2020 Year in Review

Among the Department of Commerce's accomplishments in 2020:

• Supported access to high-speed broadband by removing barriers to deployment and maximizing the impact of federal funding, including creating a National Broadband Availability Map which delivers accurate, essential data on broadband availability with 18 state partners.
• Improved first-responder communications by deploying the FirstNet National Public Safety Broadband Network, which serves more than 1.3 million connections and 12,000 public safety agencies across the Nation.
• Working with the Department of Defense, helped open critical mid-band federal spectrum for a Federal Communications Commission auction in summer 2020 and issued a report on the prospect of bringing even more mid-band spectrum to market to help ensure American leadership in 5G.
• Improved privacy protections for all Americans and U.S. businesses with the release of the NIST Privacy Framework, which provides a voluntary tool for organizations to better identify, assess, manage, and communicate about privacy risks.