We’re creeping closer to the one-year mark since the federal government axed the Affordable Connectivity Program due to lack of funding, which left over 23 million low-income households without affordable internet. But folks didn’t just lose the $30/month subsidy and a reliable broadband connection. A new study from the Brattle Group found healthcare and workforce opportunities—and the economic impact associated with both—are also down the drain without the ACP. Should the program return, it can potentially save up to $29.5 billion in annual healthcare costs by improving access to telehealth, said the Brattle Group. The firm noted since ACP had a “modest annual cost” of $7.3 billion, the healthcare savings could “more than offset the costs of the entire program if it were reinstated.”

Some big internet service providers have big plans for more fiber expansion. AT&T, for example, plans to build 21 million fiber passings to meet a goal of 50 million passings by the end of 2029. I’ve followed AT&T’s expansion in various communities, and the company has built fiber over the last five years where the cost to do so was the lowest, so this expansion plan perplexes me. It seems to me that for AT&T to meet its target of 50 million passings it is now willing to spend more per passing than in the past. Perhaps that willingness is based on the success the company has in converting customers to fiber in overbuilt neighborhoods. Only AT&T knows the details behind its decision to expand rapidly. I find it interesting that the company is suddenly willing to build fiber in neighborhoods that were not in its plans just a few years ago.

The Rio Grande Valley Broadband Coalition unveiled the RGV Broadband and Digital Opportunity Plan, a bold initiative to ensure every home, business, and community anchor institution in the region has access to affordable, reliable high-speed internet. Much of the RGV still lacks reliable internet access, holding the region back in a world that increasingly depends on digital tools. The RGV Broadband and Digital Opportunity Plan is a roadmap to change that, focusing on:

• Expanding broadband infrastructure to connect unserved and underserved communities
• Increasing digital skills training to help residents navigate online education, work, and services
• Preparing a local workforce for in-demand, high-wage technology jobs
• Enhancing telehealth access to improve healthcare outcomes and lower costs
• Supporting small businesses in adopting digital tools to grow, compete, and better serve their customers

US cable companies Comcast and Charter Communications have long suggested that they will build their own small-scale public wireless networks using their 3.5GHz CBRS spectrum holdings. Doing so, according to the companies, will help them reduce their MVNO payments to Verizon. But so far there are few signs they're actually doing that. Curious, I started asking around with the network-monitoring companies like Ookla that track this kind of stuff. Most declined to comment, but OpenSignal shared its findings. The result? The commercial mobile customers of Comcast and Charter showed no additional time on CBRS when compared with the customers of Verizon. If Comcast and Charter had extensive CBRS operations of their own—that were commercially available—their customers would presumably show much more time on CBRS.