BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: With the House Rules Committee’s decision to press for a House vote on internet privacy on Tuesday, it’s an “all hands on deck” sort of moment, as multiple parties weight into the pros and cons of approving the Senate’s use of the Congressional Review Act to overturn Obama administration privacy rules. ISPs, Advertisers… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, January 23, 2017 — In a statement released on the web site of the Federal Communications Communications, and emailed to reporters at 4:48 p.m. ET, Federal Communications Commissioner Ajit Pai, a Republican announced his selection as Chairman of the agency, a nominally independent agency whose chairman is designated by President Donald Trump. Pai said:… Keep Reading
ASPEN, Colorado, August 19, 2015 - In spite of several positive efforts to reform the complex and dated rules that govern the Federal Communication Commission's universal service fund, key decisions surrounding the $8 billion annual fund remain ineluctably political.
That was the message shared by panelists, including a commissioner at the FCC, speaking at a session on Tuesday at the Technology Policy Institute's annual forum here.
For example, the panelists -- which also include two economists, a cable industry lobbyist and the former director of the National Broadband Plan -- applauded efforts to bring greater economic efficiency to telecom network construction through a system known as a "reverse auction."
They also supported efforts to promote broadband adoption by providing income-based vouchers for the purpose of internet services.
But decisions about the allocation of funds within the USF -- and the key question of how the fund is to be paid for -- remain political hot potatoes.
Moderator Scott Wallsten of the Technology Policy Institute, with panelists Mignon Clyburn, James Assey, Blair Levin, Gregory Rosston, and Bradley Wimmer.
[more...]
Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, October 20, 2014 – Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler said that he and President Barack Obama agree in their opposition to paid prioritization, Multichannel News reported. Obama stated his objection to the practice during his remarks at an innovation forum in California on October 9. Although the two haven’t discussed it directly, Wheeler… Keep Reading
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
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, June 19, 2014 – The House Judicary Committee on Wednesday approved the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act this week by a vote of 30-4, according to a press release from the committee. The act banned state-imposed taxation of internet access or discriminatory taxes on e-commerce. Originally enacted in 1998, the bill had previously been… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 16, 2014 – In the midst of Netflix’s quarrels with Verizon Communications, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a statement Friday that the commission will investigate slowdowns in traffic to ascertain whether there’s harm to consumers. “To be clear, what we are doing right now is collecting information, not regulating. We… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, May 19, 2014 - The Federal Communication Commission's effort to thread the needle on net neutrality with regulations that will withstand legal scrutiny while also satisfying open internet activists led to starkly divided responses to the Thursday measure. In the camp expressing disappointment that agency Chairman Tom Wheeler didn't go further, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., a member of the Commerce Science and Transportation Committee, said that innovation over the internet in America could unless broadband were to be reclassified as a common-carrier telecommunications service. "Internet access today is like traditional phone service decades ago - we can't live or work without it," Markey said. "We must stop broadband behemoths from setting up fast and slow lanes and picking winners and losers. Start-ups and small business would suffer, slowing our economy and job growth throughout Massachusetts and around the country." [...] Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 17, 2013 – President Barack Obama on Friday introduced several new initiatives to facilitate more efficient use of radio-frequency spectrum in order to encourage further development of wireless broadband. In addition to investments totaling to $100 million in the development of spectrum-sharing technologies and advanced communications, Obama also directed federal agencies to make… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 11, 2013 – Creating an innovation-friendly environment and facilitating the internet protocol transition were featured as two Federal Communications Commission legal advisers spoke Tuesday at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association’s Cable Show. The panel consisted of Matthew Berry, chief of staff for FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai and Alex Hoehn-Saric, policy director for… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 11, 2013 – Spectrum policy, net neutrality, and Universal Service Fund reforms were among the topics discussed by congressional staffers at The Cable Show panel entitled “Capitol Perspectives: Commerce Committee Staffers on Communications Policy.” The panel, held at the annual convention of the National Cable and Telecommunications Associations on Monday, consisted of eight… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 10, 2013 — The role of broadband as a major driving force for innovation in the cable industry was a major focus of the opening session at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association’s annual Cable Show on Monday. Michael Powell, president and CEO of NCTA, delivered the keynote speech at the session. He… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, May 1, 2013 – The following are reactions from President Barack Obama’s Announcement that Tom Wheeler would be Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission from several of the leading major telecommunications, media and technology industry trade groups. Ed Black, President and CEO of the Computer and Communications Industry Association: “President Obama has nominated the right… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, March 27, 2013 – This week BroadbandBreakfast.com will begin a series profiling many of the top prospective candidates that might be selected to serve as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Julius Genachowski, the 29th chairman, on Friday announced that he would step down within a few weeks. Mignon Clyburn joined Genachowski as one… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, December 21, 2012 – The Nation Cable and Telecommunications Association, the trade group representing cable operators serving more than 90 percent of the nation’s households, on Friday released a statement criticizing the Data Cap Integrity Act introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. “Regrettably, this ill-conceived legislation ignores the substantial pro-consumer benefits of usage-based pricing,” according to the NCTA… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, October 19, 2012 – The internet policy news and events service BroadbandBreakfast.com held its October 2012 Broadband Breakfast Club “Reforming the Universal Service Fund: What’s Changing?” on Tuesday, October 16th, 2012 at Clyde’s of Gallery Place, 707 7th St. NW, Washington, DC 20001 from 8 am – 10 am. Nearly one year ago, the Federal… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, Thursday, September 20th, 2012 – The internet policy news and events service BroadbandBreakfast.com held its September 2012 Broadband Breakfast Club event “Measuring Broadband Performance: What Have We Learned in Four Years?” on Tuesday, September 18th, 2012 at Clyde’s of Gallery Place, 707 7th St. NW, Washington, DC 20001 from 8 am – 10 am. You can see highlights… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, Monday, September 17th, 2012 – The internet policy news and events service BroadbandBreakfast.com will hold its September 2012 Broadband Breakfast Club event “Measuring Broadband Performance: What Have We Learned in Four Years?” on Tuesday, September 18th, 2012 at Clyde’s of Gallery Place, 707 7th St. NW, Washington, DC 20001 from 8 am –… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, Thursday, July 26, 2012 – Last week, the fourth year of the Broadband Breakfast Club Series came to an end with a timely panel on “Bringing Broadband Adoption to the Nation’s Underserved Population.” Panelists from the private, nonprofit and state government sectors came together to discuss what can be done to promote broadband usage in… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, May 15, 2012 – The increasing prevalence on high-speed internet is beginning to have a major effort on universities and they way that they approach the creation and dissemination of the “content” created in higher education, said panelists speaking at a special event of BroadbandBreakfast.com at The Cable Show in Boston. BroadbandBreakfast.com released the… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, November 25 2011 – As we all sit and digest post Thanksgiving, Broadband Breakfast can finally wrap up some stories that we have been interested in over the past couple of weeks but have not had time to get around to. We wanted to draw attention to a couple of the stories below and… Keep Reading
November 14, 2011 – When the Federal Communications Commission identified six concrete goals in the national broadband plan, the one specific application highlighted by the agency was energy consumption: “To ensure that America leads in the clean energy economy, every American should be able to use broadband to track and manage their real-time energy consumption.” This goal – tracking and managing energy consumption – is right at the intersection of two trends that will be explored at the Broadband Breakfast Club on Tuesday, November 15: "The Smart Grid and Broadband." Click here to register for this event. Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, Thursday November 10th 2011, The Federal Communications Commission’s Chairman Julius Genachowski announced what the Commission is touting as the “Biggest effort ever to help close the Digital Divide.” Following up on the launch of the Connect to Compete private and non profit sector partnership a couple of weeks ago, yesterday’s announcement at Langley Education… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, Friday October 28, 2011. Vice President & Associate General Counsel of NCTA, Steve Morris gave Broadband Breakfast his first impressions on yesterday’s USF Reform Proposal. Morris told us: The Chairman, the commissioners, and the FCC staff, all deserve a great deal of credit for bringing this item to completion. Universal service and intercarrier compensation… Keep Reading
September 19, 2011 - America’s unique concept of federalism – joint sovereignty between the states and the federal government – sometimes obscures some on-the-ground realities when it comes to the all-important topic of economic growth and development. The simple fact is that cities serve as the engine of life, commerce, culture and sociality. Tomorrow, at the Broadband Breakfast Club event on September 20, 2011, at 8 a.m., we’ll engage on this subject. The discussion will feature Gale Brewer, a New York City Councilmember who has been one of the country’s leading advocates of better broadband. Gail has represented the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and currently chairs the Committee on Governmental Operations, where she has worked to make better use of technology to save money, improve city services, and bring residents, businesses and non-profits closer to government and their communities. Gale Brewer will keynote this event, which is titled, “Making Cities of the Future Smarter Through Broadband.” Keep Reading
If it were a piece of classical music, the “study” by Navigant Economics’ Jeffrey Eisenach and Kevin Caves could easily be titled “Variations on a False Narrative in the key of F.” They claim, after a review of three (count ‘em, 3) of the hundreds of broadband grants, the broadband stimulus cost too much for too little ROI. The most misleading of the claims, though, is the alleged $349,234 spent per un-served household. Well, I should say the $7 million per un-served household, but I’ll come back to that in a bit. Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 18, 2011 – The FCC should consider costs and service areas of rural broadband customers as it reforms the Universal Service Fund (USF) to include broadband expansion, urged members of congress and rural telecom associations Thursday. The rural telecom associations announced at the Capitol building the inauguration of a DC-based print advertising campaign to highlight the economic harm of the FCC’s current proposal. The associations believe that USF reform as it is presently being considered would result in lost jobs, poor health care coverage and stifled innovation due to blocked access to global markets. Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 14, 2011 - The Free State Foundation, a free-market think thank, assembled key industry experts Wednesday and pressed for the immediate need for reforms to the Universal Service Fund and Intercarrier Compensation systems. For the past year, the Federal Communications Commission has worked on updating the Universal Service Fund to handle the demands of broadband expansion rather than voice service. Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, May 12, 2011 - FCC Commissioner, Meredith Baker, announced Wednesday that she will resign her post on June 3, after which she will begin her tenure as a lobbyist for NBCUniversal. Baker's served as one of the five FCC commissioners for less than two years, after being sworn in by President Barack Obama in July, 2009. Previously, she spent five years during the second Bush administration at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, where she rose to the top spot in that agency. Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, March 24, 2011 - Comcast announced the retirement Wednesday of its long-time senior vice president of external affairs and public policy counsel, Joe Waz. Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, March 16, 2011 - The National Cable and Telecommunications Association named former Federal Communications Commission Chairman, Michael Powell, as its new president and CEO Tuesday. Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, February 16, 2011 - The National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) and AT&T submitted a letter Monday to the FCC asking that the Commission to clarify its recently announced net neutrality rules as they relate to backbone internet services. Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, February 9, 2011 - The FCC adopted a measure during Tuesday's open meeting that lays the groundwork for revisions to the nation's telephone subsidy systems in the near-term and an eventual overhaul to transition those systems into building and supporting broadband infrastructure. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which was adopted unanimously by the Commission, draws a roadmap to reforming the Universal Service Fund (USF) and the closely related intercarrier compensation (ICC) system. Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, January 7, 2011 – The Washington-based internet and intellectual property policy news and events service, BroadbandBreakfast.com, http://broadbandbreakfast.com, announces its Winter 2011 series of events (January through February) for the Intellectual Property and Broadband Breakfast Clubs. All breakfast club events are held at Clyde's of Gallery Place, 707 7th St. NW, Washington, DC 20001, in the Piedmont Room. Events begin at 8 a.m., with both American and continental breakfast served, and end at 10 a.m. Attendees are encouraged to join in onthe breakfast discussions. Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, December 22, 2010 - In an uncommon split vote on Tuesday, the FCC handed down an order requiring network providers to abide by certain rules intended to maintain network neutrality. Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, December 7, 2010 – The internet and intellectual property policy news and events service BroadbandBreakfast.com is postponing its December breakfast , “China & Intellectual Property with the Chinese Embassy IP Attache.” An unforeseen change in the schedule of Fuli Chen, the Chinese Embassy Intellectual Property Attache, has caused the postponement, owing to the visit of Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan to Washington next week. The event, which was to be on December 14th, 2010, has been rescheduled for February 8th, 2011. Registration for the February 8 event is available at http://ipbreakfastfebruary2011.eventbrite.com/ Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, November 22, 2010 - Kyle McSlarrow, president & CEO of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, has announced he plans to leave his position in the spring. He has been at the helm of the group since March 1, 2005. Keep Reading
Public safety leaders and industry lobbyists clashed today during a Washington breakfast on whether the 700 megahertz band D block should be reallocated to public safety or reauctioned. During the sometimes-testy Broadband Breakfast Club event, the speakers disagreed on whether public safety agencies need control over additional spectrum, with the industry representatives pointing to narrowband channels currently licensed to public safety and the public safety officials stressing the need for that spectrum for narrowband voice operations for years to come. Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, November 18, 2010 - Several sharp exchanges between wireless carriers and public safety officials punctuated the debate on Tuesday at November's Broadband Breakfast Club. BroadbandBreakfast.com released the free video of the event on Thursday. Keep Reading