Tarana Demos Next-Gen Fixed Wireless Access Solution

The INCOMPAS team recently had the privilege of attending a live tech deployment demonstration hosted by member company Tarana. Working alongside their ISP partner EarthLink, Tarana's next-generation Fixed Wireless Access (ngFWA) technology is helping to close the digital divide in 23 countries, 47 states and serving communities in one of every 10 counties in the United States.

INCOMPAS CEO Speaks at Segra Partner Summit

Last week, INCOMPAS CEO Chip Pickering joined Segra Chief Legal Officer Robin Dunson for a fireside chat during the Segra 2024 Partner Summit. They discussed the future of competition and broadband infrastructure, as well as the catalysts for creating economic growth and improving the quality of life of all Americans through technological innovation, new services, and greater choice for consumers and businesses. 

NTIA Receives 300+ Comments on Open Weight AI Models

President Biden’s Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence directs NTIA to review the risks and benefits of large AI models with widely available weights and develop policy recommendations to maximize those benefits while mitigating the risks. These “open-weight” models allow developers to build upon and adapt previous work, broadening AI tools’ availability to small companies, researchers, nonprofits, and individuals. This may accelerate the diffusion of AI’s benefits and the pace of AI safety research, but it may also increase the scale and likelihood of harms from advanced models.

NTIA launched its Request for Comment (RFC) in February soliciting public feedback about how making model weights and other model components widely available creates benefits or risks to the broader economy, communities, individuals, and to national security. 

NTIA received 332 written comments in response to its RFC. These written responses will help inform a report to the President with NTIA’s findings and policy recommendations.

The comments are available to the public at Regulations.gov.

Pennsylvania State Bill Seeks to Mirror Federal ACP

Pennsylvania state lawmakers last week said they were sponsoring broadband affordability legislation that would mirror the federal government’s program and create a similar program in Pennsylvania. Sponsored by Reps. Lindsay Powell (D., District 21), Aerion Abney (D., District 19) and Roni Green (D., 190), H.B. 2195 would provide eligible households with $30 per month to apply towards their broadband internet access.

The Affordable Broadband Internet Access Service Act would target households that are in need and have at least one child between the ages of 5 to 18. Bill sponsors point out that ACP program statistics show that 739,333 households in Pennsylvania receive aid from the federal ACP, which is set to run out of funds at the end of the month.

California PUC Releases Draft Order Adopting BEAD Rules

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) released a draft decision adopting Volume One of its proposed rules for the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program.

The CPUC said in opening this rulemaking that it would consider issues including the extremely high-cost threshold, geographic level, overlapping project areas, priority broadband projects, last-mile deployment projects, the challenge process, match requirements, statewide middle-mile, a ministerial review process, affordability requirements, technical assistance, labor and workforce development, grant conditions, applications, payments, and impacts on environmental and social justice communities. California is eligible to receive $1.86 billion in BEAD funding, based on the federal government's calculation of California’s share of unserved locations nationally.

The CPUC said it submitted its initial proposal to the NTIA, the BEAD Program administrator, on December 27, 2023. During its review, the NTIA provided the Commission with final curing instructions for Volume One on March 8.

The CPUC's challenge process will begin no later than 60 calendar days after the issuance of this decision, and no sooner than seven calendar days after the publication of the eligible locations. During the “rebuttal phase,” internet service providers will have 30 calendar days after the conclusion of evidentiary review to submit their rebuttals to those challenges. When that ends, staff will have 30 calendar days to make a final determination for the CPUC. The CPUC will have 120 days from the initiation of the challenge process to submit its determinations.

N.Y. Governor Unveils $50 Million Plan to Close Digital Divide

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled a $50 million New York State Digital Equity Plan to close New York’s digital divide. The plan outlines New York’s statewide strategy to increase its capacity to improve digital literacy and digital job readiness skills, facilitate access to affordable internet and devices, enhance digital privacy and safety and make government services more accessible through the internet. The announcement follows the plan’s approval from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s NTIA, making New York eligible to apply for a $36.8 million federal Capacity Grant to implement the plan, and builds on Gov. Hochul’s commitment to making affordable broadband accessible to all New Yorkers.

Schiff Bill to Create AI Transparency Between Creators, Companies

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) introduced groundbreaking legislation to require transparency from companies regarding their use of copyrighted work to train their generative AI models. The Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act would require a notice to be submitted to the Register of Copyrights prior to the release of a new generative AI system with regard to all copyrighted works used in building or altering the training dataset for that system. The bill’s requirements would also apply retroactively to previously released generative AI systems.