The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved and recommended for award an application from Maine, allowing the state to request access to more than $5.7 million to implement its Digital Equity Plan. This funding comes from the $1.44 billion State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program, one of three Digital Equity Act grant programs created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Maine will use the $5,784,349 in funding to implement key digital equity initiatives, including:  

• A comprehensive digital opportunity program, including support for Internet access, digital skills building, and Internet safety education;
• A statewide device donation and refurbishment campaign; and
• A statewide awareness campaign for a new online directory of digital resources called Tech Help for ME.

The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, established by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), provides $42.45 billion of funding to states, territories and the District of Columbia (“Eligible Entities”) for broadband planning, deployment, mapping, equity, and adoption activities. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), as the agency responsible for administering the BEAD Program, issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (BEAD NOFO) describing the program’s requirements, including the requirement that each Eligible Entity ensure that every Funded Network meets certain speed and latency standards, as well as criteria related to network outages (i.e., reliability). In response to inquiries from Eligible Entities and other stakeholders, NTIA is proposing to issue a Performance Measures for BEAD Last-Mile Networks Policy Notice to provide Eligible Entities and prospective subgrantees with additional guidance regarding BEAD NOFO performance measurement standards related to speed, latency, and reliability of last-mile deployment projects. NTIA seeks comment from the public on this proposed guidance. If you wish to provide comment to NTIA, please submit to BEAD@NTIA.gov by midnight on December 19, 2024. Please note that these are draft documents. Eligible Entities may not rely on NTIA guidance until it is finalized.

Thanks to Congress’ work on the infrastructure law, America has the funding to make internet coverage reliable nationwide. Where broadband goes, economic growth and educational opportunity follow. But despite the federal government’s efforts, including decades of work and billions of dollars, too many Americans still lack reliable connection, an unacceptable fact in today’s digital world. The problem boils down to bureaucratic disorganization. Today, over 100 separate initiatives, managed by 15 individual federal agencies, have been deployed to address the digital urban-rural divide. This fragmented approach has led to inefficiencies and wasted resources. To help solve this, I have introduced legislation that would coordinate these efforts and bring communities online faster. My bill, the PLAN for Broadband Act, would direct the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to create a national strategy to synchronize those broadband initiatives. By harmonizing these programs, we can efficiently allocate resources to the communities that need them most, and at a higher speed and a lower price tag.

[Sen Roger Wicker is Mississippi’s senior senator and the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. He also serves on the Commerce, Environment and Public Works and Rules and Administration committees.]

The New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE) announced it has awarded more than $15 million in grants to entities through the state’s Connect New Mexico Fund to go toward deploying broadband infrastructure. The eight grants were awarded to Resound Networks, an internet service provider based in Pampa, Texas, and the Pueblos of Tesuque and Laguna. The newly awarded grants total $15,440,719. The awards will lead to broadband infrastructure that will connect more than 4,600 homes, businesses, farms and other locations in unserved and underserved areas.

The City of San Diego has taken the first steps to create a new Broadband Master Plan, an initiative that aims to provide an analysis of current broadband access and make recommendations to increase access, adoption and affordability in identified locations. In historically under resourced areas such as San Ysidro, data show that over 40 percent of households do not have a wireline broadband subscription. The primary goal of the Broadband Master Plan is to increase the availability and affordability of broadband in the City with a focus on underserved communities, low-income housing residents, and public-serving City facilities. The plan will also ensure that San Diego meets state of California standards for broadband speeds. Additionally, it will position the City to coordinate, leverage and implement state and federal broadband infrastructure investments and policy, and identify how City and public resources can be used to increase broadband access and affordability.

AT&T has been laying the groundwork for the decommissioning of its extensive copper network. The company recently shed a lot more detail on when it expects to retire the vast majority of its copper, how it will pursue the transition and what products it has developed as an alternative to plain old telephone service, or POTS, that can run on either fiber or wireless networks. Timing-wise, AT&T plans to shut down copper-based services across the vast majority of its US territory by the end of 2029, timing that coincides with the company's plan to build fiber to 45 million locations within its legacy wireline footprint. AT&T's copper shutdown plan does not currently include California—AT&T is working with regulators there to establish a framework for AT&T to retire its copper services in the Golden State. AT&T has plenty of operational and financial reasons to retire its copper network. Notably, services based on the platform can no longer keep pace with the needs of most customers and it's a heavy expense that AT&T would like to remove from the books.

Tom Vilsack has much to say about Democrats and rural America. And for good reason. He’s the longest-serving Democratic agriculture secretary in history, having claimed the office tucked along the National Mall for eight years under former President Barack Obama and now concluding four more years in the post in the Biden administration. Frustrated with the Democrats’ defeat, and what he sees as the lack of attention and credit for what his department has done for America’s farmers, Vilsack wanted to set the record straight. Rural communities have grown in population in recent years, Vilsack wanted folks to know. There is a good news story to tell about innovations in the ag economy. So why haven’t Democrats received political credit for it, only seeing their losses across rural areas deepen in the last four years?

SpaceX’s effort to put an additional 22,488 satellites into low-earth orbit is facing a formal objection from a Ukrainian-American nonprofit, which says it’s concerned about CEO Elon Musk’s “contacts with Russia and the alleged use of his Starlink system by Russian forces in Ukraine.” In a petition to deny and motion for stay filed with the Federal Communications Commission, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) also cited negative environmental impacts of SpaceX launches in Texas and Musk’s potential conflicts of interest due to his work with the incoming Trump administration. SpaceX’s Starlink system has been linked to Ukraine since terminals arrived there shortly after Russian troops invaded the neighboring country in early 2022. The UCCA isn’t the only group concerned about Musk’s relationship with the Kremlin. The Wall Street Journal reported in October that Musk had engaged in a series of “secret conversations” with Russian President Vladimir Putin leading up to the 2024 presidential election. Members of Congress and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson have called for an investigation into those contacts.

Vivek Ramaswamy wants to use the Department of Governmental Efficiency to update the government's antiquated technology and stop fraud in government programs, efforts he called “low-hanging fruit” for his work alongside billionaire Elon Musk. The duo is leading the DOGE, which—despite the name—is an advisory effort, not a government department. Big goals include slashing the government’s headcount, paring back government regulations and cutting spending. The federal government spends over $100 billion on IT and cybersecurity every year, according to the Government Accountability Office.