Broadband Roundup
NTIA New Hires, Section 230 Legislation Reintroduced, EU Digital Laws Target American Firms
The NTIA has made key leadership hires just weeks after its head was confirmed by the Senate.

February 2, 2022 – The National Telecommunications and Information Association announced Wednesday new hires to its senior leadership ranks.
April McClain-Delaney will be deputy assistant secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and Andy Berke will be a special representative for broadband.
The hires come shortly after NTIA head Alan Davidson was confirmed by the Senate last month and comes before a critical year in which the agency of the Commerce Department plans for the release of broadband money coming from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
McClain-Delaney was the Washington Director of Common Sense Media before accepting her new position. She also worked for the Delaney Charitable Foundation as a director. Over her 30 years of experience, she has focused on “digital citizenship education, the digital divide, privacy protections and tech addition issues.”
Berke is the former mayor of Chattanooga, Tennessee, his term ended in 2021. While mayor he “led a partnership to provide high speed broadband at no cost to every family with a child on free or reduced lunch, making Chattanooga the first community in the country with such a benefit.” He also established digital equity programs as mayor and was in the Tennessee Senate for five years.
Chattanooga is known as the “Gig City” for its community fiber network that delivers multiple gigabits per second download speeds.
Section 230 legislation reintroduced in Senate
Legislation that would limit protections afforded to technology platforms from liability has been reintroduced in the Senate on Monday.
The “Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies” Act – which was reintroduced by Senator Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, and Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut – would limit the protections afforded by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields platforms from the liability of the content of their users.
The Computer and Communications Industry Association, an industry group, said it is not in favor of the bill’s reintroduction. CCIA President Matt Schruers said that lawmakers need to focus on prosecuting perpetrators, but “Instead of directing more resources toward prosecution of industry-reported content, this bill aims to put a government commission in charge of how digital services operate.”
The CCIA also pointed out its own efforts to reach members of Congress and tell them about “the collateral dangers of altering the law that gives internet companies legal certainty to remove nefarious and illegal content” through joint letters to Senate leaders.
Lawmakers concerned about EU laws targeting American tech companies
U.S. lawmakers are raising concern about digital media laws in the European Union that seek to regulate the market power of large American technology companies, saying the rules would unfairly target their companies.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, and Senator Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, said in a letter to President Joe Biden on Monday that they are afraid the laws – the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act, which is still being debated overseas – will harm trade between the U.S. and the EU.
The lawmakers are concerned that the laws, which target such things as data use practices, would disproportionally focus on American companies and not be implemented uniformly in other countries, thus giving European companies a leg up on the Americans.
“As the EU works to take positive steps to protect privacy, ensure competition, and facilitate digital inclusivity, it is critical that U.S. innovators, and the American workers and internet users behind them, are not placed at an unfair disadvantage by discriminatory trade policies,” the letter said.
The legislation will give “an unfair competitive advantage to other foreign companies, including those based in countries like China and Russia, which do not reflect shared U.S.-EU values of democracy, human rights, and market-based principles,” the letter added.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo also expressed her fear that the legislation “will disproportionately impact U.S.-based tech firms and their ability to adequately serve EU customers and uphold security and privacy standards,” said the CCIA.
Broadband Roundup
Supply Chain Improvements, Bill for Broadband in Public Parks, FCC Grants Alert System Compliance Extension
The Biden administration announced Wednesday a list of new measures to promote supply chain resiliency.

November 30, 2023 – President Joe Biden announced at an inaugural meeting Wednesday new measures to improve national supply chain resilience, many of which are targeted at bettering semiconductor manufacturing.
These new measures will see the development of a geospatial mapping protocol that will be used to account for and track trade disruptions of raw materials, with a special focus on ones that are involved in semiconductor manufacturing.
Additionally, the US plans to develop a resilience center to assess risks and supply chain vulnerabilities specifically inside national ports alongside looking at how to better implement CHIPS and Science funding.
In July of 2022, the Biden administration signed into law the CHIPS and Science Act, which was broadly supported by lawmakers, putting $52 billion into semiconductor research and development and a 25 percent investment tax credit to promote manufacturing.
More recently, Biden has announced tech innovation hubs supported by CHIPS Act funds, four of which will focus directly on improving semiconductor production and manufacturing.
Legislation put forth to expand broadband to public parks
Congressman Bruce Westerman, R-Arkansas, and Congressman Raúl Grijalva, D-Arizona, introduced legislation Wednesday that would bring broadband connectivity to public parks and lakes.
The Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences Act would include increasing broadband connectivity in those visitor centers and surrounding areas as well as create digital passes for visitors to use when going to those parks.
“The increasing popularity of outdoor recreation is a boon for local economies and job creation, but we must make sure our public land management agencies have the tools, resources, and staff they need to keep up,” said Grijalva.
The broader legislation looks to improve access to public lands and waters, modernize visitor experiences and reduce overcrowding.
FCC granted emergency alert development extensions to broadcasters
The Federal Communications Commission granted extensions to certain national broadcasters Wednesday, allowing them more time to acquire equipment needed to comply with national emergency alert system requirements.
There are two ways that broadcasters can transmit emergency messages, either to devices connected to the internet using what is called the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System or over audio channels, which is referred to as the legacy emergency alert broadcast system.
Historically, messages sent via IPAWS transmit more information to the recipient than ones that are formatted for being transmitted via the legacy system. Because of that, in 2022 the FCC required emergency broadcasters to alert constituents via the IPAWS unless they were unable to.
Broadcasters were required to comply with this by December 12 of this year. However the National Association of Broadcasters and REC Networks, a broadcast advocacy group, filed a joint request for a 90-day compliance extension.
They explained that Sage Alerting Systems, a manufacturer of firmware needed to encode and decode emergency messages, is not able to meet supply demands for broadcasters to update equipment by the December 12 deadline.
As a result, the FCC waived the deadline and granted a 90-day extension to emergency broadcast participants who are customers of Sage Alerting Systems.
Broadband Roundup
FCC Fines TracFone, Rip and Replace Extensions, Kansas State Internet Exchange Point
The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau has entered into a settlement with TracFone for subsidy program violations.

November 29, 2023 – The Federal Communications Commission announced Wednesday that the Enforcement Bureau and TracFone Wireless, a Verizon Subsidiary, have reached a $23.5 million settlement for TracFone’s violation of broadband subsidy program rules.
After TracFone was acquired by Verizon, the company self-reported instances in which it violated the FCC’s regulatory rules for the Lifeline and Emergency Broadband Benefit programs, according to the agency
During an investigation into TracFone, the agency found that the company reported improperly claiming support for customers jointly-enrolled in subsidy programs and improperly using inbound text messages to make claims for customers who had not been using those services for at least 30 days, according to a press release.
According to the FCC, TracFone also conceded that some of their field enrollment representatives used false tax documents to enroll customers in the lifeline and EEB programs.
“Whether attributable to fraud or lax internal controls, or both, we will vigorously pursue allegations of misconduct that harms critical FCC programs designed to help those most in need of communications-related services,” said Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan A. Egal.
As part of the settlement, TracFone has entered into an improvement plan agreement with the Enforcement Bureau.
Wireline Bureau grants more rip and replace extensions
The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau announced in an order Wednesday that it has granted rip and replace extensions to Montana providers Triangle Telephone Cooperative Association Inc. and Triangle Communication System Inc.
The rip and replace program requires service providers to remove and replace any equipment they use that was manufactured by Huawei Technologies Company or ZTE Corporation that were installed prior to June 30, 2020, because of security concerns.
Triangle Telephone filed for an extension on October 18 and on November 10th, requesting an extension to replace the equipment by Map 29, 2024 as opposed to their original deadline of November 29 of this year.
Triangle Communications filed their request for extension on October 18 and November 16 of this year requesting for additional time up until July 13, 2024, as opposed to January 13, 2024.
Both petitioners cited supply chain disruptions and delayed equipment delivery as factors preventing them from replacing existing equipment alongside poor weather conditions and a decreasing number of employees.
Both providers were granted the extensions they had requested.
Additional funding from Congress has been requested by president Joe Biden to finance the rip and replace program, as a report published by the Federal Communications Commission in July of 2022 noted that the program’s initial $1.9 billion would not be enough to support providers.
In October of this year the FCC’s Wireline Bureau issued extensions to two other providers who cited that they were unable to completely replace the equipment due to lack of funding.
Kansas awards $5 million to internet exchange point
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Wednesday announced that the state had awarded $5 million to help fund the construction of the first carrier-neutral internet exchange point at Wichita State University.
The construction of this carrier-neutral internet exchange point will allow for the operation of cloud services and streaming content networks to operate more efficiently alongside local and regional internet networks, explained a press release.
The endeavor will be undertaken by Connected Nation, a Kentucky non-profit, and Hunter Newby, founder of Newby Ventures investment firm, working with them to build and operate the internet exchange facility.
Tom Ferree, CEO of Connected Nation, said that the exchange point will support Wichita State and the economy well “by improving the entire regional broadband landscape — preparing Wichita, and Kansas more broadly, for the future evolution of the Internet and all that it will enable.”
Broadband Roundup
NTIA Awards $13 Million from Wireless Fund, New Ritter CTO, Middle Mile in Virginia and North Carolina
The NTIA has awarded $13 million to open network projects.

November 28, 2023 – The National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced Tuesday that it is committing $13 million in grant funding from the $1.5 billion Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund.
“The transition to open, interoperable wireless networks is now well on its way — bringing with it greater security, competition, and resiliency,” said NTIA Alan Davidson in a press release announcing the funding, adding the fund will accelerate the transition toward open and interoperable wireless by financially backing research and development.
The seven projects that will be awarded funding are expected to improve the networks’ security, energy efficiency, and allow them to leverage AI to automate the network testing process.
The fund is supported by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which aims to invest in domestic manufacturing to improve national supply chain resiliency.
Ritter Communications new CTO
Telecom service provider Ritter Communications announced Monday that Victor Esposito will serve as the company’s chief technology officer, after having served as its vice president of engineering and network operations.
In his new role, Esposito will lead all of Ritter’s technology-related teams, read a press release.
“[Victor] has the leadership, skills and drive to keep us and our customers on the cutting edge of innovation as well as maintaining the company’s steep growth trajectory,” said Ritter Communications president Heath Simpson.
Esposito joined Ritter Communications in April of this year and will succeed Greg Sunderwood, who served as CTO position for 11 years.
Middle mile to be built in Virginia and North Carolina
Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative announced Tuesday that it is partnering with Ciena, a networking systems service provider, to help install middle mile infrastructure to serve more than 31,000 customers in Virginia and North Carolina.
MEC currently services 4,511 square miles in those respective states with its electric distribution system and is partnering with Ciena to deliver low-latency connectivity and aggregate operation technology to better broadband, explained a press release.
“During our network deployment, we will pass tens of thousands of homes, businesses, and organizations, and we found it unthinkable to miss the opportunity to extend this fiber resource to our communities,” said Dwayne Long, vice president of information technology at MEC.
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