October 2, 2023 – Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks will serve another term as commissioners on the Federal Communications Commission following a unanimous vote from the Senate this weekend. 

With Carr and Starks to continue serving, the FCC will have full membership for the foreseeable future, after Anna Gomez was confirmed as the fifth commissioner in September, breaking the agency’s party deadlock. 

In a statement about the appointments, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash, underlined that it is crucial for the FCC to be equipped with a full staff to avoid “deadlock or delay.” 

“Today’s confirmation of Geoffrey Starks and Brendan Carr allows the FCC to have full membership and move forward,” added Cantwell. 

The commissioners received congratulatory remarks from FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel as well. “With a complete Senate-confirmed Commission, the FCC is now ready to take on our full slate of work and fulfill our commitment to ensuring Americans everywhere have access to the best, most reliable communication services in the world,” said Rosenworcel. 

Supreme court to review social media laws in Texas and Florida 

The Supreme Court on Friday announced it will look into whether social media laws in Texas and Florida, which limit the ability of technology platforms to moderate certain content, violate the First Amendment.

In 2021, two social media laws were signed in both Texas and Florida, which allowed users to take legal action if they were censored online and prohibited the suspension of political figures‘ social accounts, respectively.  These laws were challenged by tech associations NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association, who claimed they were unconstitutional. The discrepancy in outcomes likely led to the Supreme Court’s decision to accept review of the case. 

In Florida, it was argued that “the legislation compels providers to host speech that violates their standards – speech they otherwise would not host – and forbids providers from speaking as they otherwise would.” The law was ruled by the 11th Circuit Court to be unconstitutional. 

In Texas, the tech associations’ similar lawsuit was filed, but the Fifth Circuit Court held that that the law was not unconstitutional. It did not reverse a previous stay, meaning that the law has not gone into effect pending Supreme Court review. 

Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar had urged in August that the Supreme Court look into the discrepancies between the case outcomes and argued that social platforms are protected by the First Amendment when they moderate content. 

Microsoft dismisses Google claim of ease of search engine switching 

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella testified Monday in Washington that Google’s claim that it is easy for users to change the default search browser on their devices is not that simple. 

Nadella argued that it is most difficult to change the default search browser on a smartphone, thwarting a claim by Google, which was sued by the Federal Trade Commission over its alleged dominance in the search engine space. 

The Department of Justice, which represents the FTC in court, filed the initial lawsuit in 2020 alleging Google has made a series of illegal agreements with phone manufacturers and wireless service providers to make it the default search engine. The trial began last month. 

Nadella added that Microsoft was “rebuffed” when it tried to make Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, the default on Apple smartphones.  

Google has argued that the popularity of its search engine is because of the quality of the product, not any illegal activity. The company currently has a 90 percent market share on search engines in the United States. 

It has argued that all its agreements are legal and it did not hamper other companies from developing their search engines.  

September 28, 2023 – Rep. Cathy Rodgers, R-WA, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, sent a joint letter on Tuesday to newly minted FCC commissioner Anna Gomez, urging her to reject proposed expansions to a school broadband subsidy.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced plans in June to expand the program –which provides monthly internet discounts for schools and libraries – to fund Wi-Fi on school buses and Wi-Fi hotspots for students to check out from libraries and schools.

The GOP lawmakers expressed “strong opposition” to the plan, calling it a “mockery of the law.”

They argue the Communications Act of 1934 limits E-Rate benefits to school and library property, making both proposed expansions ineligible for the subsidy.

Senator Ed Markey, D-Mass., supported Rosenworcel’s June announcement.

The proposal will be up for a vote among the five FCC commissioners at the regulator’s October 19 open meeting. Gomez’s recent confirmation gives Democrats a 3-2 majority.

E-Rate is among four programs funded by a portion of the roughly $8 billion in annual money from the Universal Service Fund. Lawmakers are looking to reform the USF’s funding mechanism, which is currently a tax on voice providers.

NTIA announces latest tribal grants

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced on Wednesday $74 million in tribal broadband grants.

The money comes from the nearly $3 billion Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program. It can be used to expand infrastructure or to fund other connectivity efforts like feasibility studies and broadband adoption initiatives.

Over $1.8 billion has been allocated under the program with the latest round of awards, which goes to 28 tribal governments in 11 states.

The NTIA said the awards comply with its “equitable distribution” requirement. The agency is required to give smaller grants – up to $500,000 – to tribal governments who do not receive the full grant amount they apply for.

The Government Accountability Office has pushed the NTIA to offer feedback to tribes who are given these significantly reduced grants, saying it would help tribal governments submit more competitive applications in the future.

The remaining $970 million in the program is still up for allocation. Applications are due to the NTIA by January 24 of next year.

Oregon gets $156 million from Capital Projects Fund

The Treasury Department announced Thursday the approval of over $156 million from the Capital Projects Fund for broadband projects in Oregon.

The money will fund a competitive grant program for last-mile infrastructure which the state expects to ultimately connect over 17,000 locations. The program will prioritize projects in areas with current internet speeds of 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload and below and will require all projects to deploy at least 100 * 20 Mbps.

Most of the funding – $149 million – will go to grant awards for successful bidders, with the remaining $7.7 million set aside for administrative costs. Oregon will not receive any additional money from the CPF.

Projects funded by the program will also be required to participate in the Affordable Connectivity Program, a monthly internet subsidy for low-income and Tribal households. The ACP’s future is uncertain, though, with its $14 billion set to dry up in April of next year.

This allocation puts the total CPF awards over $8.4 billion to date. A response to the Covid pandemic, the fund set aside $10 billion for projects enabling work, education, and health monitoring.

Arkansas fiber training program

The Arkansas Community Colleges recently announced a free training program for jobs in broadband infrastructure deployment.

The Arkansas Fiber Academy, subsidized by a partnership with the state’s Office of Skills Development, offers three training programs preparing participants to work as aerial linemen, telecom tower technicians, and underground fiber technicians.

Courses range from 11 days to over three weeks and can be attended at three colleges and universities across the state.

A shortage of qualified workers to deploy broadband infrastructure has been cited by the industry as a potential obstacle to the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program.

September 27, 2023 – The CEO of a software company called Seam said the Federal Communication Commissions should incorporate as part of the agency’s cybersecurity labeling program, letting device users know the countries where their data is sent and stored.

“For instance, if an IoT device routes or stores its data in China, this should be explicitly mentioned on the label” read a September 19 letter from Seam CEO Sy Bohy logged in the FCC’s ex parte communications docket. Bohy was referring to Internet-of-Things devices for machine-to-machine communication.

In August, the FCC proposed a voluntary program that would give manufacturers the option of labeling their devices with a government approved seal should they adhere to “baseline cybersecurity criteria.”

That criteria were developed by the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology. It looks at how devices handle data protection, information dissemination, product education awareness and cybersecurity state awareness.

In its August proposal, the FCC sought comment on how to best translate those qualities to the consumer and inquired about any other factors they should consider when looking at what devices would qualify for a label.

Bohy, in his communications with the office of Commissioner Nathan Simington, also warned the FCC that certain manufacturers “intentionally…hide the fact that their data is located or transiting through a foreign jurisdiction, particularly those with dubious or lax data privacy regulations.”

Putting a cybersecurity label on devices would provide consumers and businesses with necessary transparency and information needed to make smart purchases, Bohy said.

The need for something like a security label has been an important topic talked about amongst regulators for some time now. At January’s CES tech trade show, policymakers and cybersecurity experts stressed the importance of consumers being able to make smart decisions about buying secure technologies.

Lumos gets franchise to deploy broadband into South Carolina 

On Wednesday Lumos, an internet service provider received franchise approval to deploy fiber optic services by the cities of Columbia, West Columbia and Irmo, South Carolina.

This approval will allow Lumos to provide these areas with access to high-speed fiber optic networks, the company said.

Outside of building fiber infrastructure, Lumos has also agreed to provide free internet service to certain public parks and recreational areas in the Columbia and Irmo areas.

This expansion is part of Lumos’ $100 million investment in deploying broadband across the state, according to the company.

“Today’s announcement is a testament to the ongoing support from state and local representatives to expand our lightning-fast fiber internet services” said Lumos CEO Brian Stading.

Empire Access starts broadband construction in Pennsylvania

Fiber internet service provider Empire Access announced on Wednesday that it had started construction of an 86-mile fiber build in Scranton, Pennsylvania, The company said it expected to finish construction by the end of the year.

This phase of construction is set to be followed by another 90 miles of fiber buildout to be completed in 2024.

The entire build out is part of a larger broadband deployment strategy ranging from the southern part of New York into Northern Pennsylvania, said Empire Access CEO Jim Baase.