On Wednesday, Philadelphia Democratic Senator Larry Farnese distributed a co-sponsorship memo seeking support for legislation which would classify Internet Service Providers as public utilities, regulated by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. The missive cites the educational and economic inequality cause by the end of net neutrality regulation at the federal level as necessitating the regulatory […]

Governor Wolf took his Restore Pennsylvania message on the road this week in a visit to Dover Area High School in York County where he offered that “For Pennsylvania to succeed we must close the digital divide to ensure every citizen has the access it needs to connect to the ever-expanding digital world in which […]

Governor Tom Wolf didn’t wait for next week’s annual budget address to get the discussion started on some big numbers, $4.5 billion to be precise. The Wolf initiative, named Restore Pennsylvania, seeks to monetize proceeds from a gas severance tax to fund a variety of infrastructure projects, including high speed Internet access. Co-sponsorship memos have […]

The FCC’s Accelerating Wireless Broadband Deployment by Removing Barriers to Infrastructure Investment Order was at the heart of correspondence shipped to the Commission by Pennsylvania Congressman Mike Doyle yesterday. New Jersey Congressman Frank Pallone was a co-signer of the letter which asked Chairman Ajit Pai to investigate whether any Commission personnel had urged any party […]

To the applause of many consumer and industry groups, U.S. Senators John Thune (R-SD), and Ed Markey (D-MA) reintroduced their Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act, which imposes penalties up to $10,000 per call for intentionally violating telemarketing restrictions.

“The ability to communicate quickly and effectively is important especially for our first responders and law enforcement and I look forward to using this opportunity to assist in their efforts. In recent years, Pennsylvania has become a technological leader, I am eager to continue the cultivation of this sector so we can provide new economic […]

Not likely that either Sprint or T-Mobile initially factored a government shutdown into their merger timeline, but that application (and many other activities), have gotten caught in the dragnet. The FCC announced early in the week that it would be forced to suspend activity in a number of areas by mid-day yesterday, but would continue […]

In a Tuesday, SEC filing, Verizon noted that it will lose 10,400 employees under its “voluntary separation program.” The number represents approximately 7 percent of the total VZ workforce.  

New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood announced a record settlement with Verizon subsidiary Oath (formerly AOL), this week under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The $4.95 million penalty is the largest ever under COPPA, and was levied for conducting auctions for ad space on hundreds of sites which the company knew were directed […]