Collaboration among stakeholders was described as a key to the FCC emergency broadband benefit. Speakers at NARUC in Denver, some of whom wanted something like EBB to continue indefinitely, said the program takes lots of work with community stakeholders and individual recipients. “It’s going to take a lot of collaboration, coordination" and “really doing the hard work,” said panel moderator and Connecticut regulator Michael Caron. “We are now trying to decide what is next” as people need broadband access, added the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority commissioner. “This looks like the new normal.” He doesn’t “think this is a temporary environment that we’re in.” Of EBB, “we think it needs to be permanent,” said Comcast Senior Vice President-External and Government Affairs Bret Perkins: “But it’s a significant step. And it’s going to be followed up by the Emergency Connectivity Fund” for educational institutions. There’s no “algorithm to solve” getting broadband to those lacking it, he said. “It’s hard work.” Speakers agreed EBB’s rollout is going OK. The Hispanic Technology & Telecommunications Partnership and other organizations getting the word out “are the glue that we need here,” said Perkins. Organizations such as HTTP helped consumers, figuring out what broadband plan to use, what ISP to buy service from, and other issues, said Executive Director Alejandro Roark. The “primary vehicle” to enroll is online, but many who could benefit lack such internet connections, he said. They could use a paper-based process, he noted: “For some, it’s easier to sit down and fill out the application” and submit it by postal mail. “It seems like we’ve been working with the program for ages,” said Tracfone Associate Vice President David Avila of the funding that got congressional OK in December. Such programs “are successful” only “through collaboration,” and having community advocates involved creates “credibility for the program,” he said: It helps to have “the providers in the community as well.” Toward the start of the panel, which had all participants in-person although the conference is a hybrid meeting (see 2107190074), Comcast’s Perkins said, “It’s great to be in 3D with actual people here.” He noted his trip was his first time on a plane during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Broadband speeds and testing them “is a really confusing topic” and “consumers are almost hopelessly confused,” a telecom economist-consultant told NARUC in Denver. Gillan & Associates President Joe Gillan said consumers don’t always know the service speeds they're buying from ISPs, echoing others (see 2107190069). “Because consumers are confused, the politics around this is confused,” Gillan continued. Maybe 10% of people want 1 Gbps, and many internet users don’t need symmetrical speeds, he said. “Networks can do more than most people need them to do.”
Broadband challenges include consumer expectations matching reality, NARUC heard Monday in Denver. Opening a panel and riffing on Tom Cruise in Top Gun saying “I feel the need for speed,” moderator Chris Nelson said broadband perceptions “can go in a lot of different directions.” The speeds people think they get, what they need, what they get at various times during the day, and other factors all vary, said Nelson. “When we go to buy broadband, we don’t really know what we’re getting; we know what we’re being told we’re being sold,” added Nelson, South Dakota Public Utilities Commission chairman. Broadband has challenges, said Ookla Executive Vice President-Smart Cities Bryan Darr. FCC form 477 data “can be quite out of date,” he said. Generally, “there have not been good, consistent data sources” used by governments, said Darr, whose company provides the Speedtest app for measuring broadband characteristics. Nelson, in an interview afterward, agreed with Ookla’s Darr that the issue of broadband speeds will diminish as overall ISP speeds increase. “As these speeds ramp up, this will be less of an issue,” Nelson told us. He said he doesn’t have a stance on whether the FCC should lift its 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream threshold for what's considered broadband. The priority should be that those who can’t get 25/3 Mbps should be able to buy such service, Nelson said: That’s “who we [should] focus on first.”
5G has a role to play in infrastructure and closing the digital divide, FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said on an Axios webinar Friday, as Congress debates whether wireless will be a major part of infrastructure spending plans (see 2107150046). Much of the discussion has been on extending the reach of fiber networks, Rosenworcel said. “We really need to have robust connections to those towers … to make sure our wireless networks can deliver all that 5G has to offer.” About 50 million Americans are on 5G , Rosenworcel said. She noted the importance of 5G to IoT. Next-generation machine learning and artificial intelligence are “where the real 5G revolution comes,” she said. Rosenworcel said the FCC “made a mistake” last administration putting too much emphasis on high-band spectrum, repeating a criticism she made as a minority commissioner. Millimeter-wave 5G requires “lots of ground-based facilities,” which are “really costly” to deploy, she said. Mid-band is “the sweet spot” and “how we’re going to deploy 5G,” she said. “We’re doing a lot to fix where we were.” The FCC started the C-band auction, the first mid-band auction for 5G, under former Chairman Ajit Pai (see 2012080040). "The last FCC took unprecedented action to advance American leadership in 5G,” Pai emailed now. “A key part of that plan was freeing up spectrum for the commercial marketplace,” he said, noting the citizens broadband radio service and C-band auction. “Notably, today's leadership voted against each and every one of these measures,” he said: “The agency is now going backward on mid-band by putting on ice the 2.5 GHz auction and the 4.9 GHz initiative." Commissioner Brendan Carr "is proud that he voted in favor of freeing up more than six gigahertz of spectrum for licensed 5G services," a spokesperson emailed: “There is work ahead if this Commission is going to match the pace and cadence it hit with mid-band spectrum over the past few years.” Rosenworcel says the 2.5 GHz auction would come following the 3.45 GHz auction. Mid-band means more 5G outside urban centers, she said now. "That future is not quite here yet.” Broadband is becoming “critical infrastructure,” said Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon. Governments “should care,” he said. “I have not met a single government that does not worry about how they can build 5G and how fast.” Amon also noted the debate in Congress: “For the first time, you have a cellular technology that can really replace, or augment, fiber deployment,” which will be easier to build in rural areas. Amon predicted most major U.S. cities will have 5G in 2021, and it will cover the “majority of the country” by Dec. 31, 2022. Most Manufacturing Institute members report they hope to use 5G in their plants by year's end, said Executive Director Carolyn Lee: “They also recognize that the speed with which 5G is deployed will really impact their ability to be globally competitive.”
As more of daily life moves online, ensuring access to websites is more important, heard an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation webinar on federal website accessibility. Go beyond Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which requires federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities, said Andrew Kirkpatrick, Adobe director-accessibility. “Get rid of legacy content and legacy systems not supporting accessibility.” Ensure content is available on modern devices and works well with all browsers, he said Thursday. Put away the mouse, “making sure you can activate all the content” via the keyboard, said Kirkpatrick. American Foundation for the Blind Chief Public Policy and Research Officer Stephanie Enyart stressed user testing as a “key component” in understanding how people “are really using the software.” Something technically accessible “might not be so user friendly.” She recommended federal agencies share best practices. Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., who co-chairs the Bipartisan Disabilities Caucus and is a wheelchair user, said “government has to step up its game to be a model.” Noting Section 508 applies only to the executive branch, he said he asked the House chief administrative officer to prioritize site accessibility for congressional offices. “Efforts are underway,” Langevin said. He's seeking increased funding for the Office of Congressional Accessibility Services and the House modernization initiative. ITIF issued a report last month on federal agency accessibility (see 2106030036). Our report on association websites found they mostly scored relatively high on accessibility.
NARUC's Telecom Subcommittee advanced three draft resolutions to the full committee for a Tuesday vote at the state regulators' policy summit in Denver. The proposals relate to Broadband Task Force recommendations, the emergency broadband benefit (EBB) and disaster outage reporting (see 2107070053). At Thursday’s virtual meeting, the subcommittee’s staff-level officials declined to vote on proposed amendments by industry to the EBB draft. NCTA suggested removing a clause recommending that Congress, in any EBB extension, “phase out the current partial bypass” of the state eligible telecom carrier designation process. Changing course now could disrupt service for customers whose EBB providers don’t yet have ETC status, said NCTA Vice President-State Affairs Rick Cimerman. TruConnect asked to add clauses urging the FCC to allow Lifeline ETC requests to use an alternative verification process in California, Texas and Oregon for EBB enrollment, and asking Congress to give money to states that haven’t been able to connect Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program databases to the Lifeline national verifier. About 15 states haven’t connected SNAP databases, with most saying it’s because they lack funding to update interfaces, said TruConnect attorney Judson Hill. The full committee could still take up industry’s proposed changes at its business meeting, said Subcommittee Chair Joseph Witmer, counsel to Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Chairman Gladys Brown.
Broadband access is a "top equity issue" for counties, reported the National Association of Counties Broadband Task Force Wednesday. It should be a regulated utility to help bridge the digital divide. It supported better data collection and a collaborative effort between federal and local stakeholders. The task force recommended a scalable federal definition of up to 1 Gbps symmetrical. There's "work that needs to be done by all of us ... to bridge that divide and level the playing field for communities, businesses and families forced to use antiquated 20th century technology,” said task force co-Chair and Wise County, Texas, Judge J.D. Clark.
California’s proposed budget would set aside $3.25 billion for a state-owned open-access middle-mile project and $2 billion in federal funding for last-mile projects, split equally between urban and rural counties, said a budget trailer bill expected to be up for floor votes Thursday. The Assembly Budget Committee planned to have weighed the budget package late Tuesday, and the legislature is expected to finalize the budget by Friday before a monthlong recess (see 2107090049). Like bills by Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D) and Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D), the budget plan would update California Advanced Services Fund rules to define unserved area as without at least 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload and low latency. Democrats Gov. Gavin Newsom, Senate President Toni Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon committed Monday to passing comprehensive measures by the end of this year’s session to extend CASF surcharge funding. The budget deal "invests in an essential backbone infrastructure" and "takes critical steps toward equity by prioritizing unserved and underserved areas in both rural and urban communities,” said Gonzalez. "Now, we must pass legislation to provide long-term, continuous funding for high-speed broadband infrastructure."
“We Are UnStoppable” is the theme of an eight-week, 60-second TV ad campaign that debuted Monday in U.S. markets to promote website accessibility for the disabled, said accessiBe. "Despite web accessibility being a critical topic, especially as people continue to do almost everything online, conversations around it have not yet entered the mainstream TV world,” said CEO Shir Ekerling. “We believe this has to change.” People with disabilities "probably can't use your website," says a narrator in the spot. We found that many telecom and tech associations' websites are accessible, yet some need further improvements.
The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security added 34 organizations to its entity list for tighter export restrictions, said Friday's final rule. Fourteen are based in China and “have enabled Beijing’s campaign of repression, mass detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and members of other Muslim minority groups," said Commerce. Another five were “directly supporting" China's "military modernization programs," it said. A Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson, anticipating the BIS action, told a news conference Friday in Beijing that this list "is in essence a tool for suppressing specific companies and industries in China under the pretext of human rights."