Senator Edward Markey (D-MA), author of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), and Representative Anna Eshoo (D-CA) reintroduced the Communications, Video, and Technology Accessibility (CVTA) Act. This legislation would update and strengthen existing accessibility regulations secured through Senator Markey’s CVAA to stay up-to-date with the proliferation of new technologies—from video conferencing platforms to artificial intelligence—which have become prevalent since the CVAA became law in 2010. The CVTA builds upon the success of the CVAA and ensures individuals with disabilities have equal access to mainstream communication platforms and the technology services needed to participate in professional, educational, recreational, and civic spaces. The CVTA bolsters standards for television programming and emergency communication, expands accessibility requirements—including closed captions and audio descriptions—to online platforms and video conferencing services, and equips the federal government with the ability to improve accessibility of emerging technologies. Specifically, the CVTA would:

1. Improve and expand closed captioning and audio description standards for television programming and online video streaming platforms to ensure people with disabilities have equitable access to the wide range of programming available to the general public;
2. Update current requirements to ensure viewers can easily activate and select preferred settings for closed captions and audio description on their video programming devices, such as televisions, smart phones, laptops, and tablets;
3. Improve access to video conferencing platforms for people with disabilities;
4. Ensure people with disabilities have equitable access to 9-1-1 emergency services; and,
5. Empower the Federal Communications Commission to ensure accessibility regulations keep pace with emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and augmented or virtual reality platforms.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) presented a draft five-year plan to connect the state’s unserved with broadband using the $1.86 billion it received through the federal government’s Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. But the CPUC’s plan comes with a warning that the total $4 billion available in state and federal broadband funding won't be enough to completely bridge the digital divide in California. There is a significant need for broadband across all of California, said the Wireless Internet Service Provider Association’s (WISPA) state advocacy manager for California, Steve Schwerbel. “Whether it's parts of LA, or rural parts of the state that are more agriculturally focused and have that population density issue that fiber doesn't build out to well.” The CPUC estimated cost for full coverage with a fiber-to-the-premises network design is approximately $10 billion, including fire protection (about $2 billion). That’s a massive shortfall from the $4 billion the state has in pocket, which Schwerbel noted is “before even considering any digital equity work or getting community anchor institutions connected.” WISPA has called these concerns unsurprising, as California and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) have chosen a “fiber-above-all” approach for government-subsidized buildouts, instead of opting for a tech-neutral approach that would allow for more fixed wireless and other fiber-alternative projects in the state. While WISPA “supports fiber,” Schwerbel said a lot of the association’s members decide when to deploy fiber and when to deploy fixed wireless on a case-by-case basis, where each one of those pieces makes sense.

Fixed wireless access (FWA) is currently seeing big success because it is filling several market niches. In rural areas, the product delivers speeds from 50 Mbps to 200 Mbps depending on how far a customer lives from a tower. In markets where the alternatives are slower technologies like satellite, DSL, or wireless internet service provider (WISP) broadband, customers are happy to have relatively fast broadband for the first time. FWA is also the product for the price-conscious consumer, priced between $50 and $65 when most other broadband technologies cost more. In towns and cities, this product delivers a faster alternative to DSL. But I have a hard time seeing FWA dominating any market in the long run. Many of the rural markets where it will have gained significant market shares will eventually get fiber from the many rural broadband grant programs. Will households stick with FWA when there is a much faster product? I’ve already been reading online reviews that talk about the unpredictable bandwidth, which is inherent in a network that shares bandwidth with cellphone customers. Cellular bandwidth already varies throughout the day for a wide variety of reasons – something that anybody who watches the bars on their cell phone understands. FWA is not going to deliver the guaranteed speed performance as a wired technology – quality will vary according to local conditions.

AT&T delivered strong second-quarter (Q2) results with profitable subscriber growth and year-over-year increases in Mobility service and broadband revenues.

• 251,000 AT&T Fiber net adds; 14 straight quarters with more than 200,000 net adds;
• Consumer broadband revenues up 7.0%, driven by AT&T Fiber revenue growth of 28.0%;
• Expanded most reliable 5G network; mid-band 5G spectrum now covers more than 175 million people; remain on track to reach 200 million people with mid-band 5G by the end of 2023;
• Grew country’s largest consumer fiber network; ability to serve 20.2 million consumer and more than 3 million business customer locations with fiber; remain on track to pass 30 million-plus fiber locations by the end of 2025;
• Closed joint venture with BlackRock to form Gigapower to provide a state-of-the-art fiber network to an initial 8 new areas;
• Collaborated with AST SpaceMobile to achieve world-first direct voice call from space between unmodified everyday 4G LTE smartphones, connected via a low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite; a key step in allowing us to provide even more expansive connectivity.