House Democrats urged a focus on broadband adoption as the FCC considers an overhaul to the Universal Service Fund. Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., circulated the letter last week (CD Sept 22 p16) and got signatures from 34 Democrats, including House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass. Matsui sent the letter Tuesday to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. The letter “makes the crucial point that in reforming USF, the FCC must give a greater priority to adoption efforts than it has in the past,” Aspen Institute fellow Blair Levin, author of the National Broadband Plan, said in a statement. “Some at the FCC have said that dealing with adoption now is ‘putting the cart before the horse,’ but if the current USF Reform effort results in excessive spending in high cost areas, as some have urged, we will have a lavish cart but no money for a horse, and end up stuck on the side of the road.” The FCC welcomes Matsui’s “leadership in support of broadband adoption and fiscally responsible reform of the high-cost fund,” an FCC spokesman said. “In reforming all components of the Universal Service Fund, the Commission is focused on helping American consumers by increasing broadband availability and adoption and limiting the burden of USF contributions."
Cloud computing shows potential but there remain security and infrastructure concerns, House members said at a hearing Wednesday of the House Science Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation. Broadband buildout and spectrum will be critical to maintaining U.S. leadership on cloud systems, a Microsoft official said. Later, at a Hill briefing hosted by TechAmerica, Congressional High-Tech Caucus Co-Chair Doris Matsui, D-Calif., announced a task force to work on policies promoting advancement of cloud technologies.
The FCC must ensure sufficient funding for broadband adoption programs as it revamps the Universal Service Fund, Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., said in a letter circulating on Capitol Hill Tuesday. “A truly complete USF program would include adequate funding to bring critical programs, like broadband adoption initiatives modeled after the Lifeline and Link Up, into the broadband era,” Matsui said. Matsui plans to send the letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski as early as Friday, a Matsui spokeswoman said. “In today’s economy, the internet has become a necessity, not a luxury,” Matsui wrote. “We must do more to promote subscribership through adoption programs.” Many don’t subscribe because they lack the “necessary equipment, training or education opportunities to take advantage of the benefits of Internet use,” Matsui said. Others can’t afford “even basic broadband service,” she said.
The House co-sponsors of legislation passed last year on low-power FM radio stations picked up the support of 26 colleagues who want to see LPFM get more spectrum. Colleagues of Reps. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and Lee Terry, R-Neb., added their names to a letter similar to one those two and the Senate co-sponsors of the Local Community Radio Act earlier sent the FCC (CD Sept 8 p12). Implementation of the act must “ensure that sufficient channels are available in the most densely populated communities,” wrote Democrats including Edolphus Towns of New York, Jay Inslee of Washington, Doris Matsui of California. “We urge the Commission to ensure that licenses are awarded to truly local” groups, they wrote Wednesday. The agency has a rulemaking to deal with FM translators and LPFM. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights also backed a letter by many nonprofits asking the commission to free up more space for LPFMs when it processes translator applications from eight years ago, said Policy Director Brandy Doyle of low-power backer Prometheus Radio Project.
Building a national wireless broadband network for public safety is the top telecom priority this fall for the Senate Commerce Committee, committee aides said. House Democratic and Republican staff, meanwhile, have continued discussions on spectrum legislation through the August recess, House officials said. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., also is closely watching the FCC as it attempts to overhaul the Universal Service Fund and the committee may have a hearing on the AT&T/T-Mobile deal, his spokeswoman said. Senate Republicans, meanwhile, are poised to move their Congressional Review Act rebuke of the FCC’s net neutrality order.
House Commerce Committee Democrats urged the GAO to examine how a “dig once” policy would help expand broadband. Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., wrote the agency Monday asking it to assess the benefits and costs of requiring installation of broadband conduit during highway construction. Eshoo introduced HR-1695 to that effect in May. She asked the GAO to examine existing state and local “dig once” policies, and what locations would benefit most from having the policy. “By installing conduit during highway construction, we can lower the cost of current and future broadband deployment, as well as reduce the inconvenience on the traveling public arising from sporadic trenching projects,” Eshoo wrote. The letter was also signed by committee Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Democratic committee members Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Doris Matsui of California.
Division over the 700 MHz D-block is the main barrier to bipartisan spectrum legislation in the House, lawmakers said at a Communications Subcommittee hearing Friday. The Commerce Committee’s top Democrats and top Republicans have signed onto separate draft bills. The Democrats want to reallocate the D-block to public safety and the Republicans seek to auction it to commercial providers. While both sides voiced optimism about reaching consensus, debt limit negotiations threaten to suck up a key component of the legislation: Voluntary incentive auctions. (See separate report in this issue.)
Congress shouldn’t take on spectrum issues with a sense of crisis, as it tackles legislation in the Senate and House, NAB Associate General Counsel Scott Goodwin told the Congressional High Tech Caucus late Thursday. Cisco and Microsoft executives raised red flags about provisions reportedly in the Republican draft that could force auctions for all spectrum, including unlicensed spectrum.
A draft spectrum bill similar to S-911 is circulating in the House courtesy of Commerce Committee Democrats. By proposing reallocation of the 700 MHz D-block to public safety, the bill stands in opposition to a Republican draft bill (CD July 14 p2) released Wednesday. With a legislative hearing scheduled for Friday morning, Democrats have told staff to continue talks with Republicans.
House and Senate Democrats objected to draft spectrum legislation floated Wednesday by House Commerce Committee Republicans. The draft bill, which will be the subject of a House Communications Subcommittee hearing Friday, does not give the 700 MHz D-block to public safety, unlike the Senate’s bipartisan spectrum bill. Like S-911, the House draft would authorize the FCC to conduct voluntary incentive auctions, but it limits the FCC to a single auction of broadcaster spectrum. Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., introduced a separate spectrum bill Friday related to unlicensed use.