On March 25, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX) wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to request that the Department of Defense turn over any Biden-era documents referring to the Federal Communications Commission's spectrum auction authority. In the letter, Sen Cruz details allegations that Biden-era DOD officials pressured defense contractors to lobby against reauthorizing auction authority.
Fixed wireless access has steadily gained popularity in the U.S. over the past four years and now the service has more than 11.5 million subscribers—and that’s just counting the FWA subscribers from the big three nationwide operators. Today, FWA is considered a viable broadband competitor, and its traction with customers has caused many cable operators to lose customers to FWA.
It’s fairly obvious by now long-haul fiber and data center connectivity matter for AI innovation. But where do last mile fiber-to-the-premises deployments factor in? Network automation is perhaps the most apparent use-case, but fiber operators are also be well-positioned to house future AI edge applications.
In March 2025, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick launched an effort to change key elements of the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, which Congress established in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.
In early March, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick proposed changes to a federal broadband connectivity program that would favor Low Earth Orbit satellite connectivity, like Starlink, over fiber optic, a faster and more reliable form of internet access. Critics say Secretary Lutnick’s proposal to prioritize LEO will worsen the digital divide by abandoning rural communities without the long term economic benefits of fiber optic infrastructure.
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