Daily Digest 6/18/2024 (2024)

Biden-Harris Administration Approves Kentucky and Maine’s “Internet for All” Initial Proposal|Read below|Press Release|National Telecommunications and Information Administration

Do Companies Care About the Affordable Connectivity Program?|Read below|Blair Levin|Analysis|

911 Consolidation|Read below|Doug Dawson|Analysis|CCG Consulting

Can A.I. Answer the Needs of Smaller Businesses? Some Push to Find Out.|New York Times

Op-ed | As AI is embraced, what happens to the artists whose work was stolen to build it?|Los Angeles Times

Poll: Many California voters get their info from social media, even if they don’t trust it|Los Angeles Times

Social-Media Influencers Aren’t Getting Rich—They’re Barely Getting By|Wall Street Journal

Why Canada Shouldn’t Impose a Special Tax on Foreign Streaming Services|Information Technology & Innovation Foundation

Biden-Harris Administration Approves Kentucky and Maine’s “Internet for All” Initial Proposal

Press Release|National Telecommunications and Information Administration

Summary on Benton.org

Back to Table of Contents

Do Companies Care About the Affordable Connectivity Program?

Blair Levin|Analysis|

Summary on Benton.org

Back to Table of Contents

When BEAD Map Challenges Are Based on Misinformation

Ian Doescher|telecompetitor

Though the challenge process for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program is intended to create more accurate broadband maps, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) warns that the opposite may happen. If, during the challenge process, a local broadband provider promises they can provide speeds and services in a particular community—but are overstating their abilities or simply making false claims—the resulting broadband coverage maps will be less accurate. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) requires states to determine areas eligible for BEAD funding via a three-stage process: challenges to existing National Broadband Map data, rebuttal, and determination. ILSR is urging community representatives—including local government leaders, nonprofit organizations, and Tribal entities—to get involved in the rebuttal stage to verify that the claims made by broadband providers in the challenge stage are realistic.

Summary on Benton.org

Back to Table of Contents

Net neutrality kicks in next month, spawning small cable company fears

The Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rules will go into effect July 22, unless the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals places a stay on the rules. Several different groups have filed lawsuits, claiming that the FCC broke the law when it decided to reclassify broadband providers under Title II of the Communications Act. Because the groups filed their lawsuits in seven different circuit courts, a lottery was held to select the court where the cases could be consolidated, and the Sixth Circuit was selected in the lottery. The petitioners in the now-combined lawsuit are asking the Sixth Circuit to delay (or stay) the effective date of net neutrality until the lawsuit is resolved. At the same time, the FCC has asked to move the lawsuit to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.

Summary on Benton.org

Back to Table of Contents

Wireless industry group opposes latest spectrum reform attempt

Once more, legislation addressing some of the nation’s biggest spectrum issues is scheduled for a markup, but it’s not winning any accolades from the U.S. wireless industry’s biggest trade group. The Spectrum and National Security Act – introduced by Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) in April 2024 – was most recently set to be marked up on June 12. That was postponed and rescheduled for Tuesday, June 18. The delay came after the heads of the Commerce Department, Department of Defense (DoD) and Joint Chiefs of Staff asked for edits to address language around dynamic spectrum sharing and spectrum studies, among other things. Their coming together signaled to some the end of a long-time inter-agency dispute. Included in Cantwell’s bill is a directive for the FCC to complete an auction of new licenses for the 12.7-13.25 GHz band. However, the bill doesn’t offer any specific midband spectrum for the FCC to auction – most notably, the lower 3 GHz band is excluded, according to Umair Javed, SVP/Spectrum at CTIA. Besides restoring the FCC’s auction authority for five years, the bill seeks to fund the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) and provide $3 billion for the rip and replace program. But it’s mostly about spectrum reform, said New Street Research analyst Blair Levin.

Summary on Benton.org

Back to Table of Contents

FCC Commissioner Carr Raises Possibility of ‘Incentive Auction 2.0’

Tom Butts|TV Tech

At its annual meeting, the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) announced a number of new developments, including a new branding campaign, mission statement and updates on its efforts to expand adoption of the ATSC 3.0 (aka NextGen TV) internationally as well as the campaign to sunset 1.0. But it was perhaps a comment from Federal Communications Commissioner Brendon Carr in a discussion with ATSC President Madeleine Noland that garnered the most attention. In a Q&A with Noland, Carr compared the transition from the current ATSC 1.0 standard to 3.0 to the evolution of the mobile wireless industry and, with many broadcasters eager to shut down 1.0 to provide more bandwidth for 3.0, what could happen after the 1.0 sunset. Like wireless, the transition to 3.0 is taking a lightly-regulated, market-based approach, which Carr agreed with. “The transition that we see in technologies from a wireless approach is one that we should take here,” Carr said, referring to 3.0. “We largely trust the mobile wireless industry to handle those upgrades in technology… you're getting the playbook here." He added, "We have to get to a point of a level regulatory playing field and increased investment. In broadcasting, we have to allow this flash cut to 3.0 by a date certain and forthrightly and we also need to really consider competition in D.C. around potentially an ‘incentive auction 2.0’ as well.”

Summary on Benton.org

Back to Table of Contents

Is the 4.9 GHz ‘giveaway’ a bad idea? Verizon, Boston and New York think so.

Verizon is among several entities that told the Federal Communications Commission to hold off on any plan to grant FirstNet – and by extension AT&T – a nationwide license to the 4.9 GHz band. In case you aren't up to speed, here's the recap: The Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA) supports a proposal to assign the 4.9 GHz band to FirstNet, which runs on AT&T’s network. The Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure (CERCI) opposes that plan and argues that the 4.9 GHz band should remain in the control of local authorities. For example, cities like New York and Boston use the 4.9 GHz band for transportation and emergency communications. Verizon executives recently met with FCC personnel to express support for CERCI’s positions in the 4.9 GHz proceeding, including its call for retaining local public safety control of the band and its opposition to the PSSA’s proposal to assign the 4.9 GHz band to FirstNet, either directly through a nationwide license or indirectly through a sharing agreement. If the agency does embrace PSSA’s proposal, then it needs to consider a “lawful way” to assign the spectrum through a competitive process, such as an auction or bidding process, rather than “gifting the spectrum” to one commercial provider.

Summary on Benton.org

Back to Table of Contents

911 Consolidation

Doug Dawson|Analysis|CCG Consulting

Network consolidation and centralization of networks is putting our broadband and voice networks in increased jeopardy.It’s easy to understand why carriers are in favor of the savings that come from consolidation, but it’s vital that we recognize and acknowledge the increased risk that comes as a consequence of choosing efficiency over other factors. One areaof particular concern is 911 network consolidation. Carriers have very quietly rearranged the 911 network configuration in the country in a way that puts 911 callers in jeopardy.Historically, 911 was the ultimate local network arrangement. Each city or county had at least one 911 call center. Over time, 911 call centers were consolidated regionally.It’s now fairly routine when a customer calls 911 that the call is routed to a 911 tandem that is many states away before ultimately being routed back to the appropriate local 911 center. In the network world, greater distance means greater risk. A network outage in a distant city can stop or block a local call to 911.There is no doubt that the current 911 configuration is more efficient. But I suspect the government folks in charge of 911 centers and public safety have little idea about the great distances covered by a routine 911 call. There would be a big improvement in 911 safety if the 911 tandems and databases were closer to customers, like the historical 911 networks.

Summary on Benton.org

Back to Table of Contents

Surgeon General: Why I’m Calling for a Warning Label on Social Media Platforms

Summary on Benton.org

Back to Table of Contents

It’s Trump’s ‘technopoly’ now

Derek Robertson|Politico

Donald Trump recently gave his most extensive public commentsto date on artificial intelligence.“It is a superpower, and you want to be right at the beginning of it, but it is very disconcerting." Trump also mentions receiving $12 million for his campaign from unnamed Bay Area “super-geniuses,” a subtle marker of his emergence as the standard-bearer of theright-leaning, crypto-loving wing of Silicon Valley.Given how often Trump flip-flops, it’s worth focusing on what’s most consistent about his relationship with Silicon Valley: His status as a walking embodiment of the “move fast and break things” venture-capitalist ethos.This philosophy is alive and well today,and goes a long way toward explaining Trump’s appeal to a contingent in Silicon Valley whose entire existence is defined by a dissatisfaction with the status quo.

Summary on Benton.org

Back to Table of Contents

Today's Events

• Canceled: Executive Session(Senate Commerce Committee)
• Broadband Bootcamp 2.0(Appalachian Regional Commission)
• Announcing CBRS 2.0(New America)
• Listening Session with Formerly Incarcerated People(FCC)
• Connecting Missouri: Show Me Digital Equity!(Marconi Society)