Benton Institute for Broadband & Society - Fierce

FCC's Lifeline overhaul sets fire to a bridge over the digital divide

benton — Fri, 17 Nov 2017 22:00:47 +0000

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission took its first major step toward overhauling the controversial Lifeline program in a move that will punish not just low-income citizens but perhaps small, innovative service providers as well. Yes, Lifeline was once teeming with fraud, waste and abuse. Yes, the program still has significant flaws. And yes, companies that fail to provide adequate services should be forever barred from Lifeline for preying on some of our most vulnerable citizens. But the 2016 reforms may be working well—we won’t know until we see more updated data—and existing failings can be analyzed and addressed individually as necessary. Instead, the FCC is opting to overhaul the system dramatically, slashing subsidies for some and moving to prevent the kinds of service providers that are ideally suited to serve low-income consumers, often in remote areas. The commission is intent on burning a crucial bridge across the digital divide with no promise of building a new one.

Benton Content:

https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/editor-s-corner-fcc-s-lifeline-overhaul-…

Teaser:

[Commentary] The FCC took its first major step on Thursday toward overhauling the controversial Lifeline program in a move that will punish not just low-income citizens but perhaps small, innovative service providers as well.

Source:

Fierce

Author:

Colin Gibbs

Send date:

Sat, 11/18/2017

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 11/17/2017

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Not Available

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Publish Date:

Fri, 11/17/2017

Coverage Type:

Universal Service Fund

Lifeline/Low-Income Consumers

Wireless Telecommunications

Sure, fiber networks are ‘greener.’ What about building them?

zwalker@benton.org — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 18:48:58 +0000

Fiber companies have made being environmentally friendly a central part of their messaging—especially when it comes to comparing the technology to its counterparts, like cable and copper. Fiber is often referred to as a “passive” technology because it is uses passive optical networking, or PON, technology, which requires unpowered optical splitters instead of electricity to power it. However, Dan Hays, telecommunications leader at PwC, said that like most construction projects, the installation of fiber optic networks can cause “significant land disruption and energy usage.” In part, due to the transportation and usage of heavy equipment for trenching and burying of vast networks of cables. Installing underground fiber cables depends on trenching equipment to carve into the earth, reaching depths of over 3 feet. As trenchers uproot vegetation and loosen soil, they could destroy forest understories, grasslands or delicate wetland environments. Hays said the broadband construction industry has a number of techniques at its disposal to minimize their impact. That could include the use of existing telephone and electric utility poles to hang cables or employing newer technologies such as micro-trenching and horizontal drilling to minimize land disturbance.

Benton Content:

https://www.fierce-network.com/broadband/sure-fiber-networks-are-greener-what-ab…

Teaser:

Like most construction, building fiber optic networks can disrupt land and ecosystems

Source:

Fierce

Author:

Julia King

Send date:

Wed, 04/24/2024

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 4/23/2024

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Not Available

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Publish Date:

Tue, 04/23/2024

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How Internet Service Providers are Going Green

Grace Tepper — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 12:17:51 +0000

Earth Day is here, and Fierce Network is celebrating by looking into how telcos are approaching their sustainability agendas. Fierce reached out to several internet service providers (ISPs) to ask how they're making their businesses more environmentally friendly. For companies Fierce didn't hear from, it took a look at their recent environmental, social and governance (ESG) reports to check their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Scope 1 emissions are a company's direct emissions from owned or controlled sources. Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy. In the corporate ESG scene, "net zero" has become a buzzword added into many company's sustainability targets. Net zero emissions means there is equilibrium between the amount of emissions and extraction of greenhouse gases a company is responsible for. Some experts have warned that greenwashy words like "net zero" may not actually be enough, since the strategy still leaves room for immense greenhouse gas emissions. Nonetheless, there's still something to be said for forward progress. Here's what companies are doing to get there.

Benton Content:

https://www.fierce-network.com/broadband/earth-day-round-how-isps-are-going-gree…

Teaser:

Earth Day is here, and Fierce Network is celebrating by looking into how telcos are approaching their sustainability agendas.

Source:

Fierce

Author:

Masha Abarinova

Julia King

Send date:

Tue, 04/23/2024

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 4/22/2024

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Not Available

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Publish Date:

Tue, 04/23/2024

Coverage Type:

Reporting

Energy and Climate

Internet/Broadband

911 outages hit 4 states, investigations underway (Fierce)

zwalker@benton.org — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 19:41:49 +0000

Links:

911 outages hit 4 states, investigations underway

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Open offsite URL

Source:

Fierce

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Not Available

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 4/18/2024

Roger Entner | Who walks the walk when it comes to spectrum build-out? (Fierce)

zwalker@benton.org — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 20:41:58 +0000

Links:

Roger Entner | Who walks the walk when it comes to spectrum build-out?

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Open offsite URL

Source:

Fierce

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Not Available

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 4/17/2024

Analysts predict U.S. fiber subscriptions to double in the next 10 years to 45 million (Fierce)

zwalker@benton.org — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 20:41:37 +0000

Links:

Analysts predict U.S. fiber subscriptions to double in the next 10 years to 45 million

Offsite url:

Open offsite URL

Source:

Fierce

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Not Available

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 4/17/2024

5G and the CHIPS act: What's happening?

zwalker@benton.org — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 20:00:13 +0000

The CHIPS and Science Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in August 2022, is supposed to promote investment in chip manufacturing plants, help ease supply chain woes and bring skilled manufacturing jobs back to the United States. 5G wireless chips will be part of that wider picture. Doug Kirkpatrick, former chief scientist at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), said, “There has been a general concern that the United States is falling behind in terms of chip production and technology. What you’re seeing in the CHIPS act today is really a manifestation of a very classic DARPA approach to how you would solve that kind of problem.” Kirkpatrick said that people often ask: “We have this huge investment in the CHIPS act, why aren’t we already reclaiming everything from China?” “It’s going to take some time,” he said. There’s been a poor job of setting expectations, and there needs to be a recognition that this is something that's going to push on for the next decade.

Benton Content:

https://www.fierce-network.com/wireless/5g-chips-act-whats-happening

Teaser:

It will be several years before we see anything commercial out of CHIPS Act work

Source:

Fierce

Author:

Dan Jones

Send date:

Wed, 04/17/2024

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 4/16/2024

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Not Available

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Publish Date:

Tue, 04/16/2024

Coverage Type:

Wireless Telecommunications

Wireless Internet

People tell FCC that bulk billing 'forces' them to buy cable TV

benton — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 14:42:07 +0000

Individuals are filing comments with the Federal Communications Commission about their experiences with bulk billing. They’re complaining that they’re forced to pay for cable TV when they don’t want it and they’re forced to get broadband from cable providers even if they currently have fiber broadband, which they love. The comments are the result of FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's plans to initiate a proceeding to ban bulk billing arrangements in multi-tenant environments, such as apartment buildings. And even though the FCC hasn’t formally issued a notice of inquiry, ex parte comments are coming into the agency, both in favor and against. So far, comments from trade associations and service providers (and all their lawyers) are generally opposed to a ban on bulk billing. But the more interesting comments have been filed by individuals who are not fans of bulk billing.

Benton Content:

https://www.fierce-network.com/broadband/people-tell-fcc-bulk-billing-forces-the…

Teaser:

Some people don't appreciate having to pay for cable TV, which they don't watch.

Source:

Fierce

Author:

Linda Hardesty

Send date:

Wed, 04/17/2024

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 4/16/2024

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Not Available

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Publish Date:

Tue, 04/16/2024

Coverage Type:

Reporting

Agenda

Upcoming policy issue

Federal Agency

Federal Communications Commission

Internet/Broadband

CCA: Smaller carriers ‘hitting that wall’ on replacing Huawei gear

zwalker@benton.org — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 20:34:35 +0000

It may seem as though the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) has been talking about the lack of adequate Rip and Replace funding for years—and it has been. But now things are really starting to hit the fan. Congress created the Rip and Replace program in 2020 to get Chinese components out of US wireless networks, but the funding fell $3 billion short of what’s needed to finish the job. Some parts of US rural networks still have significant amounts of Huawei and/or ZTE gear in their systems—including in networks near military bases and national labs. Some carriers likely will be forced to shut down if more funding is not provided. For others, their footprints will look starkly different—and smaller. There is hope for a resolution in the sense that proposals are being teed up in Washington, DC. In March Sen Steve Daines (R-MT) introduced the Supporting National Security with Spectrum Act to fully fund the Rip and Replace program.

Benton Content:

https://www.fierce-network.com/wireless/cca-smaller-carriers-hitting-wall-replac…

Teaser:

The situation with Rip and Replace is so dire now that “we’re hitting that wall” where carriers are having to make tough decisions about their livelihoods

Source:

Fierce

Author:

Monica Alleven

Send date:

Tue, 04/16/2024

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 4/15/2024

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Not Available

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Publish Date:

Mon, 04/15/2024

Coverage Type:

Reporting

Agenda

Upcoming policy issue

Cybersecurity and Cyberwarfare

SheerID wants to help ACP households pay their bills

zwalker@benton.org — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 18:45:37 +0000

With the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) on the line, internet service providers (ISPs) want to ensure their low-income subscribers don’t lose internet access—and that nobody falls through the cracks. Identity verification company SheerID has launched a tool allowing telcos to verify that households are eligible for government assistance programs. With the ACP slated to run out of funding at the end of April, SheerID said its verification tool is a way for carriers to continue reduced rate pricing and promotions to families who need extra financial support. SheerID is in talks with a number of its customers “in terms of transitioning off the ACP program into using our product” for supporting families on government assistance. But as the product just came out, there aren’t any partnerships to announce so far. All told, determining eligibility for low-cost internet plans is going to get a lot less organized if ACP goes away. While the Federal Communications Commission has allowed some ISPs to verify ACP eligibility themselves, consumers applying for ACP have typically gone through the National Verifier, a centralized application system managed by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC).

Benton Content:

https://www.fierce-network.com/broadband/sheerid-wants-help-acp-households-pay-t…

Teaser:

SheerID's new tool would allow ISPs to keep offering discounted internet plans to households that need it if ACP goes away

Source:

Fierce

Author:

Masha Abarinova

Send date:

Mon, 04/15/2024

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 4/12/2024