Named for Charles Benton, the founder of Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, NDIA created the awards to recognize leadership and dedication in advancing digital equity: from promoting the ideal of accessible and affordable communications technology for all Americans to crafting programs and policies that make it a reality. NDIA presents two awards: the Digital Equity Champion Award recognizes an outstanding individual who has made a difference in the field of digital equity, while the Digital Equity Emerging Leader Champion Award acknowledges an up-and-coming leader. The awards are presented during the annual NDIA Net Inclusion conference on May 20-22, 2025 in Gila River Indian Community. Nominations can be submitted until March 18, 2025. More information on the Digital Equity Champions Awards can be found here.

There is massive interest in the Washington State Broadband Office’s first application round for $1.2 billion in Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program funding. The first round, which closed January 31, resulted in 307 applications covering most of the project areas across the state. Awards will be made after all three funding rounds and federal approval. More hard work is ahead as the first round of applications undergo review and approval. Once those reviews are complete, future application round opening dates will be announced.

If you know anything about Brightspeed, it’s been all about building fiber broadband. However, the operator must still contend with the sizable incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) copper footprint it acquired from Lumen and figure out how to connect the customers who might have to wait years to get fiber—if at all. To that end, Brightspeed is working toward the launch of a new fixed wireless access service in partnership with Verizon. Simply put, the new fixed wireless access (FWA) product is a 4G device with global eSIM capabilities. Verizon will supply the internet data, but users won’t be tied to a single carrier for phone and voice capabilities.

NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, NPR and KCBS radio all have one thing in common: They’re under scrutiny from the Federal Communications Commission, which is now being led by Brendan Carr, a Republican who has praised President Donald Trump as a leader in combating bias in the media. NBCUniversal and its parent company, Comcast, were the latest media companies to receive word of an investigation by the FCC. In a letter sent to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, Carr wrote that the FCC’s enforcement bureau will probe whether the company was “promoting invidious forms of discrimination in violation of FCC regulations and civil rights laws” by prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Carr said he will ensure that media companies are doing away with such DEI efforts, which were targeted in an executive orders signed by Trump last month. “Promoting invidious forms of discrimination cannot be squared with any reasonable interpretation of federal law,” he wrote. Carr asked the media company to provide “an accounting of Comcast’s and NBCUniversal’s DEI initiatives, preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities.”