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Universal Broadband
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Broadband Internet access promotes public safety, education and opportunities for advancement, and those without broadband are finding it increasingly difficult to enjoy these basic rights. Latinos, other people of color, and the poor - folks who are most in need of broadband opportunities - are often the ones who go without. The FCC is now in the process of implementing its National Broadband Plan. To that end, it has issued a flurry of public notices seeking comment on how to expand broadband in rural areas, to low income individuals and in schools in libraries, just to name a few. Since its inception, the FCC has been charged with finding ways to make telephone service universally available to the public. Those efforts have been largely successful. Now, the FCC is proposing to expand many of the "universal service" programs to help subsidize affordable broadband access. NHMC supports the FCC's efforts, and have offered several comments about how it should implement. For a summary of NHMC's position on broadband and Latinos, click here. To find details on NHMC's advocacy efforts, please visit here. In the summer of 2010, NHMC focused on FCC reforms to expand broadband to low income communities and communities of color. In the month of July alone, we filed a comment urging the FCC to provide for greater broadband access at schools and libraries, and two other comments asking the FCC to expand Lifeline and Link Up programs, which currently provide telephone discounts to low income customers, so that those programs can also discount broadband services. In addition, NHMC Vice President of Policy & Legal Affairs, Jessica Gonzalez, briefed Congressional Hispanic Caucus Members on the importance of broadband in the Latino community at the CHC BOLD PAC Retreat in late July. A few days letter she presented on the same issue to a packed room of Congressional Hispanic Caucus staffers. A summary of her remarks is available here. In September of 2010 NHMC applauded the FCC for taking a beginning step towards expanding broadband access for the poor by adopting an order to expand the schools and libraries program. Also in September, the FCC agreed to open the vacant television airwaves to "Wi-Fi" technologies opening up new opportunities for broadband access. For more information on Universal Broadband, click here. Click here to read the full NHMC Synopsis on Broadband and the Latino Community. FCC Must Protect Entrepreneurs from Internet Service Providers’ Unfair Practices Cable and phone companies have been fighting proposed rules that, if adopted, would protect broadband users from Internet Service Providers’ (ISPs) anti-consumer practices. The proposed rules would give the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) the authority to step in if ISPs are unfairly blocking or downgrading some Internet traffic. These rules are needed because many ISPs want to change the way the net has operated by giving preferential treatment to the web sites of companies willing to pay more, while discriminating against others that can’t pay up. The FCC’s proposed rules would also allow the agency to adopt policies to spur investment in deploying the Internet to rural areas, and help low-income consumers get connected. The cable and phone companies repeat the same claim many corporations use when attempting to block public interest rules: consumer protections will hurt jobs, and deter investment. But in fact, AT&T and Verizon have cut jobs even in their most profitable years. And some of the greatest economic value of the Internet is generated from companies that use the web, such as small businesses, and e-commerce companies, which need to be protected from unfair ISP practices. We must protect the entrepreneurs and small businesses that use the Internet – and that are vital to our economic recovery – by ensuring the web remains open to anyone with a good idea, and not controlled by just a few corporate interests. Click here to read the full fact sheet provided by the Media and Democracy Coalition.
Universal Service Programs Need to Better Serve Low-Income Participants and Support Broadband Washington, D.C. – State and federal officials today agreed to recommend a package of reforms to improve participation in the Lifeline and Link Up programs. Lifeline and Link Up are two components of the Universal Service Fund’s Low-Income program, which helps reduce the cost of phone service and phone installation for families that are eligible for food stamps and similar programs. Earlier this year, the FCC asked the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service for recommendations on how to improve the program given changes that include increasing migration to wireless service and the increased importance of broadband. The FCC also asked the Joint Board for suggestions regarding the most effective approaches to addressing potential waste, fraud, and abuse in the program while also improving its efficiency and reach. The Joint Board recommended that the FCC:
The Joint Board also urged the Federal Communications Commission to adopt a principle that the Universal Service Fund should be used to support networks providing both voice and broadband, consistent with the FCC’s National Broadband Plan. All of the Joint Board’s recommendations will be evaluated by the FCC as it works to improve Lifeline and Link Up and reviews recommendations in the National Broadband Plan to use universal service to help advance broadband to all Americans.
NHMC Lauds FCC's Decision to Open Vacant Television Airwaves to Unlicensed Wireless Devices as a First Step Towards Opening More Public Airwaves for the People NHMC has long supported rules to make the unused TV airwaves available for unlicensed broadband wireless devices. These airwaves have excellent characteristics that allow signals to reach farther and penetrate walls and other structures. Access to these airwaves could enable more powerful public Internet connections - - super Wi-Fi hot spots - - with extended range, fewer dead spots, and improved individual speeds as a result of reduced congestion on existing networks. Many other applications are possible, such as broadband access to schools particularly in rural areas, campus networks that are better able to keep pace with user’s increasing demands for bandwidth, home networks that are better able to support real time streaming video applications, remote sensing of water supplies by municipalities and support for the smart grid. The FCC's decision can be read here.
NHMC Applauds the FCC for Adopting New Provisions to Expand Broadband Access in Schools and Libraries This morning the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) revised its rules designed to expand broadband internet access in schools and libraries. The FCC's "E-rate" program has provided discounts for internet access in schools and libraries for about a decade. The greater the poverty levels in a given area, the larger the discounts its schools and libraries receive. The FCC's changes to the E-rate program include adoption of some of the proposals that NHMC posited in its formal comments to the agency this summer, including allowing schools and libraries more flexibility in choosing their methods for accessing the Internet, streamlining and simplifying the E-rate application process, and allowing schools and libraries to remain open to the public after regular school hours so that members of the community without home broadband access may avail themselves to this important necessity. "Generally speaking we are pleased that the Commission has taken this important step towards expanding access to broadband both during and after school hours," stated NHMC's Vice President of Policy and Legal Affairs, Jessica Gonzalez. She added, "I was pleasantly surprised that the FCC undertook these reforms so swiftly, and I hope that it takes similarly prompt action to further accessible, affordable and open broadband internet connections in low wealth communities and communities of color, by adopting network neutrality regulations, reclassification, and other USF reforms, especially one that will expand the Lifeline program to subsidize home broadband connections to low wealth families." Click here to read the FCC's report and order. NHMC Represents A Diverse Group of Organizations In Its Latest Efforts to Secure Broadband Access for People of Color and the Poor On Friday, July 30th NHMC continued its advocacy to expand affordable broadband access for people of color and the poor. This time around, NHMC took the lead in drafting FCC comments filed on behalf of the Media Action Grassroots Network groups, Benton Foundation, United Church of Christ, Office of Communication, Inc., and Access Humboldt. NHMC’s legal team, consisting of VP of Policy & Legal Affairs, Jessica Gonzalez, and summer law fellow, Monica Guzman, worked with Media Access Project’s Matthew Wood to advocate that Lifeline and Link Up programs, which currently provide discounts for telephone service for low income households, be expanded to subsidize broadband connections as well. The comments also urged inclusive eligibility and verification processes to ensure that eligible individuals are not inadvertently hindered from participating. Click here to read the full filing. The Latino Digital Divide: The Native Born versus The Foreign Born Technology use among foreign-born Latinos continues to lag significantly behind that of their U.S.-born counterparts. The nativity differences are especially pronounced when it comes to internet use. While 85% of native-born Latinos ages 16 and older go online, only about half (51%) of foreign-born Latinos do so. When it comes to cell phones, 80% of native-born Latinos use one, compared with 72% of the foreign born. While rates of technology use among native-born Hispanics are relatively high, technology use for the full population of Hispanics continues to lag behind the use rates of the non-Hispanic population. When it comes to internet use, some 64% of Latinos ages 18 and older go online, compared with 78% of non-Latinos. More than three-fourths (76%) of Latinos use a cell phone, compared with 86% of non-Latinos. Among youth ages 16 to 25, non-Hispanics are approaching near-universal internet use, but the rate is markedly lower for Hispanics. Some 95% of non-Hispanics ages 16 and 17 go online, as do 96% of those ages 18 to 25. Among Hispanics in both age groups, the internet use rate is 77%. The ethnic gap in cell phone use is less pronounced, though still significant. Some 82% of non-Hispanics ages 16 and 17 use a cell phone, compared with 72% of Hispanics. Among those ages 18 to 25, 94% of non-Hispanics use a cell phone, as compared with eight-in-ten (80%) Hispanics. This report is based primarily on the 2009 National Survey of Latinos, which was conducted from August 5 through September 16, 2009 among a randomly selected, nationally representative sample of 2,012 Hispanics ages 16 and older. The survey was conducted in both English and Spanish, on cellular as well as landline telephones. For the total sample, the margin of error is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points. Click here to read the full report.
How Young Latinos Communicate with Friends in the Digital Age When it comes to socializing and communicating with friends, young Latinos (ages 16 to 25) make extensive use of mobile technology. Half say they text message (50%) their friends daily, and 45% say they talk daily with friends on a cell phone. Other communication platforms are less widely used for socializing. For example, fewer than one-in-five young Latinos (18%) say they talk daily with their friends on a landline or home phone, and just 10% say they email their friends daily. Use of mobile communication technologies differs notably among young Latinos by nativity. Two-thirds (65%) of the native born say they communicate with their friends by text message daily, while just 26% of the foreign born do so. And more than half (55%) of the native born talk daily by cell phone with their friends, while just 29% of the foreign born say they do the same. These differences are explained in part by the fact that the native born are more likely than the foreign born to have a cell phone in the first place. Overall, eight-in-ten (79%) young Latinos say they have a cell phone, with the native born more likely than the foreign born to have one—84% versus 70%. Even though text messaging and cell phone calls are the most widely used mediums of social communication among young Latinos, they use these platforms less extensively than do their non-Latino counterparts. Among 16- and 17-year-olds, just under half (49%) of Hispanics text daily, compared with 64% of non-Hispanics. When it comes to talking with friends daily via cell phone, there is less of a difference—44% of Hispanics say they do, compared with half (51%) of non-Hispanics who say the same. This report is based on the 2009 National Survey of Latinos, which was conducted from August 5 through September 16, 2009 among a randomly selected, nationally representative sample of 2,012 Hispanics ages 16 and older. The survey was conducted in both English and Spanish, on cellular as well as landline telephones. The margin of error for respondents ages 16 to 25 is plus or minus 4.6 percentage points. Click here to read the full report.
Destination Casa Blanca: Why Everyone Needs Broadband Access Ray Suarez and guest panelists Jessica Gonzalez, Tyrone Brown and Joe Torres discuss why having broadband access will become essential for all.
NHMC Advocates for Affordable Broadband Access for Low Wealth Communities and Communities of Color NHMC respectfully submits this comment in response to the Public Notice seeking input on the Federal Communication Commission’s Referral Order to the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service. NHMC urges the Joint Board to recommend that implementation of current Lifeline and Link Up outreach initiatives be improved and that the Lifeline and Link Up programs be expanded to subsidize broadband Internet connections. These changes will ensure that the programs are actually serving their intended recipients and will help lower broadband access barriers for the poor and people of color, as envisioned in the National Broadband Plan. That Plan described that Broadband is a platform for social and economic opportunity. It can lower the geographic barriers and help minimize socioeconomic disparities—connecting people from otherwise disconnected communities to job opportunities, avenues for educational advancement and channels for communication. Broadband is a particularly important platform for historically disadvantaged communities including racial and ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and recent immigrants. Click here to read the full filing.
NHMC Encourages Better Internet Access at Schools and Libraries NHMC applauds the Commission for examining the functionality of the current E-rate program, and for evaluating how to improve it. Since 1996 the E-rate program has significantly bolstered Internet access for schools and libraries across the country, including in poor neighborhoods and in communities of color. However, as the Commission recognizes, its job is far from complete. There are still a number of schools and libraries throughout the country that do not have any Internet access whatsoever. Many schools and libraries have Internet access, but no broadband access. And even in schools and libraries that have broadband access, those connections are not always being utilized to full potential and there are still many schools and libraries that qualify for E-rate funding but do not apply because the process is overly burdensome. The FCC should adopt policies to ensure that the E-rate program is getting the biggest bang for its buck. Namely, E-rate funded Internet connections should be used in a way that advances online learning opportunities and allows students without home Internet connections to remain on campus after school for digital learning. First, the FCC should place professional development on the Eligible Services List, so teachers and staff can learn how to integrate technology into their lesson plans. Otherwise, when teachers take their students to the computer lab they will not be able to engage in meaningful instruction that enhances students’ digital learning experiences. Second, the FCC should prioritize staffing costs on the Eligible Services List so that schools in low wealth neighborhoods can keep computer labs open for at least two hours after school. The underlying goal of this proceeding is laudable – to maximize utilization of broadband by improving and modernizing universal service programs. NHMC supports that goal, but urges the Commission to refrain from policies that may negatively impact the poor and communities of color. Specifically, the Commission should not require that all applications be filed online until it is certain that all schools and libraries have Internet connections capable of supporting online applications, and that they have a computer literate person assigned to complete the online application process. Nor should the Commission prioritize broadband over slower Internet connections until all schools and libraries are physically capable of accessing broadband. Finally, the FCC should not foreclose individual schools and libraries from applying for E-rate funds if their home districts have failed to do so. Schools and libraries that serve poor communities should not suffer simply because their districts are too understaffed or too disorganized to fill out the paperwork, and should be permitted to take it upon themselves to complete the process in such instances. Click here to read the full filing.
Reforming the Universal Service Fund Starting in the mid-1980s, the FCC established various programs, collectively called the Universal Service Fund (USF), to increase access to communication services in the home at “just, reasonable and affordable rates for all consumers.” Universal service consists of three main components:
Telecommunications providers (such as telephone, cable and cell phone companies) must contribute to the USF. Ultimately, most providers add a small Universal Connectivity Fee to each customer’s bill. USF has played a role in bringing U.S. telephone adoption rates to 95.6 percent of Americans. The fund is currently at 8.7 billion dollars as of 2010. Click here to read the full fact sheet for the issue. FCC Must Use its Authority to Improve U.S. Broadband Access Last year, the U.S. Congress requested that the Federal Communications Commission craft a National Broadband Plan to address our nation’s failure to bring fast, affordable broadband to all U.S. residents.. In order to implement that plan and achieve the goals set out by Congress, the Commission has proposed changing its legal framework for making broadband policy. In technical terms, it proposes classifying broadband as a “telecommunications” service under the Communications Act of 1934, a change from its current designation as an “information” service under the Act. This move is a critical first step in implementing the National Broadband Plan, restoring the United States as a global broadband leader, ending the digital divide, and protecting consumers. Classifying broadband as a “telecommunications” service under Title II of the Communications Act ensures that the Federal Communications Commission, tasked with developing national communications policy by Congress, has the authority to oversee the most critical communications medium of our time. Failure to restore this authority could nullify any FCC efforts to bring broadband to all U.S. consumers. It would force the agency to engage in endless litigation to implement basic broadband policies for which there is nearly universal consensus. Click here to read the full fact sheet for the issue.
Broadband Adoption In Low-Income Communities March 2010, Washington, D.C. – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) unveiled the study findings of the SSRC in its report, Broadband Adoption in Low-Income Communities, at an event hosted by the American Library Association (ALA). The SSRC was commissioned by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to analyze the factors shaping low rates of adoption of home broadband services in low-income and other marginalized communities. The resulting study is one of the only large-scale qualitative investigations of barriers to adoption in the US, and complements recent FCC survey research on adoption designed to inform the National Broadband Plan. The study draws on some 170 interviews of non-adopters, community access providers, and other intermediaries conducted across the US in late 2009 and early 2010. At the broadest level, it finds that:
Click here to download the full report To get a good visual of who is using the internet and who has access to broadband please click here.
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