WASHINGTON, June 18, 2017 — Members of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Digital Commerce Consumer Protection on Tuesday met with executives from companies producing products that could be considered part of the “Internet of Things” (IoT) with the aim of uncovering regulatory or legislative barriers to innovation. Despite a plethora of witnesses representing… Keep Reading
ARLINGTON, Virginia, June 18, 2017 – The key to defending against security breaches is collecting more data, said a University of Illinois at Chicago professor during a June 8 panel at the on the law and economics of privacy and data security. Hosted at George Mason University here and moderated by Brenda Leong, director of… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 15, 2017 – Cybercrimes cost the global economy about $450 billion annually, House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, said Tuesday as she cited the 2017 Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report. “Hackers are smart, and they are adapting,” said Blackburn. “McAfee’s 2016 Mobile Threat Report notes mobile devices are quickly becoming the cybercriminals target… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 15, 2017 – The Federal Communications Commission’s Connect2Health Task Force last week announced updates to a broadband mapping platform to allow communities and businesses to better use high-speed internet to help patients with chronic health conditions. “As a famous writer once said, ‘data are just summaries of thousands of stories,’” Michele Ellison, chairwoman… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 14, 2017 – Ending months of speculation, President Trump announced his intent to nominate Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, back to her previous role as a Federal Communications Commissioner. The announcement came in a pre-midnight email from the White House. Attempts to get Rosenworcel’s re-nominated at the end of the last Congress faltered in… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 12, 2017 — Despite myriad public events and a soundbyte-friendly title of “Infrastructure Week,” last week the White House was light on infrastructure and nearly empty of plans to build out 21st century digital infrastructure of fiber or wireless broadband. “There’s not going to be a lot of detail at this time,” a… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 7, 2017 – Two organizations supportive of municipal broadband advocacy efforts last week issued differing reports critical of a May 24 report by a University of Pennsylvania professor. The report, by Christopher Yoo and Timothy Pfenninger, was titled “Municipal Fiber in the United States: An Empirical Assessment of Financial Performance,” and it concluded… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 7, 2017 – Champions, partnerships and flexibility are necessary to bring fiber-optic networks to less-populated communities, said participants involved in launching such a network in Kent County, Maryland. Speaking at a Friday panel was hosted at the Schools Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition Annual Conference here, the executive director of the State Education… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 7, 2017 – Providing broadband service to schools, libraries and other nonprofit organizations is more difficult than commercial customers because of the way they struggle with funding, said Katherine Messier of Mobile Beacon at a Friday panel at the 2017 conference of the Schools, Health, and Libraries Broadband Coalition. Mobile Beacon, a nonprofit… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 6, 2017 — Despite giving this week the title of “Infrastructure Week” at the White House, President Donald Trump and his staff haven’t taken any public actions to make digital infrastructure, such as high-speed broadband, a part of their plans for the much-discussed infrastructure bill. “On infrastructure, the President has said all along… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 6, 2017 – President Trump on Monday highlighted a plan to take the nation’s air traffic control system from a federal agency to a private, nonprofit organization. In a noon announcement in the East Room of the White House, President Trump said, “our new plan will dramatically improve America’s air traffic control system by turning it… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: In a conference call with reporters, National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn said that governors and mayors are scheduled meet at the White House with President Donald Trump for a session focused on efficiently using tax dollars for infrastructure projects.|| Trump to Push for U.S. Infrastructure Overhaul of Roads, Bridges, Air Traffic,… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 3, 2017 — Infrastructure plans in President Donald Trump’s 2018 budget represent a significant break from his predecessor not only in the brick-and-mortar variety, but also in the next generation of infrastructure for the next generation of the American economy — wired and wireless broadband networks. While infrastructure investment under President Barack Obama… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: While there are a lot of uncertainties about timing – and how it meshes with tax legislation – the White House is pressing forward with its “vision” for infrastructure, which is primarily one of melding public and private forces to rebuild physical backbone of America. This is not all bad, as public-private partnerships… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 2, 2017 – The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association and 17 other organizations and companies on Thursday urged the Federal Communications Commission to finalize rules governing the Citizens Broadband Radio Service. “We write today to encourage the FCC to remain committed to the rules it adopted in 2015 and affirmed in 2016, and… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: The Huntsville combination of open access and leased fiber is a model to watch! || Google Fiber launches in Huntsville, Alabama by leasing new municipal fiber network, from 9to5 Google: First announced over a year ago, Google Fiber is now live in Huntsville, Alabama. Alphabet’s internet connectivity division was able to launch its service… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Always important to get to the bottom of reports criticizing municipal networks in an incomplete fashion. Bravo to Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Next Century Cities for addressing these. || Addressing UPenn Report: Dud Data, Unsuitable Approach, from Institute for Local Self-Reliance: For the second week in row, our staff has felt… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: United States broadband speeds are continuing to rise, according to Akamai’s periodic “state of the internet” report. The more urban “states,” including Rhode Island, Delaware, and the District of Columbia, conventionally do better in these rankings than less-dense states. || Akamai: Average U.S. Broadband Speed Rises to 18.7 Mbps, from Telecompetitor: The… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: There is an important linkage between the growing discussion about public-private partnerships in broadband, and the call for greater infrastructure investment by the Trump administration. The four key principles discussed by Trump are (1) targeted federal investments, encourage self-help by local government, re-align agencies providing infrastructure investment, and (4) leveraging the private… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: We’ll be looking for some alternative analysis of this material. Interesting to see that this is becoming such a focus of certain industry observers and interests. || Municipal Fiber in the U.S.: An Empirical Assessment of the Financial Performance, from Wharton’s Public Policy Initiative: Many municipalities have already built municipal-owned fiber networks… Keep Reading