Analysis

A look at each state’s response to the National Technology and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program Notice of Funding Opportunity’s (NOFO) Requirement 20 on Middle-Class Affordability and Requirement 16 for a Low-Cost Broadband Service Option.  This list also provides background information on the degree of participation in BEAD by municipal, tribal, and other government-owned networks (GONs) in each state. Thirteen states have affordability strate

In a time when broadband affordability still plays a major role in the digital divide, the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) meets an obvious need. Roughly two years into the program, around 23 million households are enrolled for discounted broadband and a one-time device subsidy. We should be able to consider this case closed: We now have a strong, effective mechanism for closing the affordability gap. Indeed, ACP enjoys bipartisan support, and its virtues are extolled by industry and consumer advocates alike.

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) provides eligible customers a discount of up to $30 per month for broadband services. The benefits of the ACP—especially compared to other programs—is that it is tech-neutral; it does not limit users to a specific means of connection and gives customers choices over what service they want. Absent congressional intervention, the program is due to run out of funding as early as April 2024.

Ubiquity, which builds and operates open-access networks, recently obtained a green loan to help finance fiber network construction. It’s an interesting concept that other providers might want to consider.

The State of New Mexico recognizes the transformative power of technology in fostering an inclusive and prosperous society for all of New Mexico’s diverse and unique communities and across New Mexico’s rich tapestry of cultures and languages as well as its diverse geographies. With this in mind, the New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE) released its draft State Digital Equity Plan for public comment in late 2023.

In December 2023, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued fines for two internet service providers that the FCC says defaulted on Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) obligations. RDOF was the FCC subsidy program where broadband subsidies were awarded by a reverse auction that ended in December 2020. The first fine was to Etheric Communications for $732,000 for 244 locations. Etheric was one of the largest RDOF winners, having won $248.6 million to cover 64,463 locations.

On the Hopi Reservation’s more than 1.5 million acres of desert landscape in northeast Arizona, most residents live in villages atop arid mesas. Below ground, there’s a network of copper wires that provides telephone and internet service. In 2004, Hopi Telecommunications bought the company that had installed them, but has been struggling ever since to upgrade the network to broadband speeds. Hopi Telecommunications serves both the Hopi reservation and parts of the surrounding Navajo Nation.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel informed Congress that without an additional $6 billion in funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), the program will run out of funds by mid-2024. The program, created with over $14 billion, is less than 2 years old.

NTCA—The Rural Broadband Association and ACA Connects—America’s Communications Association strongly support the proposal to amend a “program comment” issued by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) in 2017. Recognizing that telecommunications undertakings “typically [do] not result in adverse effects to historic properties,” in 2017 the ACHP adopted a streamlined process for communications providers’ compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act for the installation of certain categories of wireline and wireless communications infrastructure on federal

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is a federal benefit that helps qualifying low-income households pay for internet service and devices. Since January 2022, the ACP has grown to help over 22 million U.S. households (roughly one in six of all Americans) access the internet. However, the ACP is running out of funding. Congress originally appropriated $14.2 billion for the ACP, but over time that amount has been spent down to the point where the ACP is on course to run out of funding this Spring.