State of Telecommunications Policy in the US Today

A recently published study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York details how to more accurately measure the elusive nature of affordable broadband costs at the community level. It also pinpoints multiple contributing factors such as the state of local infrastructure and how lower performing broadband access technologies can force low-income households to choose between cellular service or home Internet service.

California lawmakers approved new legislation letting renters opt out of bulk-billing arrangements that force them to pay for Internet service from a specific provider. Lawmakers say they didn’t ban the practice for fear of undermining some of the more beneficial aspects of bulk billing, which can make deployments more financially tenable for smaller providers.

The Trump FCC has voted to kill two different programs that helped bring free Wi-Fi to school kids in underserved poor and rural U.S. communities. It’s the latest casualty of an administration that has been taking a brutal hatchet to FCC consumer protection and affordability initiatives, many of which were developed over decades – with popular bipartisan support.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is poised to include new broadband affordability requirements as part of the state’s looming approval of Verizon’s massive $20 billion merger with Frontier Communications, even as some consumer advocacy groups worry the changes may not go quite far enough to hold Verizon accountable. The CPUC’s Public Advocates Office has struck a partial settlement with Verizon that the state hopes will take some of the sting out of the telecom industry’s latest consolidation spree.

The first installment of an ongoing series we are calling Connected Complex looks at how states, local communities, and Internet service providers are working to address the often complex challenges involved in bringing high-speed Internet access to multi-dwelling units. In Massachusetts, state leaders have announced a new $31.5 million investment to bring reliable, high-speed Internet access to residents in affordable and public housing statewide by helping to update long outdated wiring in multiple-dwelling-units, many of which were built before the advent of the Internet.

Vineland, New Jersey officials say they’ve secured a $3.7 million grant from the state that will help expand fiber and wireless broadband access to the city of 62,000. Local officials are hopeful the grant is just the beginning steps toward dramatic expansion of affordable access.