About: Rahul Gaitonde is a former National Telecommunications and Information Administration Intern, researcher at the International Center for Applied Studies in Information Technology and fellow at GMU’s Long Term Governance Project. He holds a Masters of Public Policy from George Mason University and BA’s in Political Science and History from Temple University. He specializes on the economic and social benefits of broadband expansion along with various other telecommunications issues.
Email: rahul@broadbandcensus.com
Website: http://BroadbandBreakfast.com
WASHINGTON, September 2, 2010 – Massachusetts Democrat Sen. John Kerry has issued a statement strongly in support of network neutrality.
WASHINGTON, September 2, 2010 – The request for comments by the Federal Communications Commission on the managed services aspect on the open internet has received mixed reactions from members of Congress.
WASHINGTON, August 26, 2010 – A new government report released publicly on Thursday reviews changes in the wireless industry since 2000 and addresses its effects, including carrier consolidation and competitiveness.
WASHINGTON, August 18, 2010 – The departments of Agriculture and Commerce announced a new set of broadband grants totaling $1.8 billion across 37 states. The 94 projects announced include the first satellite projects under this grant system.
WASHINGTON, August 16, 2010 – Democratic Representatives Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, Anna G. Eshoo of California, Jay Inslee of Washington and Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania urged that the Federal Communications Commission weigh in to preserve an open internet.
The letter, they said, is a direct response to the recent Google-Verizon announcement that provides exceptions to the principle of network neutrality, or the notion that internet service should not be prioritized based on competitive advantage.
WASHINGTON, August 16, 2010- New Mexico entities received a $10.6 million broadband stimulus grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and support for a $63.8 million project from the Rural Utilities Service of the Department of Agriculture.
The NTIA grant will be given to North Central New Mexico Economic Development District to deploy a middle-mile project across three counties and five tribal areas. The project will directly serve 123 community anchor institutions, 19,227 homes and 1,332 businesses. “Middle mile” projects aim to expand the availability of broadband interconnections to companies and organizations that offer service to end-users.
WASHINGTON August 11, 2010- The Pew Internet & American Life Project has released their Home Broadband survey. While adoption has generally been increasing this year adoption has slowed. The only group showing growth was African Americans.
WASHINGTON August 10, 2010- In the most recent Broadband Development Report the Federal Communications Commission stated that deployment was not increasing. This was the first time that the commission had made the claim due to their decision to update the definition of broadband. In reaction to this new definition the commission has released a Notice of Inquiry for next year’s report.
WASHINGTON, August 10, 2010 – The announcement of a joint policy on network neutrality by Google and Verizon has garnered both criticism and support.
WASHINGTON, August 9, 2010- Google and Verizon have announced a joint statement of principles on network neutrality and hosted a conference call Monday to outline their effort to the press. Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg announced that this new policy calls for an open and transparent wireline internet with special conditions given to the “burgeoning wireless market.”
WASHINGTON August 9, 2010 -In an effort to promote the issue of network neutrality representatives from eight of the major public interest think tanks met with officials from the Federal Communications Commission.
WASHINGTON August 6, 2010 – Attached to yesterday’s Federal Medical Assistance Percentage Bill was an amendment which removed “$302 million in Recovery Act funding provided to the Department of Commerce for broadband grants.” The bill passed the Senate 61-38.
Overall the amendment includes $7.5 billion in recessions as offsets.
House Speaker Pelosi has already called [...]
WASHINGTON, August 5, 2010 – WiMax has always been seen as one of the ideal solutions to bring high-speed internet access to rural America, but it has yet to achieve its full potential. With the majority of mobile providers choosing long term evolution, or LTE, as their preferred 4G technology, WiMax seems to have lost its momentum. However the technology has become increasingly popular in Asia.
WASHINGTON, August 5, 2010 – It has been reported that Google and Verizon are working on a secret pact about network neutrality. The New York Times says this pact will give Google products preferential treatment on the Verizon network. However both firms are claiming this is untrue. Public interest organizations however bemoan the entire concept of a secret pact.
WASHINGTON August 5, 2010- Wednesday’s announcement by the Department of Agriculture included 44 DSL projects, of which 39 were given to a subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems (TDS).