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GAO

FCC/Media ownership/Net Neutrality

Broadband Roundup: Incumbents Defend Data Caps, Comcast Cites Competition for Merger, and Wheeler Seeks Diversity of Media Ownership

WASHINGTON, September 24, 2014 –Verizon Communications and AT&T are urging the Federal Communications Commission to include the use of data caps in the agency’s definition of broadband. Including usage-based pricing in its definition is important because companies that use universal service funds to build networks in rural areas must accept the standards laid out in… Keep Reading

Broadband Data

GAO Study Finds that Broadband Data Caps are Causing Customer Confusion and Less Internet Use

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

Broadband's Impact

House Passes Telework Bill

WASHINGTON, July 14, 2010- With a vote of 290-131 the House of Representatives has passed the Telework Improvements Act of 2010 which expands telework options for federal employees. During the snow storms which occurred this past winter the federal government lost $71 million in productivity for each day of the four days it was closed. Originally the cost was estimated at $100 million but it was decreased after the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) determined that 30 percent of federal employees teleworked during the storm. Keep Reading

FCC Workshops/National Broadband Plan/Transparency

At Kickoff of FCC Workshops, Genachowski Calls Broadband ‘Infrastructure Challenge of the Generation’

WASHINGTON, January 5, 2010 - BroadbandBreakfast.com has been actively covering the workshops of the Federal Communications Commission as the agency prepares its national broadband plan. We have covered all of the workshops since late August. In preparation for assembling the complete collection of articles, BroadbandBreakfast.com reporters are returning to the beginning of the workshops, on August 6, 2009. To see the complete collection of articles, click on http://broadbandbreakfast.com/category/fcc-workshops. Keep Reading

NTIA Comments/Recovery Act

Minority Groups Want Special Rules For Tribal Areas

WASHINGTON, December 16, 2009 - A number of groups representing minority interests are advocating that special rules be created by the government for Native Americans applying for broadband stimulus grants. The awards are being decided by the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration and Agriculture Department’s Rural Utilities, which were charged by Congress in January to distribute $7.2 billion of federal funding to expand broadband penetration across the country. Keep Reading

Broadband Data/Broadband's Impact

Report Calls State Of Broadband Access For Native Americans ‘Deplorable’

WASHINGTON, November 19, 2009 - The Native American population is one of the most disconnected groups in the country, according to a study released Thursday on broadband penetration. The Native Public Media and the New America Foundation's Open Technology Initiative suggest that the Federal Communications Commission create a Tribal Broadband Plan within the national broadband plan that it is currently drafting. Keep Reading

Broadband Data/Recovery Act

GAO Says Lessons of Broadband Stimulus Won’t Be Learned Before Round 2

WASHINGTON, November 19, 2009 - The Government Accountability Office on Monday released a report analyzing the possible challenges faced by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Rural Utility Service when they implement the broadband stimulus. The largest problem that the GAO saw was that after 2010, both agencies will no longer have any funding to provide oversight to projects. Additionally, they currently lack enough staff to properly provide oversight. In the 2010 budget request to Congress, NTIA asked for an additional 40 full-time employees; RUS asked for 47 Keep Reading

NTIA/Recovery Act

Lawmakers Want Stimulus Funds Getting To Rural America; 'Remoteness' Definition Raises Concerns

WASHINGTON, October 27, 2009 - Members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation raised concerns Tuesday about getting broadband stimulus funds out to remote areas and how these areas should be defined. The discussion took place during an oversight hearing on the process of awarding out the $7.2 billion provided to the federal government by Congress to expand broadband deployment and adoption. Keep Reading

Broadband Data/NTIA/Recovery Act

United States Broadband Data Lacks Consistency, Actual Speeds, Says GAO

WASHINGTON, October 11, 2009 – Current measures of broadband comparisons between the United States and the rest of the world – and within the country – have limitations, according to a study by the Government Accountability Office released on Friday. These limitations including the “lack of comprehensive measures from the government to compare price, actual delivered speeds, and service reliability data from providers,” and information that was gathered through international broadband comparisons that are not comparable across countries. Keep Reading

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