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Law360 (March 25, 2020, 4:09 PM EDT) -- FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced Wednesday that broadband providers adhering to his pledge to keep customers connected amid the coronavirus pandemic have topped 500, but his sunny outlook on industry efforts drew criticism as "tone deaf" from the public interest sector.
According to Pai, 580 service providers have now committed themselves to waiving late fees, postponing service disconnections and opening carrier-specific WiFi hotspots to the public. In a Tuesday blog post, he wrote that web connections are increasingly filling gaps for in-person services and connections.
"It might be hard to find hand sanitizer and toilet paper, but I'm happy to report that internet access is proving to be one of the most valuable non-medical commodities right now," he said.
He also emphasized that U.S. networks are keeping pace with the connectivity challenge as millions of Americans work, learn and play virtually. Pai said that he had "challenged our nation's broadband and telephone service providers to go above and beyond the commitments" to service continuity, and that many had chosen to offer free or low-cost service plans as well as capacity upgrades.
But Kevin Taglang, of the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, quickly blasted Pai's upbeat perspective as "tone deaf," asserting that the FCC is glossing over just how large the nation's connectivity problem is. Taglang said in his own blog post Wednesday that more than 20 million Americans still lack in-home broadband and that the FCC should have been more aggressive in requesting additional broadband funding.
For example, Taglang said the agency asked Congress for more than $1 billion to fund infrastructure replacements for Chinese-made wireless equipment, but did not request a concrete sum to improve broadband mapping efforts. The FCC has also repeatedly found that broadband is being deployed in a timely manner across the country, despite pushback from agency Democrats.
"For someone who's made closing the digital divide the top priority of his chairmanship, his words ring hollow," Taglang said. "The coronavirus pandemic isn't making broadband essential; it's exposing that it always was and turning up the urgency of connecting everyone now."
Still, Pai said the FCC had done much to increase access to communications services during the current national emergency. The agency has opened additional spectrum capacity to internet service providers, waived certain rules for participation in internet subsidy programs and increased resources for telemedicine, he said.
On Wednesday, the agency announced that it will push back an upcoming auction of 3.5 GHz spectrum licenses and indefinitely postpone an auction of FM radio construction permits. The commission also will hold its March 31 open meeting via livestream instead of in person.
--Editing by Peter Rozovsky.
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