[Chapter-delegates] For cost of access, ISOC should be strong in India & D.C.

[Dave Burstein]

Folks

I- and I believe many of you - believe bringing down the cost of access is
crucial to bringing the Internet to everyone. As things change in the
Internet Society, I think we should look at how we can influence decisions
that directly affect the cost of access.

In the U.S., Trump's FCC wants to severely cut back on Lifeline, the
program to connect the poor. Commissioners Copps & Tristani will lead a

*Speakout to Save Lifeline*  Wed., Sept. 26, at 10 a.m. EDT at FCC
headquarters, 445 12th St. SW, Washington, D.C. I hope Andrew encourages
Internet Society employees to attend, making up their work later on.


In India, the telcos are trying to undermine the local efforts to connect
to the remarkable BharatNet. BharatNet has brought fiber to literally
hundreds of thousands of villages and hundreds of millions of people. This
is by far the most important effort in the world to bring the Internet to
the rural poor. ISOC, especially our Indian chapters, should be leading the
effort to make sure BharatNet delivers robust Internet affordable to all.
(Details on both below.)

Articulating "high order principles" is not enough unless they are
applied to practice. At the U.S. State Department ITAC, where I am a
member, vague "High order principles" are a euphemism for positions that
sound good hiding the U.S. opposition to anything opposed by the U.S.
companies. ISOC can do better by focusing on concrete proposals.
(Reasonable royalties, exposing cartel-like pricing on transports and
backhaul, ...)

The "DC Consensus" tactic of "incentives" generally fails. Half of the U.S.
has only one decent broadband choice; in the rest, the telcos only offer
service that was obsolete a decade ago. (Verizon in Manhattan only offers
me 3 megabits in 2018.) Verizon's cheapest Internet in Fios territory is
$75 or so. In France, you can buy fiber optic triple play for less than
half that. The U.S. rural coverage is among the worst in the developed
world.

The Internet Society has a $30M/year subsidy from .org registrations. We
can and should be the world's leading advocate for a great Internet for
everyone.

Dave Burstein
Lifeline Advocates to Rally Outside FCC Headquarters in Protest of Pai’s
Plan to Gut Essential Program

Inbox
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Updates
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Tim Karr via <https://support.google.com/mail/answer/1311182?hl=en>
dslprime.com
12:02 PM (6 hours ago)
to daveb
[image: 2.png]

September 25, 2018

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Timothy Karr, 201-533-8838

*Lifeline Advocates to Rally Outside FCC Headquarters in Protest of Pai’s
Plan to Gut Essential Program*

WASHINGTON — Representatives from social-justice and digital-rights groups
will rally outside Federal Communications Commission headquarters on
Wednesday to protest the agency’s plan to gut the Lifeline program that
subsidizes internet and telephone services for millions of people living
below the poverty line.

The groups, including the Center for Media Justice, Common Cause, Free
Press Action Fund, the National Consumer Law Center, the National Hispanic
Media Coalition and the Open Technology Institute, will be joined by
Lifeline subscribers who will speak to the importance of affordable access
— and against FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s efforts to severely limit their
ability to benefit from the subsidy program.

Pai’s attack on Lifeline is one of several agency actions that
disproportionately harm low-income communities while concentrating media
power in the hands of a few wealthy companies. His FCC has also failed to
defend reforms to exorbitant prison phone-call rates, blocked opportunities
for communities to build their own broadband networks and repealed Net
Neutrality protections that safeguarded free expression and choice online.

*What: *Speakout to Save Lifeline
*When:* Wed., Sept. 26, at 10 a.m. EDT
*Where:* FCC headquarters, 445 12th St. SW, Washington, D.C.
*Who: *Activists, advocates and others united against attacks on the most
vulnerable in our society
*Press RSVP:* Timothy Karr at tkarr at freepress.net

Confirmed speakers include former FCC Commissioners *Michael Copps* and *Gloria
Tristani*, *George Alvarenga* of Shelter House, *Cheryl Leanza* of the
United Church of Christ, OC, Inc., *Sarah Morris* of the Open Technology
Institute, *Francella Ochillo* of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, *Jesse
Rabinowitz *of Miriam’s Kitchen, *Carmen Scurato* and *Joseph Torres* of
Free Press Action Fund, *Erin Shields* of the Center for Media Justice, *Aja
Taylor* of Bread for the City, and *Monica Thammarath* of the Asian Pacific
American Labor Alliance.

###

Free Press Action Fund is a nonpartisan organization fighting for people’s
rights to connect and communicate. Free Press Action Fund does not support
or oppose any candidate for public office.


300,000,000 connections at stake in rural India
<https://www.fastnet.news/index.php/8-fnn/708-300m-connections-at-stake-in-rural-india>
 Published: 08 July 2018

[image: BharatNet meeting 230]625,000 villages are being connected with
fiber by the remarkable Bharatnet, on track to complete in 2019. One to
five Wi-Fi hotspots in each area (GP) will offer services including banking
and e-gov for *eight cents (U.S.) per day to $1.50/month.* These "Common
services centres" will often be run by "Village level entrepreneurs,"
perhaps as many as 100,000.

DOT's goal is 500,000 deployed in 2018 under a light licensing
procedure. 43,000
are already in place
<http://computer.expressbpd.com/news/government-floats-tender-to-install-5-lakh-wi-fi-hotspots-in-panchayats-for-rs-4000-cr/25008/>
and
300,000 more on the way. Some will be solar-powered.
<http://worldwifiday.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/World-Wi-Fi-Day-2018-Case-Study-Digital-Village-Rohta-Block-Meerut-District-India.pdf>

This is the largest Internet access program on earth, originally conceived
by Sam Pitroda in the government of  Dr. Mammohan Singh. It is a credit to
the government building it.* Telcos are also connecting; Bharti has 30,000
cells planned. Reliance Jio, now with 4G to 96% of Indians, will raise that
to 99%. Jio has better coverage than most of the major Europeans, all state
of the art 4G LTE.

The big four telcos now are demanding a delay and a huge increase in costs.
<https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/telecom/telecom-news/telcos-oppose-government-wooing-unlicensed-entities-for-wifi/articleshow/64891992.cms>


 "Establishing public WiFi networks without licence will be illegal being
in violation of the Indian Telegraph Act 1885."
More
https://www.fastnet.news/index.php/8-fnn/708-300m-connections-at-stake-in-rural-india

Editor, http://Fastnet.news http://wirelessone.news gfastnews.com
Author with Jennie Bourne  DSL (Wiley) and Web Video: Making It Great,
Getting It Noticed (Peachpit)
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