Reps Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) sent a letter expressing concerns about the "trajectory of the Federal Trade Commission" to FTC Chair Lina Khan.
Boost Mobile said it’s going after the big three carriers head-on with a new annual unlimited plan that costs $25 per month. It’s the latest in what the Dish-owned prepaid brand is calling “Carrier Crusher” plans. The first launched in November 2021 offering wireless service with talk text and 1GB of data for an annual price of $100. That targeted customers who use less than 10GB of data per month, while the new focus is on unlimited. Both new and existing customers can get the latest no-frills unlimited plan that includes talk, text and data.
After the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the deep broadband divide across the country, lawmakers said the recently passed infrastructure bill will connect many communities that struggled as much of daily life moved online. The newly passed infrastructure bill allocates $65 billion for broadband access, aimed at rural areas, lower-income populations and Tribal communities.
Altice USA is jockeying to secure its fair share of broadband subsidy money as billions in federal funding flows to the states, with CEO Dexter Goei revealing it has already applied for $150 million in support and plans to chase significantly more. Goei said over the next six to 12 months Altice will likely apply for an additional $500 million in funding. Across all the territories contiguous to its coverage areas “we suspect there’s probably a billion of subsidy money to go after if we were to apply for all of the availability,” he added.
On November 15, President Biden signed the historic, bi-partisan infrastructure law, which provides $65 billion in funding for broadband deployment and adoption programs. By far, the most significant new deployment program is the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, which the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will oversee and States/Territories will implement by issuing grants to broadband providers. NTCA and ACA Connects have joined to establish the BEAD Program State-by-State Tracking Project.
President Biden opened the first-ever Summit for Democracy, a forum for leaders from around the world to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing democracies in the 21st century. These efforts will center on five areas of work crucial to the functioning of transparent, accountable governance: 1) Supporting Free and Independent Media, 2) Fighting Corruption, 3) Bolstering Democratic Reformers, 4) Advancing Technology for Democracy, and 5) Defending Free and Fair Elections and Political Processes. Specifically:
© 1994-2024 Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. All Rights Reserved.
