Implementing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s broadband programs will “require a lot of partnership” with states and industry to ensure participation, said NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson Wednesday during a Broadband Breakfast event. “This is a generational moment,” Davidson said, and “our chance to ... address these long-standing inequities in our society.”
The FTC’s Democratic leadership set “very high” expectations for expanding the agency’s authority that aren’t in line with legal realities, Commissioner Noah Phillips said Tuesday. He spoke at the International Association of Privacy Professionals’ global privacy summit the day after Chair Lina Khan opened the conference, telling attendees the agency is considering new marketwide rules to provide clear notice and more efficient enforcement.
Connecticut could adopt one-touch, make-ready (OTMR) rules next month adapted from the FCC framework. The state’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) released a proposed decision Tuesday to establish an OTMR process to facilitate “efficient development and deployment of advanced telecommunications and broadband infrastructure” and encourage shared use of poles. New Hampshire regulators are also moving toward adopting OTMR rules based on FCC rules.
Digital equity advocates and lawmakers want bigger efforts to bridge the digital divide, they said Tuesday. Some at the Hispanic Technology & Telecommunications Partnership’s virtual digital inclusion summit said digital discrimination is a top priority. Others encouraged local leaders to promote the FCC’s affordable connectivity program.
Carriers large and small are feeling pressure to offer 5G to their customers, executives said at a Competitive Carriers Association conference, streamed from Tampa Tuesday. “All broadband is local,” said CCA President Steve Berry: “Broadband deployment, broadband build, is local.”
Nearly a year after the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision on a challenge to parts of its 2019 cable local franchise authority (LFA) order (see 2105260035), localities interests and lawyers told us negotiations with cable operators have become more complex. Some think the pace of such negotiations and agreements picked up again in recent months, after a slowdown during the 6th Circuit appeal and subsequent, unsuccessful petition for writ of certiorari by appellant localities Eugene, Oregon, and others (see 2111010048). NCTA, ACA Connects, Comcast, Charter and Altice didn't comment.
FCC arguments on the agency’s authority to require broadcasters to check would-be lessees against databases of registered foreign agents met apparent skepticism from at least two members of a three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Tuesday.
The EU Digital Markets Act should stress personal data protection over boosting competition among tech companies, a Global Initiative on Digital Empowerment report said. It proposed giving online users control over access to the personally identifiable information they create and letting them set the terms under which the data can be used legally. In return, users would have to ensure their data is accurate and verified by trusted third parties. The scheme could be based on the model of the domain name system (DNS) and could have implications for ICANN's Whois registration data debate, said co-author and former ICANN CEO Paul Twomey in an interview. Milton Mueller of Georgia Tech's Internet Governance Project, however, branded the idea naive.
Pearl TV is "focused" on building “scale” in ATSC 3.0 deployments and consumer adoption, Managing Director Anne Schelle said in an interview, commenting on recent remarks by Sinclair President-Technology Del Parks that the industry needs to begin planning for the shutdown of the “legacy” 1.0 service (see 2203310029). It’s “still the early days” of 3.0 service deployments, said Schelle.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel tested positive for COVID-19, she announced in a Monday tweet. Rosenworcel, who's vaccinated, is the latest high-ranking official to test positive following a Gridiron Club dinner she reportedly attended earlier this month, and will work from home “for now,” she said.