Senate Budget Bill Ties BEAD Funding to AI Moratorium | |
A bill introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on June 5 as a part of Reconciliation would allow NTIA to “deobligate grant funds awarded to" a state or territory, if it “is not in compliance with” the AI moratorium, or if the state or territory “demonstrates an insufficient level of performance, or wasteful or fraudulent spending, as defined in advance by” the head of NTIA. The bill would also add $500 million to the BEAD fund, and allow that and other BEAD funds to be used for “the construction and deployment of infrastructure for the provision of artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems or automated decision systems.” The bill would also restore the FCC’s ability to auction off spectrum, which expired in 2023, through September 2034, and would require the agency to sell off a total of 800 megahertz.
"On behalf of INCOMPAS, we commend Sen. Cruz for expanding and supporting the broadband initiative to connect every American to high speed internet service and tying this essential effort to a national AI framework. The two goals are mutually reinforcing, inseparable and essential to winning America’s AI race with China. This forward-thinking approach recognizes the critical relationship between broadband infrastructure and America's AI future, demonstrating a clear understanding that broadband is the foundation that enables AI. That’s why ensuring the BEAD money goes to states as swiftly as possible is critical so we can build the networks to connect all Americans and remain at the forefront of technological advancement. Equally important is the opportunity to leverage this funding for middle mile networks that connect to data centers, creating the infrastructure essential for AI. This AI infrastructure serves as the critical link that makes AI accessible and actionable in underserved rural communities and nationwide," INCOMPAS CEO Pickering said.
"In addition to speed, we need national predictability, not a patchwork of state uncertainty. The temporary moratorium on state AI laws the reconciliation text is not only essential to safeguarding this investment in AI infrastructure, but it also provides Congress the necessary space to develop a comprehensive federal strategy that thoughtfully integrates energy, education, investment, national security, workforce development, and access," he added. "This proposal serves as both a catalyst and incentive, that puts America's infrastructure at the center of a national framework on AI policy. INCOMPAS stands ready to work with Chairman Cruz, the Committee, and Congress to advance policies that strengthen America's position as the global leader in both broadband deployment and AI innovation."
| | | NTIA Releases BEAD Program Policy Notice | |
On June 6, NTIA issued a policy notice, following a promise from Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick in testimony on the Hill earlier in the week, that "remove[s] rules favoring particular technologies and eliminate[s] unnecessary regulatory burdens." According to the fact sheet, the notice removes labor and employment, climate change, net neutrality and DEI- driven coordination requirements. It also requires the use of an NTIA developed tool, The Environmental Screening and Permitting Tracking Tool (ESAPTT), which "is designed to accelerate National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) processing timelines by several months and will be utilized by all Eligible Entities deploying BEAD."
According to the Notice, "[s]tates and territories are directed to implement these reforms in their subgrantee selection process to lower costs, speed up implementation, and ensure all technology solutions are considered. States and territories have 90 days to comply with the Notice, including conducting an additional “Benefit of the Bargain Round” of subgrantee selection that permits all applicants to compete on a level playing field."
| | | Help Available to Comply with 988 Georouting Mandate | By Brad Zerr, Director of Product Management, TNS Communications Market | |
988 is the three-digit dialing code that routes U.S. callers to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, where people in need of mental health assistance are connected to a trained crisis counselor in one of 200 crisis centers.
Approximately 80% of calls to the 988 Lifeline come from cellular devices, which presents an issue to the 988 Lifeline because the area codes of those wireless phones do not always reflect a person’s physical location. Georouting can help by routing these phone calls based on the location of the caller.
All carriers now need to be compliant with the FCC 988 georouting mandate within two years, ensuring that they will be able to route a call to the 988 Lifeline to the caller’s nearest crisis center without having to manually find out the location of the caller.
TNS’ Voice Transit + solution offers service providers a platform to reduce costs, consolidate vendors and minimize their operational footprint while addressing critical issues such as the 988 georouting mandate.
This is just one of several solutions that TNS Voice Transit+ can assist support service providers with.
Learn more.
| | | FCC Commissioners Simington and Starks Announce Departures, Status of June 26 Open Meeting Remains Unclear | |
Two FCC Commissioners, Nathan Simington and Geoffrey Starks, ended their tenures with the Commission last week.
As a result of the departures, the FCC no longer has the necessary number of Commissioners to reach a quorum. In the absence of a traditional quorum, FCC rules allow for the Chairman to convene a “Board of Commissioners” consisting of all Commissioners present. Such a board cannot adopt a final decision in a rulemaking, adjudicatory or investigatory proceeding, or on petitions for reconsideration or applications for review, other than to dismiss an application for review that is incomplete or does not comply with filing requirements. As a result, Chairman Carr's blog post last week indicated that a final decision about the June 26 Open Meeting and the meeting's final agenda would be made at a later date.
Currently on the tentative agenda for the June meeting include:
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Removing Obsolete and Unworkable Cable Television Rate Rules – A Report and Order that would promote competition and economic growth by simplifying and streamlining burdensome cable rate regulations, eliminating unnecessary forms and rules, deregulating certain cable equipment and small cable systems, limiting regulation to residential subscribers and otherwise reducing regulatory burdens.
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Streamlining the Engineering Review for Broadband Data Collection – A Report and Order that would eliminate the professional engineer certification requirement for the biannual Broadband Data Collection filings under section 1.7004(d) of the Commission’s rules and instead allow the biannual filings to be certified by a qualified engineer that has relevant minimum experience and education.
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Modernizing TTY Rules for Individuals with Hearing and Speech Disabilities – A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing to delete a provision in its rules that requires telecommunications relay services providers to support the now obsolete ASCII transmission format.
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