Three Democratic 2020 presidential hopefuls -- Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts -- separately called Wednesday for major investments in broadband deployments as part of their release of competing rural-focused policy platforms in Medium blog posts. That's one of the first major forays into telecom policy for any of the Democratic candidates during this campaign cycle. Much of the tech-focused debate thus far focused on the antitrust implications of the growth of major tech companies, including Warren's proposal to break up big tech companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon (see 1904170046 and 1906270010).

The FCC will hold a tribal workshop Aug. 20-21 focused on broadband, telecommunications and broadcast infrastructure and services in tribal communities. The Billings, Montana, event will include representatives from the Agriculture Department, FirstNet and the Universal Service Administrative Co.

The FCC will hold a tribal workshop Aug. 20-21 focused on broadband, telecommunications and broadcast infrastructure and services in tribal communities. The Billings, Montana, event will include representatives from the Agriculture Department, FirstNet and the Universal Service Administrative Co.

Opposition poured in to an FCC proposal to cap the overall budget for the various USF programs and to combine the budget cap for two mechanisms to fund anchor institutions, in comments posted through Tuesday to docket 06-122. Stakeholders said such a plan would be difficult to implement and contradicts both the USF mission and the current FCC chairman's top priority to close the digital divide (see 1906030059).

Opposition poured in to an FCC proposal to cap the overall budget for the various USF programs and to combine the budget cap for two mechanisms to fund anchor institutions, in comments posted through Tuesday to docket 06-122. Stakeholders said such a plan would be difficult to implement and contradicts both the USF mission and the current FCC chairman's top priority to close the digital divide (see 1906030059).

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., and Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., led a letter Monday with three other House Rural Broadband Task Force members to “express our strong disapproval” of the FCC’s 3-2 approval of revised rules for the 2.5 GHz educational broadband service band (see 1907100054). The other signers were Reps. Cindy Axne, D-Iowa; T.J. Cox, D-Calif.; and Ro Khanna, D-Calif. “While there are elements of the FCC’s action that benefit Tribal Nations -- which we support -- the disregard for the longstanding educational purposes” of the EBS-designated spectrum “is troubling and ill-advised,” the Democratic lawmakers wrote FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “Today, millions of Americans -- particularly those who reside in rural areas -- have access to the internet because of President John F. Kennedy’s 'vision' that led to the creation of what eventually became EBS." The lawmakers referenced a recent Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition study that found "compelling evidence in support of a policy that extends and modernizes the current [EBS] licensing regime” (see 1905150053). “Such modernization of the EBS system would have increased LTE penetration, created jobs, and reduced the homework gap across rural America,” the lawmakers said. “We implore you to reverse” the EBS decision and “rigorously pursue all options that reduce the rural-urban digital divide.” The FCC didn’t comment.

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., and Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., led a letter Monday with three other House Rural Broadband Task Force members to “express our strong disapproval” of the FCC’s 3-2 approval of revised rules for the 2.5 GHz educational broadband service band (see 1907100054). The other signers were Reps. Cindy Axne, D-Iowa; T.J. Cox, D-Calif.; and Ro Khanna, D-Calif. “While there are elements of the FCC’s action that benefit Tribal Nations -- which we support -- the disregard for the longstanding educational purposes” of the EBS-designated spectrum “is troubling and ill-advised,” the Democratic lawmakers wrote FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “Today, millions of Americans -- particularly those who reside in rural areas -- have access to the internet because of President John F. Kennedy’s 'vision' that led to the creation of what eventually became EBS." The lawmakers referenced a recent Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition study that found "compelling evidence in support of a policy that extends and modernizes the current [EBS] licensing regime” (see 1905150053). “Such modernization of the EBS system would have increased LTE penetration, created jobs, and reduced the homework gap across rural America,” the lawmakers said. “We implore you to reverse” the EBS decision and “rigorously pursue all options that reduce the rural-urban digital divide.” The FCC didn’t comment.

The FCC is taking its commitment seriously to promote broadband on Indian land, Chairman Ajit Pai said in letters to two members of Congress posted Friday. Pai told Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., the FCC is following up on an April GAO report. The report said some tribal representatives believe federal agencies don’t consider their input and consultations start too late. “There is always room for improving communications. Consistent with GAO’s recommendation, I have asked FCC staff to explore ways of documenting how FCC staff could communicate with Tribes about how Tribal input was used in FCC decisions on telecommunications infrastructure projects,” Pai said. Pai told Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., the agency is acting to promote broadband in tribal areas. Pai said outreach is planned in several venues in his state, including at the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission’s upcoming rural networks conference in Farmington.

The FCC is taking its commitment seriously to promote broadband on Indian land, Chairman Ajit Pai said in letters to two members of Congress posted Friday. Pai told Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., the FCC is following up on an April GAO report. The report said some tribal representatives believe federal agencies don’t consider their input and consultations start too late. “There is always room for improving communications. Consistent with GAO’s recommendation, I have asked FCC staff to explore ways of documenting how FCC staff could communicate with Tribes about how Tribal input was used in FCC decisions on telecommunications infrastructure projects,” Pai said. Pai told Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., the agency is acting to promote broadband in tribal areas. Pai said outreach is planned in several venues in his state, including at the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission’s upcoming rural networks conference in Farmington.

The FCC should equitably address discrepancies between the number of rural locations a broadband provider is funded to serve after alternative Connect America cost model (A-CAM) auctions and the number of actual locations the provider encounters during a network build-out phase, industry said in comments to FCC posted through Monday in docket 10-90, rather than impose penalties to providers when pre-bidding estimates turn out to be wrong (see 1907110003). The agency's Wireline Bureau "should study the impact of actual location discrepancies before deciding what measures are appropriate for A-CAM support recipients that experience location shortfalls," ITTA said.