Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel proposed the allocation of additional spectrum resources necessary for space launch communications needs. The Chairwoman has championed U.S. leadership in space launch activities and making Commission processes simpler and more open to new entrants. These rules would add spectrum to support space launch activities and build upon Commission action in 2023 that will enable companies to conduct launch activities without needing to request temporary authority from the FCC for each space launch. The framework established by the FCC will provide certainty and predictability for commercial space launches. The Report and Order would, if adopted by a Commission vote, reallocate the 2360–2395 MHz band on a secondary basis for space operations under the existing part 26 space launch regulatory framework. The Chairwoman asks her colleagues to vote on the proposal prior to the December 25, 2024 statutory deadline set in the Launch Communications Act.

The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program is underway and on track, and the 10-year initiative is expected to continue as planned when a new presidential administration takes over the White House in January. Experts argue the new administration will not impact the program’s continuation, but a technology-neutral focus may shape its future. According to BEAD Program Director Evan Feinman, the program has seen a lot of progress in 2024. Chiefly, it supported 56 states and territories in their work to design detailed plans unique to their own goals, as well as policies to connect constituents. That milestone was met in April, and by November, all states and territories saw their initial proposals approved. With these steps accomplished, Feinman said, the program will begin to move from planning into implementation. Then, because it is a state-led program, the next phases will look different in different states. Some states like Louisiana and Nevada will have shovels in the ground in a matter of months. 

It is not controversial to say that the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Universal Service Fund (USF) program is unsustainable. Something must change. Universal Service Fund programs cover the cost of maintaining telephone service in high-cost areas, wiring rural schools, libraries, and healthcare facilities for the internet, and providing devices and services at discounted rates to low-income households. In addition, the USF has funded the Connect America Fund (CAF) and Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) to support rural broadband construction over the past 10 years. A bipartisan and bicameral Universal Service Fund (USF) Working Group in Congress formed in 2023 to discuss solutions. According to reports, the group has discussed the possibility of “big tech” internet edge providers contributing to the fund. However, the working group has failed to reach any agreements, and the current FCC leadership has opposed the idea.

Governor Kathy Hochul announced the release of the Request for Applications under the ConnectALL Deployment Program making $644 million in federal funding available to expand affordable, high-speed broadband access to the remaining homes and businesses in New York State that do not have any reliable broadband option or an existing commitment for service under another program. ConnectALL has identified 69,111 such locations that are eligible for new service under this Request for Applications, with measures to ensure that the new broadband service at these hard-to-reach homes and small businesses will be both accessible and affordable for all New Yorkers through requirements for low-cost service options. The funding represents the largest portion of New York's $664.6 million allocation from the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, part of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The internet feels like it’s falling apart. To start, nothing seems to work anymore. Google’s search engine once provided directory-level assistance to the denizens of the internet. Now it’s chock full of ads, sidebars, SEO-optimized clickbait, and artificial intelligence-powered guesstimations of possible answers to peoples’ questions. On Amazon, the digital shelves are littered with sponsored products and cheap replicas of popular items. On social media, the situation is even more dire. The internet, of course, is controlled by the largest, richest, most powerful companies in the world. Silicon Valley’s giants no longer compete and no longer innovate; instead they cut costs, boost profit margins, and block out competitors in order to maintain consumer habit and market dominance. Online platforms give us convenience, but no novelty, and they have vanishing utility in increasingly our digital lives. In 2025, perhaps the whole thing will explode. But hopefully, people will begin to rethink their reliance on digital platforms that treat them with utter contempt, like they’re consumers, like they’re “users.” If it’s the end of the internet as we know it, then I feel fine.

The fiber broadband market is likely headed for more consolidation in the coming year, according to research from consulting firm AlixPartners. In a survey conducted in August 2024, AlixPartners found there are over 400 small fiber providers that are likely to merge or be acquired by larger providers and private equity firms. Some consolidation is expected for 2025, with more going into 2026 and 2027. The survey was fielded amongst 60 fiber executives, as well as private equity firms and investors, with 93 percent saying consolidation is happening or upcoming, and 70 percent of those expecting activity to ramp up over the next year. Overall, there are roughly 1,900 "small-scale" fiber companies in the US, of which 1,000 are electric co-ops or part of an energy firm, says AlixPartners. Of the remaining 900, the firm estimates around 400 are "meaningful candidates for M&A."

It’s been apparent for some time that Elon Musk and Donald Trump align on more than politics. Each has a, let’s say, robust sense of his own importance and an apparent need for others to recognize that importance. Both have a large fan base happy to offer that recognition. And both have a view of the world that is often untainted by what the world actually is. It’s fair to assume that the alliance that currently exists between the two is fragile, with any slight misalignment of how each wants to deploy his power leading to its rupture. But for now, it exists and it just scored its first political victory: submarining a compromise spending resolution on Capitol Hill. Musk and his allies quickly hailed the collapse of the agreement as a manifestation of the will of the American public. Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy agreed with the sentiment, saying, “We the People won,” he wrote. “That’s how America is supposed to work.” It isn’t, actually. As Republicans long liked to remind people, America is a republic in which citizens elect representatives to make decisions about how the country should be run. We don’t subject everything to a national plebiscite. More importantly, though, X (and social media in general) is not in any robust sense “the people.”