Getting on the Right Side of the Digital Divide

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The FCC has not been reauthorized as an independent agency since 1990, and the House wants to tackle that. Republican leadership on the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee yesterday unveiled a 42-page draft bill discussing how the agency’s current $430 million authorization should be spent.

The FCC’s funding programs to expand mobile communications, as well as ways to eliminate barriers to broadband deployment, were key discussion topics. Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) referenced a recent GAO report, detailing failures. “It found that 36 percent of program participants could not be verified for eligibility, over 6,000 deceased individuals were enrolled after their death, and numerous carriers approved eligibility for the program based on fictitious documentation.”

Citing both Lifeline and the FCC’s Mobility Fund, Chairman Ajit Pai told lawmakers the Commission is working on a way to ensure Form 477 mobile coverage data from carriers is accurate and plans to vote on steps to ensure that next week. A sticky question the agency is trying to tackle is, does it rely on the Form 477 data it has now or new data?

“Going forward we want to make sure if the map says coverage is there, it is and vice-versa,” said Pai. Fellow Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said getting providers to all supply standardized data is “a challenge we’re working to fix.”

Regarding broadband infrastructure deployment, Blackburn scoffed at a New York Times article Inside Towers reported, saying the issue has been put on the back burner while Congress fights over issues like healthcare reform. She asked Pai to name a few related remedies the FCC is tackling.

The Commission has worked to reform federal subsidy programs like Connect America and the Mobility Fund for fixed and wireless broadband deployment. “We’ll be taking the next steps in August to ensure those spectrum auctions happen in a timely way,” he said. Easier siting of wireless infrastructure, like easing federal and local pole attachment rules, such as the model state and local codes the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee are developing, “is the number one thing that will impact [rural America’s] ability to get on the right side of the digital divide.”     

July 26, 2017

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