Broadband in the Trump Administration

A one-day conference in Washington on Thursday, December 12, 2024

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Donald Trump’s 2024 victory in the presidential election will change public policy in Washington on many fronts. Broadband will be particularly impacted.

What will become of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s centerpiece program to build broadband infrastructure everywhere, including in Rural America? Will Congress finally reauthorize Federal Communications Commission spectrum auctions? Will the Affordable Connectivity Fund enjoy a new lease on life with strong supporter JD Vance as Vice President-Elect? And how will the law and regulations regarding Net Neutrality and Digital Discrimination be transformed as the country shifts from a Democratic to a Republican administration?

Join officials from Republican and Democratic administrations, including former Trump administration decision-makers, for a one-day conference, “Broadband in the Trump Administration,” on Thursday, December 12, 2024.

Broadband in the Trump Administration

• A one-day conference on Thursday, December 12, 2024, 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
• Clyde's of Gallery Place in Washington at 707 7th Street NW. Washington, DC 20001.

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Panel 1: Finishing the Job on the BEAD Program

As power moves to a new administration, the future of the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program - is likely to come center stage. What kind of changes can we expect from the NTIA, and potentially the FCC, as Donald Trump returns to the White House. Will the new administration stay the course or tweak aspects of BEAD?

• Eric Frederick, Chief Connectivity Officer, Michigan High-Speed Internet Office
• Diane Rinaldo, Executive Director, Open RAN Policy Coalition
• Other panelists have been invited
• Christopher Cole (moderator), Senior Reporter, Telecom, Law360

Panel 2: A Return to Spectrum Authority?

Since the Federal Communications Commission’s authority to conduct spectrum auctions lapsed in March 2023, advocates have been clamoring for Congress to renew it. Thus far, their efforts have fallen flat. As the FCC looks to explore additional spectrum opportunities, the authority’s lapsing casts a long shadow. With a new Congress on the horizon and a potentially reshuffled FCC, what factors will facilitate - or hinder - a revival of auction authority authority? And what impacts might this have on future spectrum strategies, the broader economy, and the U.S.’s competitive edge in wireless technologies?

• Scott Blake Harris, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Crest Hill Advisors LLC
• Shiva Goel, Senior Advisor for Spectrum Policy, NTIA, U.S. Department of Commerce
• David Redl, Founder and CEO, Salt Point Strategies
• Jeff Blum, Executive Vice President, External & Government Affairs, EchoStar
• Other panelists have been invited
• Kelcee Griffis (moderator), Telecom Reporter, Bloomberg News

Panel 3: Reforming the Universal Service Fund, and Renewing the Affordable Connectivity Program?

While lawmakers say they support empowering underserved communities, the biggest disappointment for broadband advocates in 2024 was the expiration of the Affordable Connectivity Program. Its fate has become intertwined with potential changes in the Universal Service Fund. To complicate matters, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down the USF as unconstitutional, and the Supreme Court is widely expected to review that decision next year. How will these two twin issues play out in the new administration, and in the next Congress?

• Roslyn Layton, Senior Vice President, Strand Consult
• Amy Huffman, Policy Director, National Digital Inclusion Alliance
• Mignon Clyburn, Principal, MLC Strategies, LLC
• Harold Furchtgott-Roth, Senior Fellow and Director, Center for the Economics of the Internet, Hudson Institute
• Other panelists have been invited
• Ryan Tracy (moderator), Co-Writer, Capitol Account

Panel 4: With Chevron Deference Dead, Will Courts Check the Next Administration?

The Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo marks the end of Chevron deference, fundamentally altering the regulatory landscape that federal agencies navigate. This change has profound implications for the FCC's authority on critical issues including Net Neutrality and digital discrimination. A second Trump administration will face a transformed regulatory environment where agency rulemaking powers are significantly constrained. Additionally, are we likely to see more litigation about Section 230 content moderation under the Trump Administration? How will the FCC approach Big Tech, and how will courts react? 

• Joel Thayer, President, Digital Progress Institute
• Nathan Leamer, CEO, Fixed Gear Strategies
• Other panelists have been invited
• Lynn Stanton (moderator), Senior Editor, Wolters Kluwer’s TR Daily

Speaker Bios:

Panel 1: Finishing the Job on the BEAD Program

Eric Frederick serves as the State of Michigan’s first Chief Connectivity Officer. In this role, Mr. Frederick leads the Michigan High-Speed Internet Office (MIHI) with the goals of achieving universal broadband access and creating a more digitally equitable state. For more than a decade, Eric has been a steadfast advocate and resource for expanding broadband in Michigan and now oversees MIHI’s $1.8 billion in funds to close Michigan’s digital divide. Eric also serves as the designee for Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II as the chair of the FCC’s Intergovernmental Advisory Committee.

Diane Rinaldo is one of the country’s leading authorities on 5G, telecommunications supply chain security and privacy. She served as Acting Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information. During her time at NTIA, Ms. Rinaldo directed the Administration’s efforts on privacy; testified in the House of Representatives and Senate on 5G and Internet security issues; served as a principal advising the White House and Congress on 5G and supply chain; as well as other successes in education and deployment of Internet access around the world.

Christopher Cole is senior reporter for telecom in Law360's Washington bureau, where he also wrote about all things FCC as part of the legal newswires' general assignment coverage. He has years of experience as a legal, business and political reporter and editor at newspapers, as well as covering Congress and federal agencies, and started at Law360 in 2018.

Panel 2: A Return to Spectrum Authority?

Shiva Goel is the Senior Advisor for Spectrum Policy at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), where he represents the agency in its efforts to expand the use of spectrum to support the needs of the federal government, consumers, and the commercial sector.  He also manages satellite and space matters for the Office of Assistant Secretary.  He joined NTIA from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), where he served as Legal Advisor to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks on wireless, space, and international policy.  Shiva was previously a partner in the telecom, appellate, and litigation practices of Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis LLP.  He received his law degree Order of the Coif from the University of Virginia School of Law and a BA from Cornell University.

The founder and Managing Partner of Crest Hill Advisors, Scott Blake Harris has been a legal and policy professional in Washington, D.C. for forty-eight years, primarily focused on telecommunications, technology, and energy issues. He has deep experience both in government and in the private sector. Scott has served as Chief of the FCC’s International Bureau, General Counsel of the Department of Energy, and most recently as a senior advisor and Director of the National Spectrum Strategy at NTIA. He was also a co-founder, Managing Partner, and Chairman of the law firm Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis (now HWG), and a partner at the law firms of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Williams & Connolly. He is a magna cum laude graduate of both Brown University and Harvard Law School.

David Redl is the Founder and CEO of Salt Point Strategies, a public affairs consulting, strategy, and advocacy firm focused on the telecommunication and technology sectors.  Prior to founding Salt Point, David served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and the Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and as Chief Counsel for Communications and Technology to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.  David also serves as a Senior Fellow at the Silicon Flatirons Center at the University of Colorado

Jeff Blum serves as EchoStar’s Executive Vice President, External & Government Affairs, overseeing public policy, regulatory and government affairs in Washington, D.C. Before coming to EchoStar (formerly DISH Network) in 2005, Jeff was a partner at the Los Angeles firm of Davis Wright Tremaine, where his practice focused on copyright, First Amendment and anti-piracy litigation. He serves on the board of the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association (SBCA), INCOMPAS, the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), the Open RAN Policy Coalition (ORPC) and the Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group (BITAG).

Kelcee Griffis is a Washington, D.C.-based reporter covering the telecom business for Bloomberg News. When she's not writing about the latest FCC development or affordable broadband initiative, you can find her watching reality TV or training for her next marathon.

Panel 3: Reforming the Universal Service Fund, and Renewing the Affordable Connectivity Program?

Roslyn Layton, PhD has published many reports and analyses on universal service fund reform.  She serves as Executive Vice President of Strand Consult and Visiting Researcher at Aalborg University’s Centre for Communication, Media and Information Technologies in Copenhagen, Denmark. She leads Strand Consult’s Global Project for Broadband Cost Recovery which chronicles the policy to enable financial sustainability and affordability for the world’s broadband networks. Her doctoral investigation measures broadband regulation and innovation across 53 countries. Roslyn has served on the Program Committees of the International Telecommunications Society and the Telecom Policy Research Conference. She is a Fellow of the National Security Institute at George Mason University and advises the Foundation for American Innovation and the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue University. She holds citizenship in Denmark and USA.

Amy Huffman joined NDIA in 2021. She is a public servant, systems thinker, innovative policy expert, and storyteller passionate about closing the digital divide and ensuring all Americans can thrive in the 21st century’s digital world. Amy has studied and worked in the digital inclusion field since 2011. Before joining NDIA, Amy served as the State of North Carolina’s first digital inclusion and policy manager for the Broadband Infrastructure Office, a division of the Department of Information Technology. Government Technology named Amy one of the nation’s Top 25 Doers, Dreamers, and Drivers of 2024 for her work supporting states to implement the Digital Equity Act.  In 2021, Public Knowledge presented her with the 20/20 Visionary Award, recognizing her as one of the top 20 Future Tech Policy Leaders. Amy holds a master’s degree in public administration and a bachelor’s degree in political science from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Mignon Clyburn served as Commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 2009 to 2018, and acting chair from May to November of 2013. Previously, Clyburn served 11 years on the South Carolina Public Service Commission and prior to that, was the publisher and general manager of a family-founded, Charleston-based African American oriented weekly newspaper. She is currently the principal of MLC Strategies, LLC, a DC-based consulting firm, and serves on a number of public and non-profit boards.

Harold Furchtgott-Roth, former commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, where he founded the Center on the Economics of the Internet and helped cofound the Forum for Intellectual Property.  He has cofounded various businesses in the communications sector.

Ryan Tracy is co-writer at Capitol Account, a Washington, D.C. publication focused on financial services regulation. He is a former reporter at The Wall Street Journal, where he spent 13 years writing about the intersection of business and Washington. His work spanned three presidential administrations and most recently focused on technology and telecommunications policy. He wrote extensively about broadband, including a series of articles digging into the effectiveness of the FCC’s broadband programs. He also covered artificial intelligence, antitrust, privacy, and other issues. Ryan got his start reporting on local government at The Times of Trenton in his native New Jersey. He has degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Panel 4: With Chevron Deference Dead, Will Courts Check the Next Administration?

Joel Thayer is president of Digital Progress Institute, and a tech and telecom attorney based in Washington, D.C. His experience also includes working as legal clerk for FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and FTC Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen. Additionally, Mr. Thayer served as a congressional staffer for the Hon. Lee Terry and Hon. Mary Bono.

Nathan Leamer is the CEO of Fixed Gear Strategies. He was an aide to former Federal Communications Chairman Ajit Pai.

Lynn Stanton is a senior editor at Wolters Kluwer’s TR Daily, where she currently covers policy issues affecting broadband and Internet services.  She has reported on issues ranging from universal service to the section 230 safe harbor since the 1996 Telecommunications Act. She has a BA from the University of Maryland and a master’s degree from the University of Virginia.

Gold Sponsor:

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