Public Notice

The Federal Communications Commission announced that Etheric Communications defaulted on its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (Auction 904) bid. Auction 904 support will not be authorized for the winning bids in California. The FCC considers winning bidders and assignees to be in default for these bids and subject to forfeiture.

This plan outlines Louisiana’s first coordinated effort to assess the state’s digital divide and move Louisiana toward digital equity.

This advisory describes the current evidence on the impacts of social media on the mental health of children and adolescents. It states that we cannot conclude social media is sufficiently safe for children and adolescents and outlines immediate steps we can take to mitigate the risk of harm to children and adolescents. Key takeaways:

The Federal Communications Commission announced that there is sufficient funding available to fully meet the Universal Service Administrative Company’s (USAC) estimated demand for category one and category two requests for E-Rate-supported services for the funding year 2023. On March 29, 2023, USAC submitted a demand estimate for the E-Rate program for funding year 2023. USAC estimates the total demand for the funding year 2023 will be $2.944 billion, which includes estimated demand for category one services of $1.658 billion and $1.286 billion for category two services.

On May 18, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) awarded funding from the state’s Broadband Expansion Grant Program. The Commission awarded $16,601,085 for 24 projects that will expand broadband internet to 6,042 residential and 276 business locations that are underserved. The projects receiving awards will impact 19 counties.

Recertification is an annual requirement for Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) subscribers. Service providers with Federal Communications Commission-approved alternative verification processes or that use a school-based eligibility verification process for the national school lunch or breakfast program must conduct recertification for those subscribers. For all other ACP subscribers, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) conducts recertification to ensure that ACP subscribers are still eligible for the benefit.

On May 17, 2023, The US Department of the Treasury released supplementary broadband guidance for its State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF) and Capital Projects Fund (CPF). As provided for in each SLFRF and CPF award agreement, the Uniform Guidance applies to all uses of funds made available under those awards unless provided otherwise by Treasury. In response to questions from recipients and internet service providers, Treasury issued this guidance regarding the application of the Uniform Guidance to broadband infrastructure projects.

The Federal Communications Commission has released the Broadband Funding Map. The Broadband Funding Map allows users to identify, search, and filter federal funding programs by the Internet Service Provider receiving funding, the duration timeline, the number of locations included in the project, and the download and upload speeds. In addition to depicting where broadband funding exists, the Broadband Funding Map contains broadband availability data as of June 30, 2022—the same data that currently appear on the National Broadband Map.

The Federal Communications Commission granted, in part, a Request for Waiver filed by the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition and the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN).

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau and Office of the Managing Director (OMD) offer guidance to participants in the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) Program on the expiration of the COVID-19 public health emergency on May 11, 2023 and announce June 30, 2024 as the sunset date for the ECF Program. As part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Act), Congress appropriated $7.171 billion and directed the FCC to promulgate rules to distribute funding from the ECF to eligible schools and libraries for the purchase during the COVID-19 emergency period of eligibl