Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders, an independent senator representing Vermont, stepped into a Media Action Grassroots Network Twitter event Thursday to tout his support for Lifeline reform. “We must do all we can to provide all Americans, especially low-income families, affordable access to broadband,” the Sanders campaign Twitter account wrote, using the #RightToConnect hashtag affiliated with the event. The Sanders campaign also tweeted out relevant statistics: “36% of Black Americans and 46% of Latin@s don't have a high-speed internet connection at home. They deserve a #RightToConnect.” The campaign on Wednesday also tweeted using the hashtag: “We must narrow the digital divide between Americans who are connected to broadband and those who are not.” Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn answered questions on Twitter as part of the event. Booker and Sanders are often allied on telecom issues (see 1512220042), but Booker is planning to campaign for Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton over the weekend. “Reading this tweet is a luxury millions of Americans simply cannot afford,” Clyburn said. Booker cited the first time he got online: “My 1st time: '92, was studying at Oxford, sent an email to an XGF that I was still pinning [sic] after,” Booker replied. “Accessing internet/knowledge of world shouldn't be a privilege for some but a right for the many.” Broadband “can be a pathway out of poverty only if it is accessible and affordable,” Clyburn said. Lifeline must be “dignified” and “offer competitive options and comparable service,” she said. “Public and private sector must work together: training, devices, affordability, and more.” She said state Lifeline programs can help close the affordability gap. FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel also tweeted about the conversation, calling it important. “Pubic [sic] ed is 'free' but provides a HUGE return in economic growth for all,” Booker tweeted. “This is akin to that #RightToConnect.”
Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders, an independent senator representing Vermont, stepped into a Media Action Grassroots Network Twitter event Thursday to tout his support for Lifeline reform. “We must do all we can to provide all Americans, especially low-income families, affordable access to broadband,” the Sanders campaign Twitter account wrote, using the #RightToConnect hashtag affiliated with the event. The Sanders campaign also tweeted out relevant statistics: “36% of Black Americans and 46% of Latin@s don't have a high-speed internet connection at home. They deserve a #RightToConnect.” The campaign on Wednesday also tweeted using the hashtag: “We must narrow the digital divide between Americans who are connected to broadband and those who are not.” Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn answered questions on Twitter as part of the event. Booker and Sanders are often allied on telecom issues (see 1512220042), but Booker is planning to campaign for Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton over the weekend. “Reading this tweet is a luxury millions of Americans simply cannot afford,” Clyburn said. Booker cited the first time he got online: “My 1st time: '92, was studying at Oxford, sent an email to an XGF that I was still pinning [sic] after,” Booker replied. “Accessing internet/knowledge of world shouldn't be a privilege for some but a right for the many.” Broadband “can be a pathway out of poverty only if it is accessible and affordable,” Clyburn said. Lifeline must be “dignified” and “offer competitive options and comparable service,” she said. “Public and private sector must work together: training, devices, affordability, and more.” She said state Lifeline programs can help close the affordability gap. FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel also tweeted about the conversation, calling it important. “Pubic [sic] ed is 'free' but provides a HUGE return in economic growth for all,” Booker tweeted. “This is akin to that #RightToConnect.”
LAS VEGAS -- FCC Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Ajit Pai told CES there are no guarantees the TV incentive auction will be a success. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel urged the FCC to release data on broadcaster participation. Earlier at the show, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler projected confidence, saying all indications are broadcasters will offer spectrum for sale in every major market (see 1601060048). At the last CES a year ago, commissioners other than Wheeler discussed whether it was prudent for the agency to pause the auction, now set to start March 29 (see 1501080032).
LAS VEGAS -- FCC Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Ajit Pai told CES there are no guarantees the TV incentive auction will be a success. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel urged the FCC to release data on broadcaster participation. Earlier at the show, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler projected confidence, saying all indications are broadcasters will offer spectrum for sale in every major market (see 1601060048). At the last CES a year ago, commissioners other than Wheeler discussed whether it was prudent for the agency to pause the auction, now set to start March 29 (see 1501080032).
LAS VEGAS -- FCC Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Ajit Pai told CES there are no guarantees the TV incentive auction will be a success. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel urged the FCC to release data on broadcaster participation. Earlier at the show, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler projected confidence, saying all indications are broadcasters will offer spectrum for sale in every major market (see 1601060048). At the last CES a year ago, commissioners other than Wheeler discussed whether it was prudent for the agency to pause the auction, now set to start March 29 (see 1501080032).
Citing concerns about being elbowed out of the Connect America Fund Phase II competitive bidding process, the satellite industry is pushing the FCC to ensure that satellite is evaluated on equal footing with fiber-to-the-home (FTTH). "The FCC has a longstanding policy favoring technology neutrality for CAF that has served the public interest resulting in increased innovation, service quality and reduced costs to consumers," the Satellite Industry Association said in a filing Tuesday in docket 10-90. Due to such satellite innovations as high-throughput space stations and broadband via nongeostationary constellations, SIA said, "It would be a mistake for the FCC to abandon such a policy now."
The FCC's new two-degree spacing rules for satellites are "a middle ground" between extremes that had been staked out by different parties in the satellite industry, said Jose Albuquerque, chief of the International Bureau's satellite division, Thursday. The Part 25 Report and Order passed 5-0 Thursday follows a similar set of Part 25 rules changes approved in 2013 and was aimed at relieving regulatory burdens on applicants and deterring spectrum warehousing, IB Chief Mindel De La Torre said. The FCC will undertake a rulemaking in the future specifically on the two-degree spacing changes to assess their impact, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said.
The FCC gave incumbent telcos relief from “obsolete” phone regulations while preserving others it said are needed to protect consumers and competition. The commission approved an order at Thursday’s meeting granting several USTelecom requests that the agency forbear from requiring ILECs to meet certain requirements on wholesale network access (including to some conduits), stand-alone residential long-distance service, and “enhanced services.” But it denied ILECs relief from duties to provide voice service in certain rural areas, safeguards for “enterprise” stand-alone long-distance service, and a prohibition against “contract tariffs” for business data services in some areas.
The FCC's best route to LTE-U/Wi-Fi coexistence is by watching and encouraging industry-led progress toward that goal, the Wi-Fi Alliance said in an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 15-105. The group, which earlier this month put out its own suggested guidelines on how the two can coexist in the same spectrum (see 1511040059), has said the agency should monitor that coexistence development and step in on coexistence issues only if necessary. "I hope we have stepped in on it," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said Thursday after the agency's November meeting. "I've said to [LTE-U and Wi-Fi industry representatives], 'Folks, you've got to come together and resolve this in a broad-based standard.' It appears the House subcommittee has done the same. This is the way things ought to be taken care of. There are two things that characterize unlicensed spectrum. One, it's the innovation band; it's where all kinds of new innovations happen. And you want to make sure that in fact continues. The second is, it's the 'everybody respects everybody else' band. And we want to make sure both of those are happening. And the way that can be done is by a broad-based development of commonly agreed-to standards that meets both of those criteria." LTE-U backer Verizon "agrees," Patrick Welsh, assistant vice president-regulatory affairs, told us Friday in an email. "We are actively working with the Wi-Fi Alliance to develop coexistence guidelines for LTE-U." And in a statement, fellow LTE-U advocate Qualcomm said "proponents of LTE-U, including the members of the LTE-U Forum -- whose members also are members of the Wi-Fi Alliance -- are pleased to continue our ongoing collaboration with the industry through our work with the Wi-Fi Alliance initiative to develop an agreed-upon coexistence test regimen that will ensure that LTE-U and Wi-Fi successfully co-exist in the unlicensed spectrum, where the watchword is permission-less innovation, as Chairman Wheeler has correctly recognized.” The Wi-Fi Alliance ex parte recapped meetings between alliance CEO Edgar Figueroa and front-line staff of Wheeler and of Commissioners Mignon Clyburn, Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel, plus with Office of Engineering and Technology representatives. The Wi-Fi Alliance said it plans a Coexistence Test Workshop for the week of Feb. 8. The group's members include Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, Comcast, Intel, LG, Microsoft, Sony and T-Mobile, its website said.
The FCC's best route to LTE-U/Wi-Fi coexistence is by watching and encouraging industry-led progress toward that goal, the Wi-Fi Alliance said in an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 15-105. The group, which earlier this month put out its own suggested guidelines on how the two can coexist in the same spectrum (see 1511040059), has said the agency should monitor that coexistence development and step in on coexistence issues only if necessary. "I hope we have stepped in on it," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said Thursday after the agency's November meeting. "I've said to [LTE-U and Wi-Fi industry representatives], 'Folks, you've got to come together and resolve this in a broad-based standard.' It appears the House subcommittee has done the same. This is the way things ought to be taken care of. There are two things that characterize unlicensed spectrum. One, it's the innovation band; it's where all kinds of new innovations happen. And you want to make sure that in fact continues. The second is, it's the 'everybody respects everybody else' band. And we want to make sure both of those are happening. And the way that can be done is by a broad-based development of commonly agreed-to standards that meets both of those criteria." LTE-U backer Verizon "agrees," Patrick Welsh, assistant vice president-regulatory affairs, told us Friday in an email. "We are actively working with the Wi-Fi Alliance to develop coexistence guidelines for LTE-U." And in a statement, fellow LTE-U advocate Qualcomm said "proponents of LTE-U, including the members of the LTE-U Forum -- whose members also are members of the Wi-Fi Alliance -- are pleased to continue our ongoing collaboration with the industry through our work with the Wi-Fi Alliance initiative to develop an agreed-upon coexistence test regimen that will ensure that LTE-U and Wi-Fi successfully co-exist in the unlicensed spectrum, where the watchword is permission-less innovation, as Chairman Wheeler has correctly recognized.” The Wi-Fi Alliance ex parte recapped meetings between alliance CEO Edgar Figueroa and front-line staff of Wheeler and of Commissioners Mignon Clyburn, Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel, plus with Office of Engineering and Technology representatives. The Wi-Fi Alliance said it plans a Coexistence Test Workshop for the week of Feb. 8. The group's members include Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, Comcast, Intel, LG, Microsoft, Sony and T-Mobile, its website said.