Public Notice

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau, in consultation with the Office of the Managing Director, announces the amount of unused funds for the Rural Health Care (RHC) Program that has been carried forward for funding year 2023.

The Federal Communications Commission temporarily waives, on its own motion, the application of the budget control mechanism for rate-of-return carriers that receive high-cost universal service support

In collaboration with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, ConnectLA has developed a first volume of Louisiana's proposal for how the state plans to use Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program funds to address Louisiana’s digital divide. This volume outlines current efforts to deploy broadband, a breakdown of unserved and underserved locations, and an overview of the process to challenge a provider’s service availability and performance.

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.