Vermont legislators supported “clawing back” some state broadband funding from Comcast or other ISPs that impose internet data caps on consumers. To have a company impose an “arbitrary” cap to control traffic after Vermont is spending large amounts of money for broadband during COVID-19 “makes me feel like we’re being used,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Sears (D) told a virtual hearing Friday. “Maybe they should pay us back.” Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan (D) urged Comcast Thursday to delay overage charges for the caps until 30 days after the state ends its COVID-19 pandemic emergency executive order.
An FCC decision on how to handle SpaceX's pending license modification isn't near, as the agency seems to want to give some form of approval but is stuck on the question of whether the modification should be part of the 2020 non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite processing round, parties involved in the proceeding told us. Critics of SpaceX plans repeatedly said the license mod seeking OK for lower orbit for more than 2,800 SpaceX satellites (see 2004200003) should be handled in a different processing round than the constellation's approval. SpaceX and the FCC didn't comment.
The House Commerce Committee voted 31-24 Friday to advance language in its part of the coming COVID-19 budget reconciliation measure that would allocate $7.6 billion for E-rate remote learning funding. (Also see our news bulletin). Committee Republicans ultimately didn't seek votes on most of their proposed amendments dealing with E-rate and other telecom issues. Republicans criticized Democrats for pushing forward with a markup of the overall bill without bipartisan negotiations (see 2102110072).
The California Public Utilities Commission adopted wireline resiliency rules for emergencies, including a requirement to provide 72-hour backup power in tier one and two high fire threat districts. Earlier Thursday, New York Department of Public Service (DPS) staff recommended the Public Service Commission revise cable and telco storm response rules, following alleged Altice and Frontier Communications violations during Hurricane Isaias.
The Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment will recommend the FCC support a bill on minority tax certificates, advocate for more interagency cooperation to assist libraries in providing digital services and make accessible information for newcomers to broadcasting, according to reports from the ACDDE’s working groups at the current iteration’s second-to-last virtual meeting Thursday. The committee’s charter expires in July, and the last meeting, where final recommendations will be voted on, is June 24.
Most broadband subscribers picked up by cable ISPs during the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to remain, even without Keep America Connected (KAC) pledge conditions and after people return in bigger numbers to workplaces and schools, experts told us. It's less clear whether a subset of those, brought in by KAC, will stay. Comcast and Charter Communications expect a return to growth like they had pre-pandemic.
The FCC’s draft supply chain NPRM, set for a vote its Wednesday meeting (see 2101270060), is likely to get unanimous approval with few changes, and industry officials told us. Unanimity is especially likely since the focus is to reconcile the language in the reimbursement program with that in the combined FY 2021 appropriations and COVID-19 aid omnibus bill that Congress approved in December, they said. This meeting is the first under acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.
The House Commerce Committee worked Thursday to advance its portion of the coming COVID-19 budget reconciliation measure, without getting by early evening to a section that includes $7.6 billion in E-rate remote learning funding (see 2102100061). President Joe Biden, meanwhile, sought a heavy infrastructure investment amid concerns China will otherwise overtake the U.S. Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other administration officials met Thursday with Capitol Hill leaders on infrastructure matters, before an expected formal call later this month for a major infrastructure spending measure (see 2101150001).
Radio broadcasters are at odds with one another and with NAB over whether the FCC should change FM booster rules to allow geotargeted radio broadcasts, in comments posted through Wednesday in docket 20-401. The NPRM “could open new doors for the marketing practices of small businesses,” said Emmis Communications. Dozens of smaller broadcasters submitted nearly identical comments supporting the proposal (see 2101270069), but NAB asked the FCC to hold off.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency lacks funding for incident response and engagement with the critical infrastructure community, despite its $2 billion budget, the agency's former Director Chris Krebs told the House Homeland Security Committee Wednesday. “My biggest regret was that we were not able to plow additional resources into the ability to get out there into the field and engage critical infrastructure and engage state and local actors,” he said during a hearing on the SolarWinds attack (see 2102090076). Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said the attack is “dominating the cyber conversation.” CISA is part of the Department of Homeland Security.