The FCC said it reauthorized the Intergovernmental Advisory Committee. The committee includes 15 representatives of local, state and tribal governments and advises the FCC on shared telecom issues. The current term expires Saturday. The next one lasts two years from the committee’s first meeting, with an option for reauthorization after that. The FCC said Friday it will discuss membership and other administrative issues in a later public notice.
Broadband adoption should be measured by specifically asking if individuals or households subscribe to the service rather than by type or frequency of use, Hughes Networks Systems said in comments on an FCC public notice on broadband adoption. Affordability is the largest barrier to adoption in rural America and in tribal regions, and household incomes reflect the largest disparity between homes with and without broadband, Hughes said. The company’s suggestion for a new “Broadband Credit Program,” which would provide subsidies to reach end-users unable to access terrestrial networks as part of the broadband stimulus, could combat that barrier and serve as a prototype for other adoption programs, it said (CD Dec 2 p5). The commission should avoid cutting off providers capable of providing last-mile and middle-mile service by focusing solely on middle-mile service, the company said.
Opposition to outsourcing is the new rallying cry for skeptics of a pair of Internet gambling bills offered by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D- Mass. At a hearing Thursday, Frank and other lawmakers who support legalizing and regulating Internet wagering signaled they will make sure that any gambling operators in the U.S., especially those on tribal lands, could compete with established offshore operators in such places as the U.K. and Antigua. Industry and nonprofit supporters also released a new study showing that “social harms” could be dealt with better under regulation than a ban on Internet gambling.
The National Emergency Numbers Association urged the FCC to establish a subsidy mechanism for public safety that follows the model of the Universal Service Fund E-rate program. In comments on a National Broadband Plan public notice on public safety broadband issues, NENA and other public safety groups said adequate broadband service isn’t available in rural and tribal areas. Meanwhile, disabilities-rights advocates backed upgrades to the 911 system to support relay services for the deaf.
The NTIA and RUS received a bevy of proposed rule changes as they prepare to move ahead with the second and final round of broadband stimulus funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In comments on the agencies’ November request for information (CD Nov 12 p1), broadband providers and others cited many problems in the first round that they said discouraged participation or colored results. Many of the comments were unreadable Tuesday due to problems on the agencies’ stimulus Web site, BroadbandUSA.gov.
FCC broadband plan coordinator Blair Levin called the lack of broadband connectivity in Indian country a “tragedy” and said the FCC is well aware of the problem as it works on the National Broadband Plan. Levin said little has changed since his previous tenure at the FCC, as chief of staff in the early 1990s, when he was chief of staff. “One would hope that there would have been some progress, but there actually has been very little.” Levin spoke Thursday at a New America Foundation event marking the release of a long-awaited report by the foundation and Native Public Media on new media and Internet use in Indian country.
NTIA and RUS sought comment Tuesday on how to change their broadband stimulus programs to deal with complaints by applicants and members of Congress. The agencies also said the two planned funding rounds remaining will be combined. The actions had been widely expected, but some observers said they were surprised by how comprehensively the agencies are taking up concerns and complaints.
Native Public Media and the National Congress of American Indians want the FCC to set up a native nations/FCC broadband task force, they said in comments to the commission on a notice seeking comment on high-speed access on tribal lands. They also asked the FCC to create a special tribal office, to reserve seats on the Federal State Board on Universal Service for tribal members and to create an Enhanced Tribal Lands Broadband Fund Program under the Universal Service Fund. Tribes should have priority access to spectrum and the FCC should remove barriers that would keep Native Americans from using the TV white spaces for broadband, they said.
Native Public Media and the National Congress of American Indians want the FCC to set up a native nations/FCC broadband task force, they said in comments to the commission on a notice seeking comment on high-speed access on tribal lands. They also asked the FCC to create a special tribal office, to reserve seats on the Federal State Board on Universal Service for tribal members and to create an Enhanced Tribal Lands Broadband Fund Program under the Universal Service Fund. Tribes should have priority access to spectrum and the FCC should remove barriers that would keep Native Americans from using the TV white spaces for broadband, they said.
The FCC’s National Broadband Plan (NBP) should empower broadband efforts by municipalities, said the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) and other local government authorities, responding to the FCC’s seventh NBP public notice on the roles of federal, state, tribal and local government. Other commenters compared municipal broadband to city electric systems built decades ago. But Qwest and some rural carriers warned that public-owned networks could impede broadband deployment in many areas.