"One-third of Americans will get online sometime during the year using a USF [Universal Service Fund] connection,” and “the top eight Internet brands are making $200B from [USF-supported] Internet connections,” yet are not contributing to the USF, Roslyn Layton, executive vice president of Strand Consult, told reporters today during a briefing on the need for USF reform alongside NTCA’s Telecom Executive Policy Summit. She spoke later in the day to NTCA members during a session closed to reporters. Ms. Layton said she spoke to the congressional Universal Service Working Group about the issue and that there were concerns from the working group about “not getting locked in” to any one solution to the contribution problem. She noted that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr had written an op-ed calling for USF contributions from the online advertising sector, which Ms. Layton said would “fix all of USF.” —Lynn Stanton

“The roughly $8.5 billion Universal Service Fund drives $200 billion a year on USF connections alone to the biggest internet brands: Alphabet, Meta, Amazon,Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, and TikTok. Broadband providers would not need to upgrade their networks if it wasn’t for network traffic brought about by the largest eight edge providers.She said those brands generate two-thirds of network traffic, including 80 percent at peak times, and compromise 90 percent of network costs. One-fifth of this traffic is advertising which end users don’t request, but which is delivered anyway and is increasingly machine-generated. These (Big Tech) companies aren’t paying to help this data be delivered, but they’re expecting the networks can be built and deliver their content.”

Roslyn Layton, senior vice president at Strand Consult, and others argued for various expansions of USF’s contribution base. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has long backed expanding the USF contribution base to include major tech “edge providers”

Broadband experts called on Congress to modernize the Universal Service Fund’s contribution system, warning that the decades-old mechanism is no longer sustainable.

“The question isn’t whether cloud providers are acting in bad faith,” Layton concluded. “It’s whether the current market incentives reward the level of resilience on which the public depends.”

While no one seeks a war with China, the nation that builds superior workforce advantages — not just weapons — will hold the edge. Agentic AI offers the U.S. military the chance to modernize HR, free its people to focus on the mission, and secure a decisive advantage where it matters most — its people.

Spectrum is a critical natural resource for modern economies, yet much of it remains underpriced and underutilized. Market-based allocation, as Coase first argued, ensures efficient use, drives investment, and lowers connectivity costs. With the 6  GHz band in contention, splitting it between licensed and low-power unlicensed use offers a pragmatic solution that balances innovation, public revenue, and industrial needs.

It’s welcome news that Big Tech is investing billions in AI infrastructure. But before we celebrate this as a public good, we should ask a deeper question: Who’s really paying for the broadband networks that help make those AI investments profitable?

To restore trust and deliver the care veterans deserve, the VA must prioritize smart investment in technology, better management practices and serious engagement with veteran feedback.

Americans want smarter government. Success stories at the VA and the Air Force show it’s possible to transform digital services with the right leadership.

"Those who pay for USF are the subscribers of typically voice services, but the financial beneficiaries which are earning $2,600 per year pay zero," said Roslyn Layton, senior vice president at Strand Consult, a consultancy. She was referring to an annual aggregate revenue by a typical big tech company.

Further complicating matters, cable companies like Comcast and Charter have historically favored unlicensed and shared spectrum use. According to Roslyn Layton, an author and tech policy scholar based in Denmark, this is because such a situation lets them offer mobile and broadband services without paying billions for exclusive spectrum licenses. Their mobile offerings rely on WiFi and Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) bands. An auction that favors exclusive-use carriers like AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, on the other hand, could erode that advantage. Neither Comcast nor Charter responded to the DCNF’s requests for comment.

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.

For the report “Broadband Infrastructure: Middle-Mile Grant Program Lacked Timely Performance Goals and Targeted Measures” GAO conducted case studies in three states and interviewed middle-mile operators, last mile providers, and state officials. GAO also interviewed federal agency officials, academics, and industry participants. GAO assessed NTIA program documentation against recommended practices related to grants management, duplication, and performance management. Dr. Roslyn Layton, Strand Consult and Dr. Petrus Potgieter, Strand Consult were among the interviewed.

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.

For this particular work, I cannot thank Roslyn Layton, PhD enough for nudging me into writing the comments to NTIA. By that nudge, this little article is a companion to my submission about the US Spectrum as it stands today and what I would like to see with the upcoming National Spectrum Strategy. I very much recommend reading Roslyn’s far more comprehensive and worked-through comments to the NTIA NSS request for advice. A final thank you to John Strand (who keeps away from Linkedin;-) of Strand Consult for challenging my way of thinking and for always stimulating new ways of approaching problems in our telecom sector. I very much appreciate our discussions.

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.