With the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 providing sufficient funding to deploy broadband to nearly every household in the nation, the Digital Discrimination provisions contained in Section 60506 of the statute are a curiosity. Nonetheless, Congress directed the Federal Communications Commission to write rules implementing the statutory provision. The FCC recently released draft final rules implementing Section 60506 in anticipation of its November 2023 Open Meeting which adopt a somewhat standard disparate impact analysis. In this paper, we conduct an empirical analysis of racial discrimination in broadband access motivated by the caselaw on disparate impact analysis. Using data from the FCC’s new broadband fabric data, we test for differences in broadband availability between predominantly minority and majority census block groups and find no evidence of digital discrimination against minorities. In fact, we find that, if anything, minority groups have better access to broadband than do Whites, on average. Accordingly, a prima facie case of disparate impact for “digital discrimination of access” is unlikely to be empirically supported on racial grounds.

The Federal Communications Commission authorized 368 rate-of-return companies in 44 states that elected offers of Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model (Enhanced A-CAM) support to receive model-based support. The authorizations specify support to the electing companies for a 15-year period beginning January 1, 2024, in exchange for these companies committing to deploy broadband service of at least 100/20 Megabits per second (Mbps) service to over 700,000 unserved locations across the United States, and maintain or improve existing 100/20 Mbps service to approximately 2 million locations. Current A-CAM I and A-CAM II recipients are authorized to receive approximately $866.5 million per year, while current legacy support recipients will receive approximately $385.4 million in frozen support in 2024 and transition toward the model-calculated support amounts over the term of support. The Enhanced A-CAM support authorized totals $18,281,852,513 over the full 15-year term. The FCC also authorizes and directs the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) to obligate and disburse the appropriate transition payments to those carriers eligible for such support as determined by the FCC.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) and the Michigan High-Speed Internet Office (MIHI) announced $203 million has been awarded in the first round of the Realizing Opportunity with Broadband Infrastructure Networks (ROBIN) grant program to connect over 70,000 unserved Michigan homes and businesses to high-speed internet. In total, the ROBIN, program will provide $238 million in federal funding to support the deployment of high-speed internet to more than 90,000 unserved locations throughout the state thanks to the US Department of Treasury’s Capital Projects Fund investment. MIHI received 154 grant applications from 40 applicants for the ROBIN program. Nearly $2.3 billion in project costs were proposed requesting $1.3 billion in grant funds. After reviewing and scoring each application, 24 projects from 11 applicants moved forward as ROBIN Initial Grant Recommendations (IGRs). The first round of ROBIN Grants total $203 million in grant funds and are being awarded to 18 total projects from 9 applicants, with a total match investment of $202 million . Collectively, these projects represent a total investment of $405 million and will connect 71,333 locations to fiber-to-the-home service with opportunities for gigabit connections. See list of grant awards at the link below.

Charter Communications told the Maine Connectivity Authority (MCA) that the company will decline a $6.9 million rural broadband award announced in April. The decision was driven by a program rule that requires funding recipients to offer a service priced at $30 so that low-income customers on the Federal Communications Commission Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) can get service for free after their monthly $30 subsidy is applied, MCA said. The award was made in Maine’s Reach Me program, which covers some of the costs of deploying high-speed broadband to remote areas of a provider’s service territory. Charter was the biggest winner in the program. Over 2,000 homes will be impacted by Charter’s decision, MCA said. The agency said it will evaluate alternatives to make high-speed broadband available to those locations.

AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon made more money from providing wireless services in the third quarter of 2023 compared with the prior year as they added phone lines and nudged many clients toward more expensive plans. The boost in service revenue helped offset weaker equipment sales as purchases of pricey phones slowed at their stores and websites. “Customers are holding on to their phones longer,” said Tony Skiadas, finance chief for Verizon, the country’s largest wireless carrier by subscribers. “I don’t think that’s going to change.” Ebbing smartphone sales would ordinarily be bad news for Apple, which is slated to report quarterly earnings on Nov 2. The iPhone maker has accounted for more than half of annual US smartphone sales since 2021, according to Counterpoint Research. But Apple, too, has adapted to a less phone-hungry customer base. The manufacturer has fostered a thriving secondary market for older smartphones that keeps more customers using them for longer, helping to increase its market share as device sales slow. Revenue growth from services such as advertising, iCloud, and the App Store, while small compared with smartphone sales, have also become a profit engine.