The Universal Service Fund (USF) – which financially supports several of the FCC's high-cost and low-income broadband programs, at roughly $8 billion annually – has been going through a tough time.

The benefits of ACP flow to more than just those who it helps subscribe As my new research shows, the largest beneficiaries of the ACP are America’s tech platforms Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft. Together they earn hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, annually on each new American who adopts the internet: https://strandconsult.dk/recovery-for-broadband-use-a-study-of-the-business-model-for-50-broadband-providers-thatoffer-service-in-24-american-states/ However, these companies do not participate financially in federal programs designed to promote broadband adoption. Whereas telecom providers have been paying billions of dollars for years to support the USF, universal service subsidies to fund broadband for rural areas, school, libraries, hospitals, and low-income Americans, tech platforms have contributed zero to such programs. Yet tech companies get the benefit of any new user who comes online from these programs. My new report describes the ways that these companies could contribute financially, continue to enjoy the financial benefits of new internet users, and minimize pass-through to end users. Thank you for your attention and feel free to share.

Standard General’s acquisition of some 60 broadcast stations from Tegna would create the nation’s largest minority-owned and woman-led broadcast company in U.S. history and enshrine historic jobs commitments and a neutrality agreement for all Tegna unions. In addition to an $8.6 billion investment in local media, the transaction supports Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Biden administration diversity goals. The transaction passed review unchallenged by the Department of Justice. However, it has been sidelined by the chair of the FCC, which controls the transfer of broadcast licenses. The deal has languished for more than 400 days, a record for the FCC which normally processes such rule-compliant TV license transfers in 182 days.

The fair-share debate has been bubbling under the regulatory surface for some years, but for a long time was rejected by the European Commission. Now it is the subject of a 12-week, long awaited Connectivity Package consultation by the Commission which will finish in late May and, in some form, could become part of Europe’s telecoms policy framework. Strand Consult says Analysys Mason has been commissioned to produce a series of reports by US Big Tech companies like Google, Facebook, Netflix, Amazon, Microsoft, and their trade associations and supports both their publication and critical examination of them. The Denmark-based analyst firm’s Roslyn Layton, PhD* has written a freely available report, Fact Check on Analysys Mason’s Claims on Big Tech Investments and Arguments Against Broadband Cost Recovery.

A new post from Facebook owner Meta makes a pretty noteworthy claim: "5G infrastructure will allow the metaverse, in time, to deliver AR [augmented reality] mobile experiences of real value to society and there is no evidence that additional investment is required to make this happen." The post, authored by Meta's Kevin Salvadori and Bruno Cendon Martin, represents the latest round in the European debate over "fair share." Basically, European network operators want Big Tech companies like Meta to help pay for their networks. Perhaps not surprisingly, companies like Meta aren't so keen on that idea. "Network fee proposals are based on a false premise," the two Meta executives wrote this week.

Whether telcos have a fair shot at monetizing what happens on their networks is one of the "daring questions" the EU must ask as it looks to the future of European telecom, said Lise Fuhr, European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association's director-general, Tuesday at a hybrid Politico debate on the future of connectivity. Addressing the issue is crucial as virtualization and AI make networks smarter and empower many more parts of society, she said.

Roslyn Layton, a doctor at Aalborg University in Denmark, asserted this in the ‘domestic and overseas network use video interview with foreign experts on the issue’ of SK Broadband held on the 23rd. Dr. Layton said that the ‘network fee lawsuit between SK Broadband and Netflix’ is attracting attention in the world, and that the global content provider (CP) Netflix’s ‘network free ride’ is being criticized around the world.

What happens if we can’t access money from the ATM or our credit card? What if hackers take down the US Treasury? Why do we scrupulously protect ourselves in the offline world with locks, rules, borders, police, and armies, but fall short in cyberspace? It takes a former financial regulator and futurist to ask such probing questions.

FCC should not ‘wait for Congress to sort through these complex issues. A Broadband Breakfast event panelist doubled down last week on her call for the Federal Communications Commission to unilaterally expand contributions to the Universal Service Fund, despite the commission deciding this summer that any such change should come at the direction of Congress.

Roslyn Layton joins the podcast this week to talk about broadband networks and whether or not Netflix and other streaming video services are getting a free ride. We review a recent South Korean Court Case that could change the way broadband networks operate globally, analyze President Biden’s broadband plan, and discuss the free-market approach to ensure network investment.

Netflix and SK Broadband entered into the second phase of the legal battle over the payment of network usage fees after the U.S. streaming giant appealed the court decision last year that sided with the Korean internet provider. The first hearing of the appeals court, brought on by Netflix against the internet company, took place on March 16.

South Korea has emerged as a flashpoint for litigation from Netflix against SK Broadband (SKB), the country’s second largest broadband provider. The country is widely recognized as a world leader in broadband. It ranks first among OECD nations for the percentage of fiber connections in total fixed broadband, 86 percent. Moreover it consistently leads in the International Telecommunication Union’s scoring for broadband access, use, and skills.

SK Broadband, a major Korean internet service provider (ISP), should seek reimbursement from U.S. streaming giant Netflix for refusing to pay network use fees, a technology policy expert has said. In September, SK Broadband filed a lawsuit against Netflix to demand such fees, saying that Netflix did not come forward for talks even after a local court ruled in June last year that it was "reasonable" for Netflix to provide something in return for the service.

This week, Dr. Roslyn Layton sat down with Will Hunt from Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) where they discussed the importance of the American semiconductor market and the ways in which we can ensure a strong national supply chain policy in the face of increasing national and economic threats.

China has so much leverage over the US that "they don't have to fire a missile at us, or shoot a gun, they can simply hold up the supply chain" to harm the US, said Roslyn Layton, founder of China Tech Threat at CPAC 2020.

In this interview Dr. Roslyn Layton discusses the real threat posed by technology coming from China.