Federal Communications Commission Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

Pandemic Times Remind Of Pressing Need To Wire Rural America With Better Broadband Access

By NPR News April 29, 2020

In recent years, former coal miners were retrained to work with fiber optics, expanding high-speed Internet — and possible economic opportunities — to rural areas. Meredith Rizzo/NPR

At a time when many of us are going online to do everything from work to school to shopping to health care, the COVID-19 crisis is shining a big light on the haves and have-nots when it comes to the Internet. The federal government estimates upwards of a third of all people in rural America have little or no access to the Internet.Read More

‘Drive-By WiFi’: Hot Spots Pop Up Across Washington To Bridge Digital Divide In Pandemic

By Tom Banse April 27, 2020

The Tahuya fire station, in rural Mason County, Washington, is one of the sites tapped to host a drive-up Wi-Fi hotspot.

Distance learning, ordering groceries online or applying for unemployment, those are all kind of difficult without a good internet connection. So, at least seven public utilities spanning Washington state are setting up drive-up Wi-Fi hotspots amid the coronavirus pandemic.Read More

Window Opens For Tribes To Seek Federal Licenses For Rural Broadband Access

By NWPB News February 3, 2020

Mariel Triggs, chief executive of MuralNet, tests broadband internet equipment in Fort Washakie on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. CREDIT: Patrick Lawson via AP

The Federal Communications Commission opened a window Monday for federally recognized tribes to apply for licenses that could help establish or expand internet access on their lands. The FCC estimates that about one-third of people living on tribal lands don’t have access to high-speed internet, but others say the figure is twice as high.Read More

FCC Proposes $13M Fine For Idaho White Supremacist Over Racist Robocalls

By NWPB News January 31, 2020

File photo. A 2018 poster for then-missing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts hangs in the window of a local business in Brooklyn, Iowa. Regulators are proposing a nearly $13 million fine against Scott Rhodes, who they say illegally hid the origin of automated phone calls that used the slaying of Tibbetts, and election campaigns in other states to promote white nationalist and anti-Semitic messages. CREDIT: Charlie Neibergall / AP

The Federal Communications Commission said in a news release Thursday that Scott Rhodes violated the Truth in Caller ID Act that bars the manipulation of caller ID information so calls appear to come from local numbers — a technique called “neighbor spoofing.Read More

New Proposal Looks To Loosen Radio Ownership Rules, Benefiting Big Companies

By NPR News June 15, 2019

A collection of vintage radios. CREDIT: Greg Huszar/Getty Images/First Light

A proposed change could see more radio stations ending up in the hands of fewer executives, which would have a homogenizing effect on radio dials around the U.S. The thing is, that's already happened.Read More

Pushback Against Superfast 5G Wireless Spreads To At Least 7 Northwest Cities

By Tom Banse June 2, 2019

A typical small cell antenna for 5G wireless networks as seen in Eugene, this one not yet operational.

Activists are asking city or county governments of at least seven Pacific Northwest communities to defy the federal government. They want to stop the deployment of next-generation 5G cellular service.Read More

Native Tribes Across The Rural West And Country Push For Better Internet Access

By NWPB News May 15, 2019

The Federal Communications Commission has not issued any new permanent licenses for the Educational Broadband Services spectrum in more than 20 years. The agency estimates that about one-third of the people living on tribal lands don't have access to high-speed internet, but others say the figure is twice as high. That's partly because homes on remote reservations are Read More

Tribes Call On FCC To Prioritize Native Needs In Broadcast Licences

By Emily Schwing August 13, 2018

Sign at headquarters of Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation

The Federal Communications Commission is considering a rule change for licenses normally reserved for education and public broadcasting. In Washington, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville are calling on the agency to prioritize tribal reservations for improved communication.Read More

Washington Lawmakers Propose $300 Million For Rural Broadband Access

By Enrique Pérez de la Rosa January 17, 2018

While Washington lawmakers have vowed to protect net neutrality, thousands of people in rural communities still lack access to high speed internet. That may change if a big budget proposal goes through this year.Read More