Welcome to BroadbandCensus.com

By Andrew Feinberg, Deputy Editor, BroadbandCensus.com

WASHINGTON, November 18, 2009 - The Universal Service Fund is in need of an overhaul to equalize costs among stakeholders and modernize programs to include broadband services, a group of industry representatives and regulators told the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet during a Tuesday hearing. The hearing examined a discussion draft of the Universal Service Reform Act of 2009, authored by subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb. The Universal Service program, which existed for decades before being codified in the 1996 Telecommunications Act, is under "tremendous pressure" and requires a comprehensive effort to reform its operations, Boucher said during opening remarks. Reform is needed because new technologies for long distance voice communications have reduced the available revenue that can be tapped to fund current programs, leading to soaring costs for consumers – a projected 14 percent of revenues in January of 2010, he said. Such an increase and a maintenance of the status quo is simply "not sustainable," Boucher said. The Boucher-Terry bill would cap the high cost portion of the fund while requiring wireless carriers who participate to do so through a competitive bidding process. Such legislative...

Read More »

By the Staff of BroadbandCensus.com

An agreement reached by the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was praised Wednesday by Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., Chairman of the Communications, Technology, and the Internet Subcommittee. “It will help insure that the Internet remains stable and secure for the people around the world who use it for work, study, entertainment, or to stay in touch with family and friends,” read the statement. This new arrangement brings to an end the series of short-term agreements between the U.S. government and ICANN.  With this agreement, ICANN will continue to manage the Internet’s global Domain Name System while agreeing to a series of review processes to help it assess and improve its mission and operations.  The NTIA, an arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce, will continue its relationship with ICANN. The Affirmation ensures the global Internet stakeholder community of permanent accountability mechanisms hard-coded into ICANN's continued evolution as a private sector led organization, commented Michael Palage, adjunct fellow at the Progress & Freedom Foundation and a former ICANN Board Member. “The Affirmation of Commitments recognizes...

Read More »

By Tina Nguyen, Reporter-Researcher, BroadbandCensus.com

WASHINGTON, July 17, 2009 – The House Subcommittee on Communications will hold a hearing “in the near future” on making broadband maps a necessary component of awarding Broadband Initiatives Program and Broadband Technological Opportunities Program grants, subcommittee ranking member Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., said Thursday. Stearns, the luncheon speaker at an Alcatel-Lucent workshop on rural broadband public-private partnerships, is the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce panel. At the event, French telecommunications representatives spoke on their experiences in bringing broadband to rural territories throughout France. Stearns said he was concerned that the stimulus was rushed, and called for more congressional oversight of the broadband stimulus programs. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Rural Utilities Services and the Federal Communications Commission are in danger of “throwing money indiscriminately around,” he said. “Broadband is a transformational infrastructure, and can provide a long-term economic boost to the country,” said Stearns. “But the stimulus package was put together in haste. Many are unsure how some agencies would distribute money.” To that end, he reiterated the three principles that these grantmaking agencies must follow which he initially called for in past hearings. First, Stearns said that these agencies must create a comprehensive, nationwide broadband map...

Read More »

By Ryan Womack, Reporter-Researcher, BroadbandCensus.com

WASHINGTON, June 30, 2009 – Even though it has been nearly a decade since effective pro-privacy legislation had been passed by Congress or pushed by the Federal Trade Commission, Center for Democratic Technology President Leslie Harris expressed optimism on the subject on Wednesday. ”While the stars aren’t in perfect alignment, they are moving to the right place,” Harris said at a press briefing. She was referring to a number of technology companies, including HP, eBay, Google, Intel, Oracle, and Microsoft that she said had came out in support of privacy regulation. Plus, House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Rick Boucher, D-Va., is interested in moving privacy legislation. CDT emphasized the importance of privacy rules protecting against online behavioral targeted advertising, and against violations of electronic personal health records. CDT Chief Operating Officer Ari Schwartz said that “behavioral advertising issue has really become a privacy cause of the left.” He also noted concern about the merger of Google and DoubleClick in 2007. And he noted how broadband providers were seeking to engage in deep packet inspection, potentially violating the privacy of internet users. Schwartz said he expected the Internet Advertising Bureau to weigh in on privacy issues, too. Schwartz offered five areas in which privacy...

Read More »

By Andrew Feinberg, Deputy Editor, BroadbandCensus.com

ARLINGTON, Va., June 18, 2009 - House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., has no plans to influence the Federal Communications Commission's development of a national broadband plan. But speaking Thursday morning at the Pike and Fischer Broadband Policy Summit here, he made clear his experience representing a rural district informs his ideas on how the FCC should assist the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and Rural Utilities Service in defining unserved and underserved markets. Boucher reiterated his belief in broadband as the "new essential American infrastructure," which he said is of equal importance to this century as rural electrification and universal telephone service was to the last. In the new economy, the "corridors of commercial opportunity" will be defined more and more by broadband, he said. The $7.25 billion appropriated for broadband in the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act is "an historic opportunity" to improve America's rankings among [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] nations, Boucher said. America must improve her OECD rankings "for the sake of our national economy," he urged. "I know we can do better." Boucher is "hopeful" that NTIA and RUS will develop "complementary" standards for grant and loan making criteria, and...

Read More »

By Ira Teinowitz, Special Correspondent, BroadbandCensus.com

WASHINGTON, May 12, 2009 - The chairman of a House Communications Subcommittee on Tuesday warned against too narrowly defining eligibility limits for grants in dispensing $7.2 billion in broadband stimulus money authorized by Congress. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., who is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, said at the Broadband Breakfast Club that the need to quickly stimulate the economy and have the greatest effect should trump longer-term goals like net neutrality – at least for the broadband stimulus. Boucher said he believed that the “openness and unfettered” access of the Internet had spurred its growth. But trying to use stimulus grants to impose limits on what private industry could do might have the unfortunate result of making some private companies not seek grants. “It’s critically important that the private sector apply” for stimulus program grants, he said. “The private sector has the expertise to do this quickly.” “We don’t want through an overly rigid interpretation to discourage private sector applications.” Boucher also said the anticipated expansion of a tiny Rural Utilities Service program to bring high-speed internet service to rural communities into a major economic program also allows the definition of communities that were “unserved” and “underserved”...

Read More »

By Drew Clark, Editor, BroadbandCensus.com

WASHINGTON, May 10, 2009 – The Massachusetts Broadband Institute on Wednesday announced that it would work with the MassGIS, the state’s Office of Geographic and Environmental Information, to begin to develop a block-level map of broadband infrastructure. The project is expected to take four months, and will focus on the unserved and underserved communities in Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire and Hamden counties in the western portion of the state. The announcement once again puts Massachusetts at the forefront of the states that have developing policies pertaining to broadband infrastructure and deployment. In August, Gov. Deval Patrick (D) signed legislation devoting $40 million of state resources to ensuring broadband availability to every citizen of the state. The passage of the fiscal stimulus legislation with $7.2 billion for broadband, also known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, has led Massachusetts to also aim to tap into the federal funds to leverage its state resources. According to the press release about the partnership, the map “will incorporate multiple data sets into one map, creating an extensive inventory of existing assets and a detailed picture of where broadband gaps need to be addressed.” The press release about the agreement is here. [PDF] “This project...

Read More »

Sold-Out Crowd at May 12 Broadband Breakfast Club Prompted Move to New Venue, at Clyde's of Gallery Place, for Discussion on 'How Should 'Unserved' and 'Underserved' Areas Best Be Defined?'

Press Release

WASHINGTON, May 6, 2009 - Unprecedented demand to attend the Broadband Breakfast Club has caused BroadbandCensus.com to relocate the event, beginning at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, May 12, to Clyde's of Gallery Place. Rep. Rick Boucher, Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee, will speak at the event. Boucher, who leads Congressional efforts to define and supervise the nation's broadband policy - and its communication strategy for rural America - will lead off the discussion at the Broadband Breakfast Club with a speech at the Old Ebbitt Grill. The topic of the May 12 meeting is "How Should 'Unserved' and 'Underserved' Areas Best Be Defined?" Registration for the breakfast event is available here. Breakfast is available beginning at 8 a.m.; the program will begin shortly after 8:30 a.m. Clyde's of Gallery Place is located at 707 7th Street NW, Washington, DC. The event will take place in the Piedmont Room upstairs. Other speakers at the May Broadband Breakfast Club, the second in a series on "Spending the Broadband Stimulus,"...

Read More »