollout of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, fiber is getting a boost over its competitor technologies.

In some ways, the COVID-19 pandemic provided the foundation case for why fiber’s symmetrical capabilities became so central. A Gigabit symmetrical network providers users the ability to transmit data upstream at 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps), as well as downstream at 1 Gbps. That became more necessary in a time when many, many users were engaging in videoconferencing and other high-bandwidth technologies in the home.

Speaking at the FBA’s annual conference in Nashville in June, the Biden administration official charged with working on broadband infrastructure deployment said that he wasn’t afraid to explicitly state that the U.S. Commerce Department favors fiber over other technologies.

“You will see that we have clearly expressed a preference for fiber,” said Andy Berke, the former mayor of Chattanooga, Tenn., which rose to national prominence on the strength of its “Gig City” network run by the city’s electric utility provider.

Berke, who at the time was the administration’s “Special Representative for Broadband” at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (and became the U.S. Agriculture Department’s utilities administrator in October), called fiber “future proof. If we put something in the ground, we know we are only going to have to put in the ground once.”

The widespread prevalence of Wi-Fi in the home, and other forms of wireless – including 5G – aren’t going to be any less significant. But when it comes to carrying bits from one place to another, fiber is now the unquestioned king of the hill.

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/12/fiber-finds-its-footing-offering-future-proof-high-speeds/feed/ 0 46985 Broadband Breakfast on November 30, 2022 – The 12 Days of Broadband https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/11/broadband-breakfast-on-november-30-2022-the-12-days-of-broadband/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=broadband-breakfast-on-november-30-2022-the-12-days-of-broadband https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/11/broadband-breakfast-on-november-30-2022-the-12-days-of-broadband/#respond Wed, 30 Nov 2022 16:41:09 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=46184 Our Broadband Breakfast Live Online events take place on Wednesday at 12 Noon ET. Watch the event on Broadband Breakfast, or REGISTER HERE to join the conversation.

Wednesday, November 30, 2022, 12 Noon ET – Introducing the Broadband Breakfast Club During the 12 Days of Broadband

In this session of the Broadband Breakfast Live Online on Zoom, Editor and Publisher Drew Clark will introduce the Broadband Breakfast Club. He will recap the Digital Infrastructure Investment–Washington conference, and highlight the videos from the event, which are now available to Broadband Breakfast Club members. (Conference attendees and registrants for our recent Broadband Mapping Masterclass will receive two months’ complimentary access to the Broadband Breakfast Club.) Clark will outline the benefits for Broadband Breakfast Club members, including:

  • Exclusive Access to our Signature Course on Digital Infrastructure
  • 2 Hours of Monthly Group Coaching on issues of Digital Infrastructure
  • Exclusive Monthly Report on the latest developments impacting Digital Infrastructure – The report for December 2022 report will feature the “Top 12 Stories in Broadband from 2022”
  • Exclusive Access to Video Content from Digital Infrastructure Investment and subsequent events

All of these benefits are available for $99/month. However, during our 12 Days of Broadband Sale, from Thursday, December 1- Friday, December 16, you can purchase monthly membership for $60/month. If you register now, for this one-time price, you’ll lock in your discount for as long as you remain a Broadband Breakfast Club member!

To become a member of the Broadband Breakfast Club, register here or reach out to membership@breakfast.media.

Panelists:

  • Drew Clark (presenter), Editor and Publisher, Broadband Breakfast

Drew Clark is CEO of Breakfast Media LLC, the Editor and Publisher of BroadbandBreakfast.com and a nationally-respected telecommunications attorney. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, he served as head of the State Broadband Initiative in Illinois. Now, in light of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, attorney Clark helps fiber-based and wireless clients secure funding, identify markets, broker infrastructure and operate in the public right of way.

As with all Broadband Breakfast Live Online events, the FREE webcasts will take place at 12 Noon ET on Wednesday.

SUBSCRIBE to the Broadband Breakfast YouTube channel. That way, you will be notified when events go live. Watch on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. 

See a complete list of upcoming and past Broadband Breakfast Live Online events.

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/11/broadband-breakfast-on-november-30-2022-the-12-days-of-broadband/feed/ 0 46184 Venture Capital, Private Equity and Institutional Investors on Digital Infrastructure Investment https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/11/venture-capital-private-equity-and-institutional-investors-on-digital-infrastructure-investment/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=venture-capital-private-equity-and-institutional-investors-on-digital-infrastructure-investment https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/11/venture-capital-private-equity-and-institutional-investors-on-digital-infrastructure-investment/#respond Mon, 28 Nov 2022 17:22:26 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=46072

Video from Panel 4 at Digital Infrastructure Investment: Tom Coverick, Managing Director, Keybanc Capital Markets, David Wedick, Chief Financial Office, Maine Connectivity Authority, and Vikash Harlalka, Equity Research Analyst, Communications Services Team, New Street Research, moderated by Drew Clark, Editor and Publisher, Broadband Breakfast,

For a free article summarizing the event, see States and Municipalities Should Move Quickly on Infrastructure Funding, BEAD or Not: Beginning financial planning early and allow time to tweak statutes that may stand in the way of certain funding options, Broadband Breakfast, November 18, 2022.

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/11/venture-capital-private-equity-and-institutional-investors-on-digital-infrastructure-investment/feed/ 0 46072 Financing Mechanisms for Community Broadband, Panel 3 at Digital Infrastructure Investment https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/11/financing-mechanisms-for-community-broadband-panel-3-at-digital-infrastructure-investment/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=financing-mechanisms-for-community-broadband-panel-3-at-digital-infrastructure-investment https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/11/financing-mechanisms-for-community-broadband-panel-3-at-digital-infrastructure-investment/#respond Mon, 28 Nov 2022 17:01:36 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=46068

Video from Panel 3 at Digital Infrastructure Investment: Kim McKinley, Chief Marketing Officer, UTOPIA Fiber, Jeff Christensen, President & CEO, EntryPoint Networks, Jane Coffin, Chief Community Officer, Connect Humanity, Robert Wack, former Westminster Common Council President and leader of the Open Access Citywide Fiber Network Initiative, and moderated by Christopher Mitchell, Director, Community Broadband Networks, Institute for Local Self-Reliance

For a free article summarizing the event, see Communities Need Governance Seat on Broadband Builds, Conference Hears: Communities need to be involved in decision-making when it comes to broadband builds, Broadband Breakfast, November 17, 2022

]]> https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/11/financing-mechanisms-for-community-broadband-panel-3-at-digital-infrastructure-investment/feed/ 0 46068 What’s the State of the IIJA? Panel 1 at Digital Infrastructure Investment https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/11/whats-the-state-of-the-iija-panel-1-at-digital-infrastructure-investment/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=whats-the-state-of-the-iija-panel-1-at-digital-infrastructure-investment https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/11/whats-the-state-of-the-iija-panel-1-at-digital-infrastructure-investment/#respond Mon, 28 Nov 2022 16:18:08 +0000 https://broadbandbreakfast.com/?p=46060

Video from Panel 1 at Digital Infrastructure Investment: Moderated by Gabriella Novello, Assistant Editor, Communications Daily, Kenrick Gordon, Director, Maryland Office of Statewide Broadband, Hannah Hill, Principal, Boston Consulting Group, Phil Murphy, Senior Advisor, Office of the Assistant Secretary, NTIA, Glen Howie, Director, Arkansas State Broadband Office.

For a free article summarizing the event, see Local Leadership and Coordination Key to Proper Federal Fund Allocation, Conference Hears: Local communities understand their own needs, said Arkansas’s Glen Howie, Broadband Breakfast, November 17, 2022

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