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February 6-7, 2018
Policy Summit
Tuesday, February 6
INCOMPAS Members-Only Meetings in Washington, DC
Wednesday, February 7
Policy Summit
Newseum
Washington, DC
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AIRBAND GRANT DEADLINE
JANUARY 31
Microsoft is now accepting applications for the Microsoft Airband Grant Fund, which seeks to spark innovation to overcome barriers to affordable internet access, through supporting high-potential, early-stage startups creating innovative new technologies, services and business models.
Applications will be accepted until midnight PST on January 31, 2018.
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February 2
February 16
February 21
February 22
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Have You Registered for The
INCOMPAS Policy Summit?
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Time is running short to register for The INCOMPAS 2018 Policy Summit, which takes place Wednesday, February 7, at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.
Register now so you won't miss on hearing from top policy and lawmakers, and industry leaders, as they discuss the future of the communications and content markets.
Keynote speakers include:
- FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn
- Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO)
- Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA)
- Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH)
- Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT)
- Marc Hudson, co-founder and CEO, Rocket Fiber
Sessions, featuring top industry executives, will cover a variety of topics, such as:
Moderated by Andrew Lipman, partner, Morgan Lewis, this panel includes:
- Malena Barzilai, vice president, Government Affairs, Windstream
- Paula Boyd, senior director, Government and Regulatory Affairs, Microsoft
- Greg Green, CEO, Fatbeam
- Jeff Strenkowski, vice president, Deputy General Counsel of Governmental Affairs, Uniti Fiber and Uniti Group
Moderated by Dave Kumar, partner, Goldberg, Godles, Wiener & Wright LLP, this panel includes:
- Colin Crowell, vice president, Global Public Policy & Philanthropy, Twitter
- Monica Desai, director, Global Public Policy, Connectivity Team, Facebook
- Iveline Ivanov, CEO and co-founder, Telestax Inc.
- David Morken, co-founder, CEO and chairman, Bandwidth
Moderated by Alexi Maltas, partner, Hogan Lovells, this panel includes:
- Holly Borgmann, head, Government Affairs, ADT
- BT (speaker TBD)
- Melissa Glidden Tye, Vice President, Public Policy, Verizon
Moderated by John Heitmann, partner, Kelley Drye, this panel includes:
- James Capuano, executive vice president & COO, FirstLight Fiber
- Christopher Chapin, CIO, Granite
- Tim Koxlien, CEO, TeleQuality
Stay and Network
After keynotes and panel sessions, stay and network with attendees during The Policy Summit happy hour.
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INCOMPAS Calls for Challenge Mechanism to Erroneous Call Blocking in Robocall FNPRM
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Last week, INCOMPAS responded to the FCC's Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) in the proceeding on mitigating the impact of illegal robocalls.
In its comments, INCOMPAS urged the FCC "to consider a readily discoverable complaint mechanism on a blocking provider's website that would allow callers or other providers to offer specific call information in order to alert a blocking provider that a legitimate call has been blocked. Additionally, INCOMPAS recommends waiting to adopt new reporting obligations measuring the effectiveness of the Commission's robocall targeting efforts until industry has a better sense of how these policies, like provider-initiated call blocking, will be implemented and employed."
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House Subcommittee to Hold Broadband Deployment Hearing
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On Tuesday, January 30, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold a hearing entitled "Closing the Digital Divide: Broadband Infrastructure Solutions," during which they will examine legislation that seeks to address these barriers to broadband deployment.
Among the witnesses are Jonathan Spalter, president and CEO of USTelecom; Brad Gillen, executive vice president of CTIA; Matthew Polka, president and CEO of the American Cable Association; Shirley Bloomfield, CEO of NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association; Scott Slesinger, legislative director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, Joanne S. Hovis, president of CTC Technology and Energy; and Elin Swanson Katz, consumer counsel for the Connecticut Consumer Counsel.
The hearing will take place at 10 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn House Office Building, and will be webcast on the Committee website.
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State and Local Authorities
Take Action on Net Neutrality
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Several states and cities have taken action in recent weeks to address net neutrality.
In New York, the office of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio issued a request for proposals aimed at developing a system to monitor internet service providers and reveal any discriminatory behavior. "We are the first city to take this step as part of our plan to hold internet service providers accountable for discriminatory practices," de Blasio, a Democrat, said in a statement, earning praise from New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson. Responses to NYC's RFI are due Feb. 28.
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock issued an executive order that requires that telecommunications service providers that contract to provide the State of Montana telecom services after July 1, 2018 must comply with net neutrality principles in the State of Montana for their broadband internet access service. The principles largely track the FCC's 2015 bright line rules of no blocking, no throttling, no paid prioritization and no unreasonable interference/disadvantage. The state's Department of Administration was directed to prepare the policies and guidance and issue orders that are necessary to carry out the executive order by March 1. The Department also is tasked with resolving definitions of terminology in the executive order.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order similar to the one in Montana. It requires the Office of General Services or any other governmental entity of New York State to incorporate into the state's procurement process for internet, data, and telecommunications services criteria that the provider also follow net neutrality-in that "ISPs will not block, throttle, or prioritize internet content or applications or require that end users pay different or higher rates to access specific type of content or applications."
The California Senate California State Senate passed
SB 460
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on a vote of 21-12 and will now move on to the State Assembly on an urgency basis. The bill, which was
sponsored by Senate President pro tempore Kevin de León, would prohibit internet service providers in California from "taking certain actions regarding the accessing of content on the Internet by customers," namely actions such as impairing or degrading, blocking, or paid prioritization of lawful Internet traffic. The bill was amended de León to remove the California Public Utilities Commission as the enforcement agency. The amended bill directs the state attorney general and local city attorneys to enforce the consumer protection measures contained in the bill.
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