Connected Nation policy update: Top 7 things to know this week
1. The Biden-Harris Administration released a National Spectrum Research and Development Plan Oct. 9. This new plan will serve as a tool to guide government decisions on spectrum-related research, shape private sector efforts, and provide a shared reference for stakeholders.
The overall goal is to ensure continued U.S. leadership in spectrum R&D.The plan received praise from the NTIA, in part because it creates a, “blueprint that will guide government support for spectrum-related research, shape private-sector R&D efforts, and provide a shared reference for the collaboration that makes wireless R&D effective.”
2. On October 16, the Department of Commerce released the first version of the Build America, Buy America (BABA) Self Certification list, with 17 companies participating so far. BABA is the requirement that all iron, steel, manufactured products, and construction materials used in covered infrastructure projects for the BEAD program are produced in the United States. The Self Certification list allows manufacturers who have invested in domestic manufacturing to voluntarily ‘certify’ - at the risk of federal penalty - that certain equipment they make meets the domestic manufacturing requirement listed in the BABA waiver for the BEAD Program.
3. A new report by NYU’s Center on Technology Policy assesses the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) and recommends eligibility be narrowed to 135% of the federal poverty line to make the program more sustainable.
Continued funding for ACP might still have a chance this year. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., “remains supportive” of Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell’s Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) “and believes Republicans and Democrats should come together on a robust spectrum package to ensure the U.S. has a competitive edge for 5G, while delivering affordable internet to American families and securing bipartisan national security and innovation priorities,”. S-4207 would restore the FCC’s spectrum auction authority through Sept. 30, 2029, and provide a vehicle for allocating funding for the commission’s lapsed affordable connectivity program and other telecom priorities. Sen. Cantwell is eyeing potentially attaching the measure to an end-of-year package amid attempts to resurrect it after it repeatedly stalled earlier this year.
4. Attorneys general for 13 states and the District of Columbia filed suit Tuesday against TikTok, claiming the platform is harming youth mental and physical health.
5. Pew Charitable Trusts released a report Oct. 4 analyzing state digital equity plans and shows that every state identifies broadband affordability as the primary barrier to closing the Digital Divide:
6. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), representing more than 900 electric cooperatives, warned that faulty data from the FCC could cause rural communities to miss out on vital funding.
The FCC's national broadband maps "still do not possess the data level necessary to accurately guide where federal funds should be targeted," the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) told an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. NRECA suggested that the FCC amend its rules to "allow submission of individual speed tests by consumers" to challenge high-speed wireline broadband availability or "objective third party testing of technological capability," according to an ex parte filing Oct. 3. The group also urged that the commission adopt a 100/100 Mbps benchmark for broadband speeds and consider increasing the long-term benchmark to 1 Gbps symmetrical service.
7. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati will hear the challenge to the FCC’s Net Neutrality rules on 10/31 at 8:30 a.m. ET. The newly passed rules were put on hold by that court Aug. 1. The judicial panel assigned to the case were all appointed by Republican presidents.