Jericho Casper

Kristi Westbrock, CEO and general manager of Consolidated Telecommunications Company, warned that imposing a per-location price cap under the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program would be “terribly detrimental” to the state’s progress toward universal fiber access. “All of the locations that are left are really high-cost areas,” she said at the USTelecom 2025 American Connectivity Forum. “So, the number one leading concern definitely is the discussion around ca

Ontario already tore up a $100 million Starlink deal. Now Yukon is following suit—freezing Elon Musk’s satellite service, cutting Tesla incentives, and logging off X as part of its retaliation against U.S. tariffs on Canada’s auto sector. Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai (Liberal) announced the territory’s next phase of its response to sweeping U.S.

As state application windows continue to close for the $42.45 billion Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment program, a divide has emerged in provider participation. While some states have seen an influx of applications from internet service providers, others have drawn only a handful. Arkansas received bids to cover 96 percent of its BEAD-eligible locations, but Massachusetts, so far, has received just five applications proposing to reach about 50 percent of locations.

Lawyers defending the Federal Communications Commission’s authority to manage a longstanding $8.1 billion broadband subsidy expressed cautious optimism ahead of the March 26 Supreme Court oral arguments in FCC v.

Federal Communications Commissioner Anna Gomez urged policymakers to set aside partisan fights and focus on more pressing issues, like ensuring the availability of spectrum and broadband infrastructure. “I keep hoping that we will turn away from the partisan culture wars and instead focus on our core priorities,” Commissioner Gomez said speaking at the INCOMPAS Policy Summit. She pointed to more pressing issues, like legal challenges to the Universal Service Fund that could jeopardize broadband access for millions of Americans.

Arkansas’ first round of Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment funding has yielded an efficient start, with just 2 percent of the state’s $1 billion allocation preliminarily covering 9 percent of eligible locations. The Arkansas State Broadband Office announced Feb. 7 that 18 applicants had been selected to receive $25.3 million in subsidies to extend broadband to 7,136 unserved or underserved locations within the state. The average requested subsidy per location was just $3,555.

The cost of deploying fiber broadband continues to rise, but the latest report from the Fiber Broadband Association and Cartesian suggests price increases may moderate in the coming year. While underground fiber deployment costs surged by 12 percent in 2024, aerial deployments saw only minor cost increases, and industry experts believe the worst of the inflationary squeeze on fiber projects may be over, according to the 2024 Fiber Deployment Cost Annual Report

With a federal court recently declaring the funding mechanism for a major low-income connectivity program unconstitutional, telecommunications policy experts are actively discussing alternative solutions to keep essential broadband programs funded. Roslyn Layton, executive vice president of Strand Consult, met with the Federal Communications Commission to propose expanding the $8.1 billion Un

Alan Davidson, chief of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in the Commerce Department, dismissed Republican criticisms of the Biden administration’s $42 billion broadband expansion program as "election-year politics." Recent attacks have shifted toward Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, who has been dubbed the "Broadband Czar" by Republicans like Sen.

A new wave of private capital and joint ventures is beginning to transform the way open access networks are financed and developed. What was once largely a public-sector initiative is now attracting billions in private investment from firms like the Canadian Northleaf Capital Partners and BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, betting heavily on shared network models.