Reporting

With the pausing of billions of dollars in U.S. military aid and of intelligence sharing with Ukraine, there are fears in the country that billionaire Elon Musk’s vital Starlink internet service could also be cut. Thousands of Starlink terminals are working on Ukraine’s battlefields.

Regardless of the final form it ends up taking, the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program is poised to play a key role in addressing rural connectivity. But the rural access divide isn’t the only issue we need to worry about, according to New Street Research Policy Analyst Blair Levin.

In November 2024, Nguyen Thi Que’s mobile phone suddenly stopped working as telecom companies in Vietnam permanently shut down the 2G network. “I thought of buying a new phone, but I don’t have money,” said the 73-year-old, who sells iced tea at a bus stop in Hanoi. Vietnam’s plan was simple: Offer free 4G feature phones to help low-income 2G consumers adapt to the change.

As it has with other government agencies, the Trump administration is moving swiftly to assert its vision at the Voice of America. As it does so, a question hangs in the air: Is the news organization’s journalistic mission, which dates to World War II, in for some fundamental changes?

President Donald Trump convened his Cabinet in person to deliver a message: You’re in charge of your departments, not Elon Musk. According to two administration officials, Trump told top members of his administration that Musk was empowered to make recommendations to the departments but not to issue unilateral decisions on staffing and policy.

Federal Communications Commissioner Nathan Simington delivered remarks at the ACA Connects 2025 Summit, where he discussed the priorities of the FCC under the new administration. Commissioner Simington, a Republican, said the FCC is “grappling with some problems right now that were left unaddressed for the last few years.” He added that he personally was “unhappy with some directions [the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program] took in the last administration.” Simington said that the FCC under the new administration was focused on practical solutions and getting things done.

US cable operators have been struggling to regain their footing in broadband as they try to grow subscribers again in the midst of an array of pressures including fiber and fixed wireless access competition, a slow housing move market and the impact of the end of the Affordable Connectivity Program. Several US cable operators are responding by leaning into convergence.

The fate of a $24.5 million broadband project in Minnesota came down to one vote at a City Council meeting. Seven council members faced a choice: forge ahead with an ambitious plan to build a city-owned municipal broadband network, or heed a last-minute request from telecommunications giant Charter Communications to pause the project.

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.

The Trump administration will overhaul a $42 billion federal grant program aimed at expanding high-speed internet to the nation, including easing some rules that could benefit Elon Musk’s satellite internet service, Starlink. The program will be revamped to “take a tech-neutral approach” in its distribution of funds to states, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said.