Daily Digest 6/22/2024 (Jamie Kellner) (2024)

Where the Puck is Going: The Close of the ACP and Coming USF Reform|Read below|Blair Levin|Analysis|

Upgrades to DOCSIS 4.0|Read below|Doug Dawson|Analysis|CCG Consulting

Mississippi Deploying $70.9 Million for 24 Broadband Infrastructure Projects in 19 Counties|Read below|Press Release|Mississippi Office of the Governor

North Carolina's Approach to Digital Equity and Education|Read below|Zoë Walker|Analysis|

No end in sight for 5G spectrum squabbling|Read below|Mike Dano|Light Reading

Should social media come with a health warning?|MIT Technology Review

How Philanthropy Can Make Sure Data Is Used to Help — Not Harm|Chronicle of Philanthropy

American Indian and Alaska Natives in Tribal Areas Have Among Lowest Rates of High-Speed Internet Access

Daniela Meija|Research|US Census Bureau

American Indian and Alaska Natives living in tribal areas have among the nation’s lowest rates of high-speed internet access in the United States. TheComputer and Internet Use in the United States: 2021 reporthighlights key estimates of computer ownership and broadband access across the country, including, for the first time, in tribal areas.Compared to the national average of 90% in 2021, 84% of American Indian and Alaska Native households and 71% of American Indian and Alaska Native households on tribal land had broadband access, according to the American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year estimates. The “digital divide” is commonly defined as the gap between households with high-speed (broadband) internet access and those without. Research indicates those most affected by this divide or least likely to have internet access are people with disabilities, those 65 years and over, and those living in rural areas, among others. Some of those factors may play a role in tribal areas’ internet access. For example, 45% of tribal households were in rural areas compared to 19% of nontribal households, and rural tribal households had a lower share (80%) of broadband subscriptions than urban tribal households (88%). In comparison, the urban-rural connectivity gap was smaller between rural (87%) and urban (91%) households in nontribal areas.

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Broadband Funding

Where the Puck is Going: The Close of the ACP and Coming USF Reform

Blair Levin|Analysis|

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Three More Broadband Providers Announce ACP Alternatives

Ian Doescher|telecompetitor

Breezeline, LICT Corporation, and Longmont Power & Communications are the latest broadband providers to offer an alternative to the federal government’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which offered a $30 per month discount on internet service to low-income households and was terminated in May.The new programs from these companies offer discounted service to low-income households that were on the ACP and in two cases offer the lower-cost service to new households that meet the income eligibility requirements.Though each company’s discount offering is slightly different—both in the amount of the discount and which subscribers are eligible—they are part of a growing trend in the broadband industry to replace the ACP with new programs for qualifying subscribers. The resulting service prices are comparable to or more generous thanother ACP replacement programsoffered by other broadband providers.

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USDA Providing $25 Million to Local Organizations, Cooperatives and Tribes for Broadband Technical Assistance

Press Release|Department of Agriculture

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Infrastructure

Open Network Index: evaluating operators’ progress and attitudes to ‘openness’ across core, RAN and edge

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Upgrades to DOCSIS 4.0

Doug Dawson|Analysis|CCG Consulting

Cable companies often make it sound like DOCSIS 4.0 is right around the corner. This is the technology upgrade that will increase overall speeds to multiple gigabits while also providing the option for symmetrical speeds.ATX Networks, a leading manufacturer of electronics for cable companies published theresults of a surveyin May of cable company executives that shows almost half of cable companies intend to implement DOCSIS 4.0 by the end of 2025.The survey showed that cable companies are taking different approaches on how to upgrade to DOCSIS 4.0. About one-third of the respondents to the survey said they would be happy to get symmetrical speeds using a network with the overall capacity of 1.2 GHz.Other cable companies intend to also upgrade the overall bandwidth capability of the network to 1.8 GHz.Finally, the survey showed that 15% percent of the cable companies don’t have plans to upgrade to DOCSIS 4.0.There are still cable companies that believe the best option is to convert directly to fiber. But that is by far the most expensive option.

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State/Local

Mississippi Deploying $70.9 Million for 24 Broadband Infrastructure Projects in 19 Counties

Press Release|Mississippi Office of the Governor

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California Public Utilities Commission rejects bid by AT&T that could have decimated landline service

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has rejected a bid by AT&T to no longer be the “carrier of last resort” for phone service in California. The ruling is a win for people who still use landlines. Being a carrier of last resort requires the company to provide basic telephone service. That often means installing and maintaining old fashioned copper landlines for those who have nothing else, and the state’s biggest carrier of last resort is AT&T. AT&Targued landlines serve a dwindling number of customers, maintaining them is often unnecessary and it curtails investment in modern technologies.But the CPUC got thousands of complaints from older people and those in rural areas, where they say wireless and fiber optic technology is unreliable or expensive.“Our vote to dismiss AT&T’s application made clear that we will protect customer access to basic telephone service—no matter where they live, income, or access to other forms of communication,” said Commissioner John Reynolds, who was assigned to the proceeding.

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Spectrum Launches Gigabit Broadband, Mobile, TV and Voice Services in Newton County, Georgia

Press Release|Charter Communications

Spectrum announced the launch of Spectrum Internet, Mobile, TV and Voice services to more than 2,000 homes and small businesses in Newton County (GA).Spectrum’s newly constructed fiber-optic network buildout is part of the company’s approximately $5 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund-related investment in unserved rural communities, partly offset by $1.2 billion in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) RDOF auction.Spectrum's RDOF expansion will provide broadband access to 1.3 million customer locations across 24 states in the coming years. Spectrum has also won more than $700 million in state broadband expansion subsidies, which, combined with Spectrum investment, will connect another 300,000 homes and small businesses.

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Spectrum Launches Gigabit Broadband, Mobile, TV and Voice Services in Rutherford County, North Carolina

Press Release|Charter Communications

Spectrumannounced the launch of Spectrum Internet, Mobile, TV and Voice services to more than 2,000 homes and small businesses in Rutherford County (NC). Spectrum’s newly constructed fiber-optic network buildout in Rutherford County is part of the company’s approximately $5 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund-related investment in unserved rural communities, partly offset by $1.2 billion in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) RDOF auction.The company’s RDOF expansion will provide broadband access to 1.3 million customer locations across 24 states in the coming years. Spectrum has also won more than $700 million in state broadband expansion subsidies, which, combined with Spectrum investment, will connect another 300,000 homes and small businesses.

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North Carolina's Approach to Digital Equity and Education

Zoë Walker|Analysis|

On June 17, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, in partnership with the Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology, hosted a webinar titledThe Power of Partnership: State Strategies for Digital and Educational Equity. The first of a three-part webinar series, this session highlighted the efforts of theNorth Carolina Office of Digital Equity and Literacyand how the department plans to partner with educational institutions as it approaches the implementation of the state’s digital equity plan. In a moderated Q&A, Maggie Woods, Deputy Director of the NC Office of Digital Equity and Literacy, Jenifer Bean of the NC Community College System, the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation’s Erin Huggins, and the Office of Educational Technology’s Isabella Zachariah discussed why it is so important to partner with educational institutions, what success looks like, and what North Carolina has in common with other model states.Some highlights from the webinar.

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Spectrum/Wireless

No end in sight for 5G spectrum squabbling

Mike Dano|Light Reading

It looks like Congress will remain deadlocked over how to release spectrum for 5G. And that situation could push industry players to other, secondary spectrum sources."This is a case where nobody really wins and everyone is unhappy," wrote Blair Levin, a policy adviser to New Street Research and a former high-level FCC official, in a note to investors regarding ongoing spectrum negotiations in Congress.However: "That unhappiness is unlikely to translate to legislation in the near-term," he added.At issueis legislationthat could potentially reinstate the FCC's auction authority, which has beenmissing for more than a year. It could also pave the way for commercial operations—including 5G—in the valuable lower 3GHz band. According to Levin, the stalemate regarding the legislation will likely last until after the November presidential elections.

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Artificial Intelligence

Sens Young, Schatz Introduce Bill to Raise Awareness, Boost Public Trust in Artificial Intelligence

Press Release|US Senate

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Company News

Charter confirms around 1,000 job cuts amid price increases

Mike Dano|Light Reading

Cable company Charter Communications is cutting around 1,000 jobs as part of its efforts to consolidate its call center operations.Charter said it would work to transfer some affected employees to open jobs in other locations.In its latest financial filing, Charter reported around 101,000 full-time employees. News of Charter's cuts trickled out across a number of local reports.In a sign of Charter's difficult financials, the company alsoconfirmedthat it would raise rates on some of its services for the second time in less than six months.Charter isn't the only US cable company to cut jobs in recent weeks. Cable operator Cable Onesaidit will shave 4% of its employees – around 120 positions – in an effort to "enhance the company's ability to grow."

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Visionary eyes fiber frenzy in American West

Wyoming-based Visionary Broadband’s got quite the resume in both the fiber and wireless space. Visionary won nearly$27 millionin ARPA grant awards to provide fiber broadband in remote areas of Wyoming. It’s also got a foothold in Colorado, Montana and Washington state.State grants have helped Visionary recently gain seven new markets, said CEO Brian Worthen. Those include three markets in Colorado, two in Montana and two in Wyoming. From a grant standpoint, “we like small towns,” said Worthen, as they have less competition. But Visionary also has some larger markets in the mix. Originally a fixed wireless access (FWA) provider, it was only in 2020 when Visionary “really started escalating fiber” with residential deployments. Prior to that, Visionary was only building fiber for wholesale business customers.Once the company started doing grant work in Wyoming, it decided to jump on the fiber wave before other providers swooped in.

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