Enlarge / President Joe Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Thursday, May 13, 2021. (credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg) President Biden has cut his broadband-deployment spending proposal from $100 billion to $65 billion, matching the lower amount proposed by Republicans. But Republicans still object to Biden’s overall infrastructure spending plan […]
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Guirong Hao) Biden administration officials are not convinced by the broadband industry’s claims that Internet prices aren’t too high, according to a report today by Axios. The White House announced on March 31 that President Biden “is committed to working with Congress to find a solution to reduce Internet prices […]
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | eccolo74) Internet service providers today sued New York to block a state law that requires ISPs to sell $15-per-month broadband plans to low-income households. The lawsuit was filed by lobby groups including USTelecom and CTIA-The Wireless Association, both of which count Verizon and AT&T among their members. Lobby groups for […]
Enlarge / Rooftop antenna at Immaculate Conception School in the Bronx. (credit: People’s Choice Communications) Charter Communications employees who have been on strike since 2017 are building an Internet service provider in New York City called “People’s Choice.” “People’s Choice Communications is an employee-owned social enterprise launched by members of IBEW Local #3 to bridge […]
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | jangeltun) The Communications Workers of America (CWA) union is lobbying state governments to regulate Internet service providers as utilities. The CWA, which represents more than 150,000 workers at AT&T and over 30,000 at Verizon, announced on Monday a “multi-state effort to pass state legislation that would establish public utility commission […]
Enlarge / Cable lobbyist Michael Powell speaks at a conference in September 2015. (credit: Getty Images | Larry Busacca ) President Biden’s plan to expand broadband access and lower prices is, predictably, facing bitter opposition from cable companies that want to maintain the status quo. NCTA–The Internet & Television Association, which represents Comcast, Charter, Cox, […]
Enlarge / President Joe Biden speaks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, on Monday, March 29, 2021. (credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg) President Biden’s plan to connect all Americans with high-speed broadband includes proposals to boost competition, build more publicly owned networks, lower prices, and prioritize “future-proof” networks instead of ones that […]
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Henrik5000) Congress this week approved a $7.17 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund that schools and libraries will use to help people get Internet access at home. The fund is part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan stimulus sent to President Joe Biden yesterday after being approved by the House and […]
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | McCaig) Internet service providers could be required to release “broadband nutrition labels” with detailed information about prices, speeds, and data caps under legislation introduced by US Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.). Craig’s “Broadband Consumer Transparency Act” would bring back expanded transparency requirements that were eliminated when then-Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit […]
Enlarge / Illustration of fiber-optic cables. (credit: Getty Images | Tetra Images) Four US senators today called on the Biden administration to establish a “21st century definition of high-speed broadband” of 100Mbps both upstream and downstream. This would be a big upgrade over the Federal Communications Commission broadband standard of 25Mbps downstream and 3Mbps upstream, […]