WASHINGTON, July 30, 2014 - Speakers at a Minority Media Telecommunications Council conference here on Monday advocated for expanded minority-based involvement with and access to broadband capital. "Broadband is the 21st Century's civil right and our laws must reflect the digital shift," said Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C, at the MMTC’s twelfth annual telecom policy conference.… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 30, 2014 - Internet service providers are adopting more usage-based pricing models and consumers may be using the internet less as a result, according to preliminary results from a Government Accountability Office study. Consumers may also be neglecting benefits of lower-cost models due to confusion over data caps, the report found. "In the… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 30, 2014 - The House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Rural Development and Credit held a hearing on coordinating the future of broadband investment. Lang Zimmerman, vice president of Yelcot Telephone Co., a member company of rural broadband association NTCA testified that funding the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service is critical for… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 29, 2014 – The internet equity facing the nation isn’t the digital divide, but is digital readiness, according to a panel last month by internet researcher John Horrigon at an event of the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation. According to Horrigan, digital literacy is rapidly overshadowing non-adoption.A half-decade ago in 2009, 83 million… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 29, 2014 – An alliance designed to serve the wireless broadband needs of rural America has partnered with Sprint to provide fourth-generation LTE service to members of the NTCA that are calling themselves the Rural Broadband Alliance, according to details unveiled in a webinar on Thursday, July 24. In a webinar hosted by… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 29, 2014 - In a webinar on Thursday, July 17, the Fiber to the Home Council hosted a webinar with Federal Communications Commission officials on a $100 million fund for expanding broadband capabilities to rural communities. FCC officials encouraged companies to apply for the funds, but also cautioning them of the heavy commitment.… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 28, 2014 - City leaders in Wilson, North Carolina, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, want the Federal Communications Commission to pre-empt state laws that would prevent them from expanding their municipal networks, Broadcasting & Cable reported. With an existing ban in place in North Carolina, Wilson can only serve its municipal network, Greenlight, to residents… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 23, 2014 - Broadband providers are outspending internet search and content firms on lobbying lawmakers and regulators, Recode reported. However, among single companies, Google spent more than any internet provider in both of the past two quarters. ISPs and their trade associations have collectively spent $42.4 million this year. Content creators spent only… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 22, 2014 - As the Federal Communications Commission received more than a million comments on the agency’s push for net neutrality regulations governing the conduct of broadband providers, critics argued on July 15 that net neutrality is a counter-intuitive solution in search of a problem. Moreover, these critics said, “common carriage” regulation under… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 21, 2014 - More than one million comments were received by the Federal Communications Commission on net neutrality before the Friday night deadline, Reuters reported. The second round of comments will give the public until Sept. 10 to respond. AT&T pitched to the FCC its proposal that "fast lanes" could be regulatorily barred… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 17, 2004 - The House of Representatives passed an amendment Wednesday in a 223-220 vote to prevent the Federal Communications Commission from preempting state laws that forbid municipal broadband networks, the National Journal reported. U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., spearheaded the proposal, according to Ars Technica, on the argument that the FCC has… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 16, 2014 - Due to an "overwhelming surge in traffic to its website," the Federal Communications Commission delayed its deadline for comment submissions on net neutrality until midnight Friday, Forbes reported. As of Wednesday, the FCC had received 780,000 comments, thus far. The traffic was enough to crash the site earlier in the… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 15, 2014 - The Federal Communications Commission on Friday voted to modernize of its E-Rate program Friday, reallocating funds from technologies considered obsolete to Wi-Fi based connectivity in schools and libraries. However, owing to strong skepticism from opponents over funding, the proposal was scaled back to $2 billion, down from its original $5… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 15, 2014 - In a phone conference on July 1, in the lead-up to last week’s open meeting of the Federal Communications Commission, agency officials discussed Chairman Tom Wheeler's proposal to modify the E-rate program. The agency seeks to spend more funds on Wi-Fi gap connectivity within schools around the country and maximize the… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 15, 2014 - While interest in high-bandwidth internet is growing every year, many communities remain unserved because state laws inhibit local networks, according to local broadband activists. That's why the Coalition for Local Internet Choice launched last month: to demonstrate the importance of giving local communities authority over their own networks. "It's hard… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 14, 2014 - In an effort to combat ongoing complaints of inefficiency within the Federal Communications Commission's Universal Service Fund, Chairman Tom Wheeler on Monday announced a strike force dedicated to "rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse." To be led by Loyaan Egal, a former public corruption attorney with the U.S. Attorney's Office… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 14, 2014 - Some of the world's leading tech giants, represented by a lobbying firm called the Internet Association, have officially filed their petition for net neutrality. The companies include Google, Facebook, Netflix and Amazon, among others. "The internet’s continued success is not inevitable," the group wrote. "Broadband internet access providers continue to… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 10, 2014 - Satellite TV provider Dish Network is lobbying the Federal Communications Commission to block Comcast's acquisition of Time Warner Cable, according to National Journal. Charlie Ergen, chairman of Dish, told FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler that "serious competitive concerns" would arise from the deal and that Comcast would effectively control "choke points"… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 9, 2014 - The internet is the First Amendment issue of our time, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn, said at a Tuesday panel discussion hosted by the non-profit advocacy group Free Press. He chastised opponents of net neutrality for not understanding that without it, "deep-pocketed corporations can pay to get their content to you… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 8, 2014 - Federal Communications Commissioner Michael O'Rielly supports modernizing the E-Rate program, but not if it means increasing the "ever growing strain on [the average American's] pocketbook," he wrote in a blog post Monday. The solution to increasing the program size, O'Rielly said, is to cut spending to outdated technologies, like long… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 7, 2014 - As the Federal Communications Commission prepares to vote on E-Rate modernization July 11, some educators are "threatening to derail" the process according to The Hill. These educators have criticized Chairman Tom Wheeler's proposal for focusing large sums of funding on Wi-Fi while neglecting to increase the overall E-Rate budget. The… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 3, 2014 - Leaders of the Baltimore Broadband Campaign are saying that Comcast has a monopoly over fast internet services in the city of Baltimore. Over a course of two years, Comcast customers pay about $1,000 for standard "triple play service, write Philip Spevak, Stan Wilson and Anthony Gill in an Op-Ed in… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 1, 2014 - The best way to prevent the internet from "fundamentally changing" is to not "fundamentally change internet regulation," according to Federal Communications Commissioner Ajit Pai. In a speech that attempted to rally the faithful to his “light touch regulation” approach, the commissioner was also joined by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., at… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 1, 2014 - At an informal Phoenix Center roundtable on Tuesday, June 24, Federal Communications Commissioner Michael O’Rielly criticized net neutrality and urged fellow critics to take advantage of the FCC’s open comment period on the topic. Comedians like John Oliver of the Daily Show might have a flare for butchering the facts,… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 1, 2014 - Republicans are concerned about the regulation of internet service providers as utilities under Title II of the Communications Act, but Federal Communications Chairman Tom Wheeler said that he isn’t ruling out the section as a legal basis for agency authority. In a letter responding to concerns from House Speaker John… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 1, 2014 - AT&T and DirecTV have no doubt their merger will actually strengthen broadband, competition and consumer choice, contrary to naysayers. Both companies had to fend off fears of market consolidation in back-to-back hearings on Tuesday, June 24, before the House Judiciary Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee. This proposed merger isn't like… Keep Reading