TMCnet Feature

I wish to confess. As those of you who regularly read my submissions know, while I have broad interests, I happen to be more than a bit of a policy wonk. You may think I need to get a life, but I actually have bookmarked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC (News - Alert)) home page. Further, while I find press releases interesting for breaking news, it is the blogs where the true nuggets of interest tend to lie. Today’s quick of the official FCC blog is case in point. 

Check ‘em  out!

The above heading is not meant as a reference to a certain variety of New York City street hawker. You know the ones, their up close and personal advertising for local products and services used to constitute a significant portion of the populace in Times Square.  It is merely to draw your attention to why you should bookmark this part of the FCC site as I do, and present info on the most recent postings to entice you.

LifeLine Program reform update

Starting from the top, I was interested in Sharon Gillett, Chief, Wireline Competition Bureau’s defense of the Commissions “smart” fixes for the LifeLine program. The new Oder builds on one in June which was aimed at cleaning up the huge problem of duplicate subscriptions. That order has already allowed the Lifeline program administrator to scrub 3.6 million subscriber records in 12 states, and by the end of 2011 had eliminated 270,000 duplicate subscriptions. This represents a savings of $33 million and gave impetus to the expansion of the program to additional states in the months ahead.

The new Order came out on Feb. 6, and it contained some interesting tidbits:

• A database will be built to end duplicate subscriptions forever
• A second database will determine eligibility on-line, which will ensure only those who are truly eligible can enroll in the program
• The wasteful Link Up subsidy was ended 

Ms. Gillet said, “And there’s more; all told, reforms will save up to $2 billion over three years. We’re going to use some of that savings -- $25 million – to look at how Lifeline can better help low-income families in an era when high-speed Internet has become essential.” She added, that all of this was done while preserving “a vital part of the safety net… affordable access to a phone to find a job, track down a child, or call 9-1-1. We’ve kept program costs in line. And we’ve looked ahead, beginning to orient the program to the broadband future.”

One can applaud the Commission’s actions, but a victory lap seems both a bit premature and raises the question as to why it took so long. Terms like “end duplicate subscriptions forever,” may come back to bite, and finding 3.6 million duplications after six months after looking in only 12 states, may show the FCC is “smart,” but it also shows that it is SLOW.

Policy Making 101

This one falls into the category of “who knew?” Michael Byren, Geographic Information Officer, revealed that since October, the FCC has created a new section. It is the home to a series of maps designed to, “translate complex policy into understandable stories for consumers.” Kudos. Nice work. Now if only the broadband ones could be better populated.    

Digital Textbooks for All Students in Five Years

Yes, you read correctly. On Feb. 3, at the first-ever Digital Learning Day Town Hall, FCC Chairman Genachowski and Secretary of Education, Duncan challenged states and the education and technology industries to get digital textbooks into the hands of all students in five years. The two said next steps are in the works for a March meeting with education CEOs, state officials and nonprofits to figure out ways to meet the goal. Some factoids driving this are impressive or depressing depending on one’s perspective:

• The U.S. spends more than $7 billion per year on K-12 textbooks, but too many students are still using books that are 7-10 years old, with outdated material.
• South Korea has announced that all students will be using digital textbooks beginning in 2015.
• Technology-based teaching can reduce the time it takes to learn a lesson by up to 80 percent.

The FCC want to leverage its role as the largest funder of broadband connectivity to K-12 schools to facilitate what is arguably an ambitious but seemingly doable objective.

The nice thing about the blogs is that because they contain commentary they represent views you can use and reply to. For most of its history, understanding the reasoning behind FCC actions tended to be inaccessible even sometimes to the members of the FCC Bar Association and industry lobbyists. It is encouraging that the steward of the communications is making reasonably good efforts to use technology to better engage the public on what are in fact critical issues.