Friday, May 1st, 2009
Chairman Boucher Will Speak at May 12 Broadband Breakfast Club, on 'How Should 'Unserved' and 'Underserved' Areas Best Be Defined?'
Press Release
WASHINGTON, May 1, 2009 - BroadbandCensus.com announced that
Rep. Rick Boucher, Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee, will speak at the Broadband Breakfast Club on Tuesday, May 12, 2009.
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. A full American + Continental Breakfast is available beginning at 8 a.m.; the program will begin shortly after 8:30 a.m.
Other speakers at the May Broadband Breakfast Club, the second in a series on "Spending the Broadband Stimulus," will consider one of the leading definition questions that remains to be defined by the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Agriculture Department's Rural Utilities Service: who is served by broadband, and who isn't.
Other confirmed speakers include:
Thursday, April 23rd, 2009
By Andrew Feinberg, Deputy Editor, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, April 23, 2009 - Congressional scrutiny of consumer privacy on broadband networks, especially uses of so-called “deep packet inspection” technology, ramped up Thursday as industry representatives and consumer advocates testified before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet.
"Broadband networks are a primary driver of the national economy," said subcommittee chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va. It is "fundamentally in the nation's interest to promote their expanded use," he said.
Boucher acknowledged that technologies like DPI have beneficial uses for network management and law enforcement. But DPI's potential for invading consumer privacy is "nothing short of frightening," he said.
Boucher, who has previously stated his commitment to passing comprehensive privacy legislation during the 111th Congress, announced that his subcommittee would hold a joint hearing with the Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection subcommittee early this summer which would focus privacy and Internet-based companies like Google.
Boucher hinted that the privacy bill, which he wants to develop on a bipartisan basis, would be based largely on the Consumer Privacy Protection Act introduced in the 109th Congress by then-Chairman Cliff Stearns, R-Fla.
Stearns, now the ranking member of the subcommittee, cautioned against acting too swiftly against new technologies before...
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Sunday, April 5th, 2009
By Andrew Feinberg, Deputy Editor, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, April 5, 2009 - Proper oversight of the $7.2 billion Broadband Technology Opportunities Program can only take place if key terms are defined properly, a panel of agency officials and policy experts told a congressional committee on Thursday.
The broadband stimulus programs can succeed only if the eventual definition of "unserved areas" is "sensible," said Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet.
Boucher is concerned that areas that have a "smattering" of broadband service might be excluded from the definition of "unserved" areas. Agencies must also exercise care when defining what constitutes an "underserved" area in order to maximize market competition, Boucher said.
“Uunderserved" should also encompass areas with low available speeds, Boucher said.
But Boucher cautioned that the stimulus program should not be confused with a national broadband strategy, which the Federal Communications Commission is tasked with designing. The FCC is scheduled to take up the task at its April 8 meeting.
Such a strategy could include expanding universal service fund support to include broadband, he said, and indicated his subcommittee would continue to be "actively involved in looking at ways to achieve universal broadband deployment."
Ranking member...
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Friday, April 3rd, 2009
By Andrew Feinberg, Deputy Editor, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, April 3, 2009 - The NTIA/RUS broadband grant program is "a landmark opportunity" for the cable industry, House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., said Thursday during a speech at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association's annual convention here.
Boucher praised the industry for its investment in infrastructure which now passes 92 percent of American homes. He said that the broadband stimulus grant program of the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Agriculture Department’s Rural Utilities Service was an opportunity to bring broadband to Americans who lack the ability to receive it.
Boucher said he was optimistic that with coming improvements in content delivery and bandwidth capacity, the U.S. will soon pass countries like Japan and South Korea in broadband speeds available to the home.
"You're the leader in providing broadband across our country," Boucher said, referring to the cable industry.
Boucher said he was disappointed by the nation's 16th place ranking in broadband availability.
Broadband is as necessary for economic performance in today's world as electricity and the telephone service were in times past, he said.
Communities need broadband to compete in the 21st century economy, Boucher said. He called for the cable...
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Thursday, March 26th, 2009
News
By Andrew Feinberg, Deputy Editor, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, March 26, 2009 - The transition to digital television since the passage of the DTV Delay Act has been a “major accomplishment,” Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., said Thursday at a hearing on the state of the DTV transition.
Boucher, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Technology, Communications and the Internet, said that while he was pleased at seeing “clear results” and positive progress, “much remains to be done,” Boucher said.
Ranking member Cliff Stearns, R-Fal., agreed that "the glass is 95 percent full," on the country's readiness. But he lamented the amount of money set aside for coupons, and suggested significant savings could be had by confining the program to households without cable or satellite television.
“Shepherding the transition” has been “priority number 1” since taking over the FCC, Acting Chairman Michael Copps said.
Even before his elevation from the position of commissioner, Copps said he believed “it was clear the country was not ready…for the February 17 cutoff.” Besides “rampant consumer confusion,” Copps said a major problem had been a lack of coordination between public and private stakeholders .
Copps thanked Congress for the Delay Act, but was careful to warn members that “we are...
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Thursday, March 12th, 2009
News
By Andrew Feinberg, Deputy Editor, BroadbandCensus.com
News
By Jesse Masai, Reporter, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, March 11, 2009 - As 700 of Washington's technology and political elite gathered Tuesday night at the Center for Democracy and Technology's annual fundraising gala, guests celebrated new-found progress and the hope brought by a new administration, but called for further action to fulfill many of the organization's longstanding goals.
The highlight of the evening was a keynote delivered by Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., the newly-minted chairman of the House subcommittee on Technology, Communications and the Internet, who praised CDT for its efforts at promoting "open communications...and open technology."
Boucher marveled at the "state of transition" that the Internet is bringing to technology today. But "the time could not be more ripe," for groups like CDT to help Congress enact policies to keep it "open, innovative and free."
Boucher identified three issues of importance that he will push in the 111th Congress. Congress must pass privacy legislation to protect users from techniques like deep packet inspection. Consumers must have confidence that their data will be safe, that can be ensured by laws that "promote and safeguard the users' online experience."
And despite the economic stimulus package's inclusion of $7.2 billion for broadband deployment, Boucher cautioned that stimulus funds alone...
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Tuesday, January 6th, 2009
Officials from Office of Rep. Rick Boucher, CTIA - The Wireless Association, Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance, and E9-1-1 Institute at Broadband Breakfast Club on January 13
Press Releases
WASHINGTON, January 6, 2009 – In telecommunications circles, a bevy of experts and lobbyists are energetically discussing the role that broadband will play in the current fiscal stimulus package.
One feature common to many stimulus-related proposals is an effort to change the Universal Service Fund. The USF currently provides funding for rural telephone service, hookups to "lifeline" service, and internet connections for schools and libraries. Change seems destined to come to the USF as its structure is revised to accomodate broadband-related funding.
Experts familiar with broadband and role of the USF will discuss the question of "What Will Broadband Do to the Universal Service Fund" at the next monthly event of the Broadband Breakfast Club on Tuesday, January 13, 2009.
The panelists are Jay Driscoll, director of government affairs for the wireless association CTIA; Gregory Rohde, executive director of the E9-1-1 Institute and E-Copernicus, and formerly head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration; Jennifer Schneider, legislative counsel to Virginia Democrat Rep. Rick Boucher; and Curt Stamp, the president of the Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance,...
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