Reporting

In an interview with Politico, Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR) describe his plans for the 117th Congress. Some highlights:

In response to Comcast imposing a data cap on Massachusetts residents, state lawmakers have proposed a ban on data caps, new fees, and price increases on home-Internet services for the duration of the pandemic. The legislation was filed on Jan 26 by Democratic state representatives Andy Vargas and Dave Rogers.

Comcast's 4th-quarter profits rose, boosted by continued growth at its broadband business. The company added 538,000 new subscribers during the quarter. While 2020 was a banner year for Comcast's broadband results, executives on the earnings call noted that it was somewhat of anomaly due to the pandemic.

The US is racing to vaccinate millions of people for Covid-19, but online appointment registration systems are slowing down or preventing access to vaccinations for some of the people most vulnerable to the virus: older Americans. Nearly 30 percent of people in the US over the age of 65 do not use the internet, and more than 40 percent did not have broadband access at home. For older adults, broadband internet access isn’t the only hurdle, explains Becky Preve, who directs New York’s Association on Aging.

AT&T added over 1 million new fiber subscribers in 2020, with 273K net adds in 4Q20 alone. AT&T fiber penetration now stands at 34%, up from 28% a year ago. That’s a 21% year-over-year improvement in AT&T fiber penetration, with the company now counting 4.9 million total FTTP connections. With this momentum, the company also announced plans to increase homes passed with fiber by an additional 2 million locations in 2021. While AT&T fiber penetration is on the rise, its legacy DSL and VDSL base is a drag on the company’s overall broadband numbers.

In a joint letter to the White House and Congress, the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA), the Fiber Broadband Association (FBA), INCOMPAS, NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association, NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association, Power & Communication Contractors Association (PCCA), the Telecommunications Industry Association, USTelecom – The Broadband Association, the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA), and the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) asked for any infrastructure legislation to include support for broadband-related job skills. The

More than three years ago, Jessica Rosenworcel could only react in horror as her Republican counterparts on the Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal the US government’s net neutrality rules. Now, Acting FCC Chairwoman Rosenworcel controls the very commission she once criticized for failing to heed the public’s outcry.

The Jackson County Housing Authority (JCHA) in Murphysboro (IL) has partnered with PCs for People to provide hundreds of computers and mobile internet hotspots to its residents. Alexandra Hamilton is the director of social services for JCHA, and worked in 2020 to secure an opportunity to provide residents of the JCHA with much-needed tech access.

Many Democrats, as well as some Republicans, want to take on Big Tech with laws and regulations to address issues like market power, data privacy, and disinformation and hate speech. Those ambitions have only grown since the insurrection of Capitol Hill, with more members of Congress pointing to the power of the tech companies as the root cause of many problems. The growing talk of new federal laws adds to the industry’s many headaches. Facebook and Google are fighting federal and state regulators in court over allegations of anticompetitive conduct.

Gov Gina Raimondo (D-RI), President Biden's nominee for Commerce Secretary, is pledging to use the tools at her disposal to pursue Section 230 reform, saying that she hopes to hold social media companies "accountable" for misinformation. "I would agree we need some reform on Section 230," said Gov Raimondo during her confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Commerce Committee.