It Remains to be Seen if Spectrum Coordination Improved: NTIA Chief

For many Americans without good connectivity, "It's going to take a little while" before federal digital divide efforts start addressing that, Davidson said. He said some federal programs already are doling out funds, such as hundreds of millions that have been awarded for tribal connectivity, and middle mile funding is expected to start flowing next year. The $42 billion for state grants will take longer to start, he said. He said the first draft of better FCC broadband maps is expected "Novemberish," and the challenge process for states and localities to raise issues with those drafts means it will likely be the first half of 2023 before the maps are finalized. Affordability will be a big element of NTIA's state grant awards, Davidson said. He said it will require that states mandate providers offer a low-cost broadband option.

NTIA will be more active in areas of data privacy, Davidson said. The U.S. is "long overdue" in having a strong national privacy law, he said. "People need it" and the lack of one is "not great" for U.S. credibility internationally, he said. The agency's privacy "listening session" (2111300017) will be followed by a request for comment, he said. The U.S. is "not in a sustainable spot right now" on data privacy because the lack of a strong policy stymies innovation in areas such as healthcare and AI, he said.

NTIA will aim the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund at issues like 5G equipment security and vendor diversity, and it wants to encourage Open RAN as a path to that, Davidson said.

China doesn't have good immediate policy options for responding to the Chips Act, since it already blocks foreign firms from many Chinese markets, said Xiameng Lu, Eurasia Group geotechnology practice director. She said China is building a legal regime somewhat similar to the U.S.’ export control regime, but implementation will take a long time. Though there has been some talk on Capitol Hill of expanding the oversight and domain of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., opposition from the business community so far has held sway, she said.

Some companies used a Cold War narrative at least in part for protectionism against foreign competition, said Samm Sacks, New America Foundation cybersecurity fellow, citing Meta cultivating a national security dialogue on TikTok. At the same time, she added, “there are real national security, real human rights issues.” Sacks said the Biden administration initially showed interest in a “small yard high fence” tech policy approach of selectively naming some strategically important technologies and protecting them heavily. She said the hiccup came in defining what goes into that “small yard.”

The nearly $53 billion being put into semiconductor research, manufacturing and workforce development via the Chips Act will cover only a fraction of the capital expense for making U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturers, said SeedAI founder Austin Carson. However, there has already been a huge ripple effect with Micron’s announced $40 billion investment in memory chip manufacturing and Qualcomm and GlobalFoundries partnering on investment in chip manufacturing in the U.S.

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The $1 billion being allocated to middle mile via the Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program needs to be ten times that amount to meet data consumption needs, said DigitalBridge CEO Marc Danzi. The metrics and key performance indicators for middle mile are also grossly out of date, especially since the cloud should now be considered part of the middle mile for 5G. Danzi said labor issues are a big problem in broadband infrastructure deployment. Part of the problem is a general negative view in the U.S. of vocational training programs, he said. More immigration, meanwhile, isn't a politically viable option, he said. He said fiber pricing and availability is relatively stable, but optical light switching gear is facing significant supply chain problems.

Tech startups and their global ambitions are increasingly coming into conflict with national security and national economic interests, said Fiona Murray, MIT Innovation Initiative co-director and member of the U.K. Prime Minister's Council for Science and Technology. Science and tech of strategic importance used to be largely the purview of national labs or major corporations well versed in supporting national interests, she said. That technology is coming increasingly from startups, and they're often global in their perspective and in their funding sources, she said. Even allied nations at times come into conflict over tech supremacy, she said. She said there should be more across-allies cooperation rather than a nationalistic approach.

A panel on what Web 3.0 and the Metaverse exactly are had varying views. The terms “mean whatever people want them to” because both are slogans “with a kernel of reality” for both,” said Kevin Werbach, University of Pennsylvania Wharton School chairman-legal studies and business ethics. Web 3.0 broadly is a business model based on blockchain infrastructure, while Metaverse is more experiential, and there are some areas of convergence between the two, he said. U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Commissioner Caroline Pham said views of the Metaverse fall into two categories, one being a 3D internet, another an economy that allows buying and selling and transferring. She said Web 3.0 would help unlock that potential with tokens and NFTs to demonstrate ownership. American University law Professor Hilary Allen said there’s an aspiration that Web 3.0 be decentralized and built on blockchain, but blockchain experiences show “that’s not going to happen.” Venture capital wouldn’t be putting money into Web 3.0 if there weren’t roles for intermediaries, she said.