The stimulus package that President Biden signed into law in March was intended to stabilize state and city finances drained by the coronavirus crisis, providing $350 billion to alleviate the pandemic’s effect, with few restrictions on how the money could be used. Three months after its passage, cash is starting to flow — $194 billion so far, according to the Treasury Department — and officials are devoting funds to a range of efforts, including keeping public service workers on the payroll, helping the fishing industry, improving broadband access and aiding the homeless. In conservative-leaning states like Wyoming that did not incur major budget deficits during the coronavirus, officials have been freed to spend much of their cash on infrastructure improvements, especially rural broadband. Not a single Republican in either house of Congress voted for the bill. Yet the vast majority of officials from conservative states have welcomed the aid without much fuss. In general, Republican governors and agency officials have tilted toward financing economic development and infrastructure improvements, particularly for upgrading broadband in rural areas, rather than funding social programs. When the administration updates the guidance for the funding this summer, it is likely to loosen the restrictions on internet-related projects at the behest of Republican state officials, a senior White House official said. Christy McFarland, the research director of the National League of Cities, said many cities across the country were preparing to put money into infrastructure projects that had been delayed by the pandemic, and investing in more affordable housing and spending on core needs such as water, sewer and broadband. However, she said she was also seeing creative ideas such as recurring payments to the poor and investments in remote-work support emerge as cities looked to expand their safety nets and modernize their work forces.

A large coalition of industry groups and public interest lobbyists are pushing Congress to invest in “future-proof” high-speed fiber networks in a battle over how to divvy up the $65 billion proposed to expand broadband internet service. The spending is included in an infrastructure package tentatively agreed to by a bipartisan group of senators and President Joe Biden. But as they move to hammer out details of the plan, lawmakers must address a clash between companies and groups that want the country to invest in the fastest, most innovative networks, and some of the more traditional providers who argue such an approach is too expensive and distracts from the goal of expanding internet reach. “A few lonely legacy companies want to protect the old and the slow,” said Chip Pickering, a former Republican House member from Mississippi who leads Incompas, an internet and competitive networks association.

As broad swaths of Montana still have substandard high-speed Internet or cell-phone service–or, none at all–the Gianforte administration is launching a federally funded $275 million-plus effort to improve that picture. The money is from the American Rescue Plan Act, passed by Congress this March, without a single Republican vote. But Republican leaders in Montana, with bipartisan support, have set up the nine-member Communications Advisory Commission that could start approving projects later this year. “The quicker we can get the funds out there, the quicker we can serve Montana,” State Sen Jason Ellsworth (R-Hamilton), a member of the Commission, said. “We know that we’re dead last in the country for [Internet] speeds, and we know at the end of the day, we are transforming our economy digitally.” The Communications Advisory Commission holds its first meeting July 13, and will outline how it plans to process broadband-expansion proposals from private companies or partnerships between those companies and local governments.

Expanding broadband to tribal communities is not just a technical challenge, it’s a social and political one. Morgan Vigil-Hayes, a computer scientist at Northern Arizona University, has participated in several projects aimed at addressing the challenges of tribal connectivity since 2018. It is Vigil-Hayes' personal research passion dating back to her dissertation, and a topic that became even more pressing during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The computer scientist's projects include attempting to extend network reach using television white space, frequencies within the radio broadcast spectrum that are unused particularly since television moved to more digital formats. Unlike Wi-Fi, Vigil-Hayes said, TV white space is a promising means to extend connectivity to remote areas because it can cover long distances and navigate around obstacles such as trees. It is also less costly than installing fiber-optic cables to homes in areas without infrastructure. In all her broadband work, Vigil-Hayes strives to bring in community input as much as possible because residents are the experts in where digital divides exist and can provide the best indication of specific connectivity needs.

In response to the lack of adequate broadband in parts of the Minnesota, especially rural areas, legislators agreed to spend $70 million on a state grant program that aims to build high-speed internet infrastructure across the state. The windfall, likely paid for by the stimulus plan approved by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in early 2021, isn’t enough to completely close internet disparities that have long plagued Minnesota and the state may still miss goals for broadband speed and distribution set for 2022. But if legislators approve the cash in a special session later this month, it would be the largest infusion of money into the program since it began in 2014. “This is a definite step up for the program,” said Angie Dickison, executive director of the state’s Office of Broadband Development, which administers grants with the money. Minnesota has set a goal for universal access to service with download speeds of 25 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of 3 Mbps by 2022, and has another goal for access to 100/20 Mbps by 2026. Dickison said state data from the end of 2020 showed 92 percent of households had access to internet service meeting the 2022 speed goals.

Lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the creation of a new public authority to coordinate investing tens of millions of dollars in federal funding for broadband infrastructure in Maine. Both houses of the Legislature passed L.D. 1484, establishing the Maine Connectivity Authority with a mandate to expand universal high-speed internet access and telecommunications infrastructure across the state. Governor Janet Mills supported the measure and called the proposal one of the most important issues facing the Legislature this year. Authority officials will be responsible for directing a $15 million state broadband bond and up to $129 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding for internet infrastructure. The amount available to support broadband expansion is unprecedented, but less than one-third of the state’s estimated need of $600 million. The new authority would also have the ability to borrow money, negotiate contracts with private internet providers, own infrastructure and provide grants to companies and communities. It is directed to deliver a report to the Legislature in 2030 describing whether it has fulfilled its intended purpose, needs more time or should be disbanded.

Dish Network has its sights set on the 12 GHz band for 5G, and it isn’t backing down, even in the face of some pretty stiff competition. Dish—which is in the process of building out a cloud-native, open RAN-based 5G network—itself uses the 12 GHz band for direct broadcast satellite (DBS). Yet it says sharing with 5G in the band is feasible, and while it still wants to support the diminishing TV satellite business (DBS) business, it’s confident that sharing isn’t going to hurt those customers. Expert studies back this up, according to Dish. Basically, Dish is of the belief that a lot of different stakeholders can use the 12 GHz band, but the rules need to be changed so that it can be used for two-way 5G terrestrial services rather than be impeded by current restrictions.  

Three dozen states and the District of Columbia filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google, alleging that the company operates an illegal monopoly with its Google Play app store. The bipartisan antitrust suit adds to the company’s mounting legal challenges. Led by the state of Utah and filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, it alleges that the company has monopolized the distribution of apps on mobile devices that run the Google-owned Android operating system, blocking competition through contracts, technical barriers and other means.  The states’ lawsuit challenges Google’s description of Android as an open operating system. It targets the in-app payment requirement, saying it has allowed Google to monopolize in-app payments on Android phones and charge excessive commissions. Practices such as those harm consumers by raising the prices of apps and weakening competition between developers that could lead to more secure apps with better features, the suit alleges. The states also accuse Google of trying to “buy off” Samsung Electronics, a manufacturer of smartphones.