Public Notice

The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration will submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for clearance a proposal for voluntary collection of broadband availability data. In the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018, Congress directed NTIA to update the national broadband availability map in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission and the states. Congress directed NTIA to acquire and display available third-party data sets to the extent it is able to negotiate its inclusion to augment data from the FCC, other federal

The Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by adding Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei) to the Entity List. The US Government has determined that there is reasonable cause to believe that Huawei has been involved in activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.

With this Order, the Federal Communications Commission takes necessary steps to provide full funding for all eligible services requested from the Rural Health Care universal service support mechanism (RHC Program) for the 2018 funding year (FY). In FY 2018, multi-year and upfront payment funding requests filed during the window sought support exceeding the $150 million funding cap for those payments. FCC rules would require the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) to prorate requested support received by eligible health care providers.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has appointed members to serve on the re-chartered Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC). The re-chartered BDAC will hold its first meeting on June 13, 2019.  In its second term, the BDAC will continue its work to craft recommendations for the FCC on ways to accelerate the deployment of high-speed Internet access, or “broadband,” by reducing and/or removing regulatory barriers to infrastructure investment and strengthening existing broadband networks in communities across the country.

The Federal Communications Commission authorized nearly $111.6 million in funding over the next decade to expand broadband to 37,148 unserved rural homes and businesses in 12 states representing the first wave of support from the Connect America Fund Phase II auction. Providers will begin receiving funding in May 2019. In total, the auction allocated $1.488 billion in support to expand broadband to more than 700,000 unserved rural homes and small businesses over the next 10 years.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau designated four petitioners -- Bloosurf, Hankins Information Technology, Northern Arapaho Tribal Industries (Wind River Internet), and Tombigbee Communications, Inc -- as eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) in eligible high-cost areas within the specified states. Designation is conditioned upon and limited to petitioners’ authorization to receive Connect America support awarded through the Connect America Fund Phase II auction (Auction 903) and effective only upon such authorization. One of these petitioners, Wind R

The Federal Communications Commission took steps that could result in over 1 million rural homes getting faster broadband service.

President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order directing the creation of programs to grow and strengthen the US cybersecurity workforce to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The Executive Order will promote cybersecurity work within the Government, including through a new President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competition. The Administration will develop a rotational program where Federal employees can expand their cybersecurity expertise through temporary reassignments to other agencies.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau authorizes 186 rate-of-return companies that elected 242 revised offers to receive additional Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM) support in exchange for extending broadband service to additional locations. A report shows the revised authorization amount and deployment obligations for each carrier that elected a revised offer. These carriers are among the rate-of-return carriers nationwide that previously had been authorized to receive A-CAM support. The revised authorizations provide support to the electing comp

The US Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service announced its general policy and application procedures for funding under the eConnectivity Pilot Program in late 2018. The Reconnect Program will provide loans, grants, and loan/grant combinations to facilitate broadband deployment in rural areas. This Notice announces the opening date for the ReConnect Program application windows. The Rural Utilities Service will begin accepting applications through https:// reconnect.usda.gov for all three ReConnect Program funding categories on April 23, 2019.