Laura Stepanek

The state of California is opening its Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program application window for prequalification and application submissions, and ending on October 2 for submission of the final proposal to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which administers the program federally. The BEAD Program has allocated $1.86 billion to California for bringing high-speed internet to unserved and underserved residents. Applicants must meet a 25 percent match requirement on proposals.

The United States Department of Agriculture released a Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Community Connect Grant Program for fiscal year 2025. The USDA’s Rural Utilities Service estimates that approximately $26 million in grants will be available to eligible applicants this year. The Community Connect Grant Program offers financial support to qualified applicants that will deliver broadband services at or above the grant’s specified speed to all premises in rural, economically challenged communities that lack internet access.

A collaborative broadband project in Alaska is expected to deliver multi-faceted, transformative benefits to the Athabascan community of Nenana. The collaboration is between Nenana Native Association, Tanana Chiefs Conference, and Alaska Communications, a provider of communications infrastructure in Alaska.

Illinois is the next state to release its Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program application guidelines. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration awarded Illinois $1.04 billion in federal BEAD Program funds to expand high-speed internet access to all homes and businesses. Connect Illinois Round 4 will use these funds to provide broadband to unserved and underserved locations and eligible community anchor institutions.

A cache of statistics about Americans’ usage of the internet and their thoughts about its value are highlighted in a new report titled “Internet Statistics in 2025” from HighSpeedInternet.com. The statistics cover internet access, speed, cost, reliability, connections, and more, based on data gathered in 2024. Nearly ubiquitous, 333.1 million people (97 percent of Americans) said they use the internet. This number has increased by 51 million in roughly 10 years. Almost 25 percent of internet users said the longest they can go without needing internet access is four hours.

Several of Charter Communications’ website advertising claims of its Spectrum Mobile “Unlimited” and “Unlimited Plus” wireless data plans are being supported by BBB National Programs’ National Advertising Division (NAD). NAD’s finding, which was announced today, came after an initial challenge of those claims by Verizon.

A sale with the potential to spur the growth of high-speed bandwidth in some New Mexico markets was announced this week between Charlotte (NC)-based Conterra Networks—a provider of fiber-based telecommunications services to enterprise, carrier, education, government, and data center customers—and Houston (TX)-based Ezee Fiber, a broadband fiber provider. The transaction involved Conterra Networks selling its Santa Fe, Rio Rancho and Los Lunas, New Mexico, fiber assets and network to Ezee Fiber.

A new report based on a huge data pool from more than 400 regional broadband service providers pinpoints a benchmark to achieve with subscriber churn. Less than 3 percent annual churn is the target to aim for, reported by 45 percent of respondents.

An $11 million investment in regional infrastructure is planned to bring high-speed, low-latency connectivity to more than 6,600 locations in western Maine. These are sites that either don’t currently have access to the internet or have access to slower broadband or copper-based connections. The funding for the project, which entails building more than 450 miles of fiber, was announced by FirstLight, a provider of digital infrastructure services. The Maine Connectivity Authority made the agreement with FirstLight to receive the funding.

Satellite-based communications businesses have been making news recently, including a brand-new start-up.