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Asia/FCC/zBroadband News

Commerce Department Grants 90-Day Reprieve From Huawei Ban, Cites Impact on Rural Broadband Networks

BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: On Monday, a mere five days after placing Chinese telecommunications manufacturer Huawei on the "Entity List" of effectively banned companies, the Trump administration signaled a (temporary) reprieve: Effective Monday, U.S. manufacturers will have 90 days in which to find alternatives to Huawei: “The Temporary General License grants operators time to make other… Keep Reading

Fiber/Open Access/zBroadband News

Utah’s Open Infrastructure Network Releases Timetable for Fiber in Orem; To Complete Buildout by 2022

BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: There is much to cheer for better broadband in Utah, including this report from today's Daily Herald. The Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency, the U.S.'s largest open access network, is on a roll. It is boasting an accelerated buildout in several Utah communities, and commitments to buildout its remaining cities, including Orem.… Keep Reading

Broadband Mapping/Broadband's Impact/FCC/Infrastructure/NTIA/zBroadband News

Why States and the Federal Government Alike Are Honing in on Broadband Data and Broadband Access

BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: This OpEd last week highlights the importance of broadband data and mapping, the variety of efforts underway to address inadequacies in our informational base, plus the broadband coordination currently going on in the federal government, and among many of the state governments. Of particular note, later in the articles, is the way it highlights… Keep Reading

Broadband Mapping/Broadband's Impact/FCC/Press Releases/Wireless

Senators Capito and Hassan Re-Introduce the Rural Reasonable and Comparable Wireless Access Act

BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Together with her Democratic colleague Sen. Maggie Hassan, Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito on Friday introduced legislation designed to establish a national standard that would govern the Federal Communications Commission's determination about whether mobile and broadband services in rural areas are "reasonably comparable" to service provided in urban areas. Capito has also recently introduced a… Keep Reading

Broadband's Impact/Infrastructure/Smart Cities

Next Century Cities Highlights State Action for Broadband, Co-Sponsors Broadband Conference in Idaho

Next Century Cities this week highlights broadband programs in five states, in advance of the “West Central Mountains High Speed Internet Conference” on May 17 in McCall, Idaho. The Friday event is being co-sponsored by the West Central Mountains Economic Development Council and Next Century Cities. With 202 city members, the non-profit Next Century Cities… Keep Reading

Broadband's Impact/Fiber/House of Representatives/Press Releases

Rep. Anna Eshoo Reintroduces Broadband Bills to Lay Conduit, Streamline Pole Attachments and Permit Community Broadband

BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Rep. Anna Eshoo on Thursday introduced three separate measures designed to expedite broadband access. The Conduit Deployment Act and the CLIMB Once Act are common-sense measures that enjoy strong support from many players in the industry, at least at a general level. The Community Broadband Act is also a common-sense measure to remove… Keep Reading

Fiber/House of Representatives/Infrastructure/Press Releases

Industry Groups and Non Profit Advocates Offer Encouraging Words about House Energy and Commerce Broadband Measure

BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Telecommunications industry and advocacy organizations on Wednesday and Thursday reacted to the introduction of the LIFT America Act, H.R. 2741, which stands for Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow's America Act, by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, R-N.J. The measure includes $40 billion, over five years, to deploy broadband. A hearing… Keep Reading

Broadband's Impact/FCC/Infrastructure

New Broadband Deployment Advisory Commission of FCC Aims to Avoid Pitfalls of Last Body

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday released the names of 32 officials selected for the newly re-chartered Broadband Deployment Advisory Commission. The new BDAC, which will have its first meeting on June 13, 2019, at 9:30 a.m., may avoid one of the most widely-criticized aspects of the prior entity: A lack of local government representation.… Keep Reading

Asia/Wireless

Donald Trump Declares Another Emergency, Bans Huawei from U.S. Commerce for Trading With Iran

WASHINGTON, May 15, 2019 - Exactly three months after invoking the National Emergencies Act to fund his wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, President Donald Trump is using emergency powers to enable the Department of Commerce to ban U.S. telecommunications equipment manufacturers from selling chips to the Chinese state-owned equipment manufacturer Huawei. The administration blamed Huawei's… Keep Reading

Broadband's Impact/Congress/FTC/Privacy/zBroadband News

Interactive Advertising Bureau Joins the Growing Number of Industry Lobbyists Calling for Privacy Legislation

BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: The CEO and Executive Vice President of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, a trade group for digital marketers, argue in a Tuesday OpEd for "Do Not Track Plus" legislation. With civil society and lobbyists alike joining the chorus for privacy legislation, it's looking more and more likely that -- eventually -- online privacy… Keep Reading

Asia/Broadband's Impact/Senate/Wireless

A Growing Bipartisan Fear of Huawei, and Its Role in 5G Wireless, is Taking Root in Washington

BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: On Tuesday, when the Senate Judiciary Committee expressed a growing bi-partisan sense of dismay about Chinese telecommunications manufacturer Huawei and its influence on impending 5G wireless technology standards, Adonis Hoffman of Business in the Public Interest republished the OpEd excerpted below on the Media Institute's blog. The piece, originally published in The Hill,… Keep Reading

Broadband's Impact/FCC/Fiber/Open Access/zBroadband News

Time to Focus on California Legislation That Affects Infrastructure Access to Rights-of-Way and Conduit, says EFF

BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: California, and many other states, have muscled their way onto the national broadband stage. They've done this through legislation that would either require net neutrality protections that the Federal Communications Commission removed in December 2017, or use state purchase power to require that selected Internet Service Providers commit to neutrality principles, or… Keep Reading

Broadband's Impact/Infrastructure/White House

150 Years On, the Transcontinental Railroad Was the Original Public-Private Partnership

PROMONTORY POINT, Utah, May 10, 2019 - Think of the transcontinental railroad as the original public-private partnership. The linkage of the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad 150 years ago today - at this desolate spot here in northern Utah - marked a confluence of engineering might, labor force logistics, private capital and… Keep Reading

Cybersecurity/NTIA/Spectrum

With Resignation of David Redl, NTIA Updates Biography for Now-Acting Administrator Diane Rinaldo

With the sudden resignation of National Telecommunications and Information Administrator David Redl on Thursday, the U.S. Commerce Department's NTIA has updated its web page for Diane Rinaldo, formerly the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information, and the now-acting administrator of the agency. From the web site: Diane Rinaldo was sworn in as Deputy Assistant Secretary… Keep Reading

Broadband's Impact/Fiber/Net Neutrality/Open Access/zBroadband News

Portland, Home to Historic Open Access Battles, is Bringing Municipal Dark Fiber to Light

BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Susan Crawford is once again bringing history to life with this blast-from-the-past story of how "net neutrality" owes some of its roots to a 20-year-old fight in Portland. Today, however, the city is bringing open access battles into the 21st Century. (We wrote about Lake Oswego here in October 2015.) And here's… Keep Reading

Expert Opinion/FCC/Wireless

Michael O’Rielly: Substantive Objections to a Government 5G Wholesale Network

Over the last few months, various ideas have been floated about the offering of 5G wireless services via a government-sponsored network. This entire effort seems convoluted and borders on the preposterous. Just the notion of the U.S. moving away from the highly-successful, private-sector led approach that is responsible for our country's premier position globally would… Keep Reading

Broadband's Impact/Fiber/zBroadband News

What Will Fiber Optic Network Owner Zayo’s Acquisition by Private Equity Mean for Broadband?

BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Many fiber-focused companies in the U.S., and overseas, have turned to private equity investors instead of the public markets. What the public company Zayo's acquisition mean for the industry? Steven Blum takes a stab at his prognostication. One can only hope that it bodes well: Zayo is a key middle-mile ingredient for… Keep Reading

Health/Privacy/Senate/Social Media

Sen. Josh Hawley Accuses Facebook of Addiction and Calls Social Media Worth-Less

WASHINGTON, May 2, 2019 - Social media and technology platform companies are wasting the talents of a generation, addicting and impoverishing middle America, and even driving teenagers to commit suicide in record numbers, Sen. Josh Hawley said Thursday. In a blistering speech attacking Facebook, Google, and the supposed "crown jewel" of the American economy known culturally… Keep Reading

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