Commentary
In March, the FCC and USAC worked hard to stand up the first of
three pandemic-related special programs, the Emergency Broadband
Benefit Program (EBBP). Rules for the $3.2 billion EBBP were
adopted in February and the Wireline Competition Bureau
(Bureau) issued milestones in March for ETC election notices,
non-ETC applications and applications to use alternative
verification systems. Acting Chairwoman Rosenworcel said in
mid-March that over 100 applications or election notices were filed
(we believe the number is much higher now); clearly the program is
attracting a lot of interest from service providers and, in
particular, from service providers that have not heretofore
), for more coverage.
Two House committees held the second major hearing this week on the Russian cyber espionage attack that has become known as the SolarWinds hack, and lawmakers are pushing for breach notification legislation. TikTok agreed to pay millions in a settlement over allegations it collected users’ private data, and Facebook apologized to a lawmaker for accidentally labeling and removing a post as hate speech.” Here’s a behind the scenes draft of early versions of Hillicon Valley.
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INTO THE BREACH, PART TWO: House lawmakers on both sides of the aisle lined up behind potential legislation Friday to put in place national breach notification requirements in the wake of a massive foreign cyber espionage attack.
FCC votes for low-income $50 Broadband Benefit: Who qualifies slashgear.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from slashgear.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 includes billions of dollars to expand the deployment of broadband internet networks, consumer subsidies for service and equipment, as well as non-monetary provisions that could affect broadband service providers businesses.
The broadband provisions alone of the massive Appropriations Act are dense and raise many questions about how they will ultimately be implemented. In the meantime, we offer this summary of key provisions related to broadband network deployment.
Emergency Broadband Benefit Program
The Act establishes a temporary $3.2 billion Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) program that will reimburse participating providers up to $50 per month ($75 in tribal areas) for providing discounted broadband service to an eligible household. Under the terms of the legislation, the program will sunset six months after the Department of Health and Human Services declares the end