Half of all households eligible to participate in the Affordable Connectivity Program are unaware of the benefit. That's too many households. A January 2023 survey of low-income households found that 37 percent of eligible households that knew little about ACP said they would be likely to apply with more information and 31 percent said they would be likely to apply if they knew whether they qualified. Fortunately, the Federal Communications Commission continues efforts to raise awareness and enrollment in the program. Recently, the FCC announced $10 million in additional funding for trusted partners who will help sign people up to participate in the ACP. 

Strict "Buy America" requirements for government subsidy programs such as BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment) threaten to significantly delay broadband network rollouts in rural areas if flexible waivers on those restrictions are not included, several industry organizations and industry watchers are warning. The Buy America policy, if strictly enforced, "could cause significant delays in actual deployments such that, for all practical purposes, it will cease to be relevant to the [broadband providers] or the communities the federal government sought to assist," New Street Research analyst and former Federal Communications Commission official Blair Levin said. Levin points out that there are "many critical elements" of those networks that, while a small part of the overall budget, "are essential and cannot in the near term be sourced from American manufacturers." Joint comments filed by the NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, ACA Connects and INCOMPAS echoed similar concerns. Those were filed in response to the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) request for feedback on its guidance to implement the Build America, Buy America Act (BABA) provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which includes BEAD. Under the currently proposed BABA requirements, materials such as fiber optic cable and polymers used in fiber optic cables would fall under the restrictions. There are also concerns that products such as routers, switches, and gateways – required elements for broadband networks – use numerous components that are sourced primarily from China or Taiwan and could fall victim to BABA requirements.

Verizon is planning to build 500,000 new Fios passings in 2023 as it works to increase its overall footprint to 18 million locations. The company is “actively building” in all nine of the states where it already offers Fios service. Verizon has recently laid out plans to pass more than 70,000 new locations in Massachusetts, nearly 2,000 in Delaware, 1,500 in upstate New York, and 349 in Virginia. Verizon is both fleshing out coverage within its existing territory and “introducing Fios to areas where it was previously unavailable.” The build in Delaware that Verizon touted will be completed with more than $6 million in state-provided American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding and finished within 12 months. It appears to be related to the state’s Universal Broadband initiative, as part of which Verizon received $11.8 million in 2022 funding to reach around 3,000 homes. ARPA funding is also fueling Verizon’s build in New York, with the operator having received $11.1 million for an $18 million project in Onandaga County back in November. Elsewhere, Verizon also appears to be chasing grant funding for three Fios expansion projects in St. Mary’s County, Maryland. 

Proposals by some European telecommunication operators to impose network fees on Content Application Providers (CAPs) such as Meta are not the for operators' financial challenges. Network fee proposals are built on a false premise because they do not recognise the value that CAPs create for the digital ecosystem, nor the investments we make in the infrastructure that underpins it. CAPs and telecom operators have collaborated successfully for many years, such as during the Covid pandemic when organisations worked together to help keep people connected. And we will continue to work with partners globally and in Europe to improve the user experience, enhance network efficiency, and bring immersive experiences to life. But partnership requires an honest diagnosis of the opportunities and challenges that we all face along the way. For the reasons set out above, there is simply no evidence to support a metaverse capacity wall – which is why we are adding our voice to the chorus of concern shared by a range of organisations about the network fee proposals (including from civil society, academia, industry bodies and regulatory experts). As noted earlier, we do recognise the challenges that some European telecom operators now face, but imposing an arbitrary network fee on companies that bring investment and innovation to the digital ecosystem is not a sustainable solution.