July 26, 2012 by HTTP
By: Jason Llorenz, Esq., HTTP Executive Director
In defiance of the struggling economy, AT&T and Verizon recently topped the list of “investment heroes”-companies investing in infrastructure, buildings and “capital intensive” expenditures across the United States. These investments create jobs and generate an economic multiplier effect across the economy, as equipment and materials are purchased to meet the needs of wireless networks requiring ongoing maintenance, operation and upgrades. Yet, the real reason wireless broadband companies are champion investors is due to a consumer and policy environment that has made such investments both necessary and possible.
July 23, 2012 by HTTP
By: Jason Llorenz, HTTP Executive Director
At a public meeting of the Federal Communications Commission, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel called for a “clear timeline” for pending spectrum auctions. The Commissioner’s statement is very timely, indeed. America is running low on available spectrum for consumers, a looming shortage that threatens to degrade the quality of wireless services to mobile phones, tablets and unwired computers.
June 28, 2012 by HTTP
– by Jason Llorenz, for The Huffington Post
This summer, The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) gathered their respective constituencies in Orlando to educate, inspire and focus the community on the issues facing a nation as it prepares to vote on the next term of the Presidency of the United States. Immigration took center stage with President Obama’s recent executive order. But jobs remain on the minds of all. It’s jobs and wealth, after all that are at the heart of the two Presidential campaigns — particularly the questions of how to create new wealth, and how to inspire new jobs.
May 29, 2012 by HTTP
By: Jason Llorenz, HTTP Executive Director
The New York Times’ Eduardo Porter recently called for a more aggressive interpretation of the Federal Communications Commission’s “net neutrality” rules.The particular issue Mr. Porter addresses is Comcast’s development of a new way to access “on-demand” cable programming through the Xbox gaming console, just as they would on the more traditional “cable box.” Porter thinks the government should force cable broadband providers to count these videos against any data “cap” a provider institutes in order to manage traffic and congestion on their networks (Comcast, for instance, now has a 300 gigabyte monthly cap).
April 24, 2012 by HTTP
By Jason Llorenz
Last year, I wrote about the need for Congress to reform a decade-old program that has failed in its mission of bridging the Digital Divide in rural America:
A case in point is the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utility Service, whose Farm Bill-funded Broadband Loan program has come under fire for failing its core mission. This program is supposed to provide loans, over $300 million authorized this year alone, to build out broadband service in under-served and rural areas. But advocates and analysts say the loans have been misdirected to non-rural areas that already have a broadband provider – as illustrated by a report from the Department’s Inspector General.
March 20, 2012 by HTTP
By: Jason A. Llorenz
March 20, 2012
Spectrum is the lifeblood of wireless innovation and the resource necessary for making high-speed, 4G services available to more communities in more places. Each day, millions of Hispanic consumers and small business owners rely on spectrum to power their wireless devices, smartphones and tablets, while demand for spectrum continues to grow at a staggering pace – creating a looming spectrum crunch that HTTP and its members are concerned could threaten the long-term availability and cost of these services. Recently, HTTP filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), urging the Commission to approve the proposed purchase by Verizon of advanced wireless spectrum (AWS) licenses currently held by cable operators including Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, by Verizon Wireless.
March 15, 2012 by HTTP
By: Jason Llorenz
March 15, 2012
Wireless issues have seen lots of action this month and that doesn’t even account for last week’s big announcement from a certain company in California.
The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council (MMTC) hosted a major conference that focused on the key problem facing wireless technology: lack of federal action to free up airwaves. Here’s a good summary on the problem and the event from Alton Drew.
December 19, 2011 by HTTP
By: Jason A. Llorenz, Esq.
December 19, 2011
The digital divide is as real today as it was when it was coined over a decade ago. The divide, as HTTP regularly underscores, includes both a lag in access to digital tools, and a dearth in the digital skills needed to compete in the evolving, global economy. We at the Hispanic Technology and Telecommunications Partnership (HTTP) applaud the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA), and providers like Time Warner Cable (TWC) for their support of Connect to Compete. The program will enable families with a child in the National School Lunch Program to have access to affordable broadband.
December 7, 2011 by HTTP
BY: Jason Llorenz, Esq.
The failure of the so-called Congressional “super committee” had left an important piece of the telecommunications policy agenda in limbo. The initiation of spectrum reallocation to address the looming spectrum crunch was reverted back to the Congressional committees with jurisdiction.
