Two key Republican lawmakers are opposing a Federal Communications Commission proposal that would expand the E-rate program to allow it to pay for Wi-Fi on school buses and mobile hotspots that schools can loan out to students. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) sent a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel on July 31 2023 asking her to “rescind this unlawful plan to vastly expand the E-Rate program.” The letter—from the top Republicans who sit on the congressional committees that oversee the FCC—came more than a month after the Chairwoman unveiled her “Learn Without Limits” initiative. The proposed changes, if adopted by the full FCC, would allow E-rate funding to be used for Wi-Fi on school buses and for Wi-Fi hotspot devices that schools and libraries can loan out to students and patrons. Though students are back to attending school in person, they still need reliable home internet to fully participate in their education. But the number of schools that say they are providing students with home internet access has dropped dramatically since September 2021, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. The opposition from top Republicans in Congress, however, likely complicates the path to adoption for the Chairwoman's initiative. Sen. Cruz and Rep. Rodgers wrote in their letter that Chairwoman Rosenworcel’s proposal to use E-rate funding for Wi-Fi hotspots for schools and libraries to loan out is beyond the commission’s authority and would “duplicate programs across the federal government” and open the door to “wasteful” spending. The FCC’s E-rate authority is “explicitly confined to classrooms and libraries,” Sen. Cruz and Rep. Rodgers wrote, so the program shouldn’t be used off campus. They also wrote that E-rate should only be used to fund “services,” not “consumer devices.”

As of 2017, there were approximately 18.2 million veterans in the United States, constituting approximately 7.3 percent of the adult U.S. population. An analysis of 2016 American Community Survey data found that U.S. veterans lagged in internet access when compared with non-veterans. More recently, the lack of access to the internet became more visible when the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) tried to employ telemedicine and other technology-enabled approaches to serving veterans. In a 2019 report assessing broadband access and adoption, the Federal Communications Commission found that a significant number of veterans (2.2 million households) lacked access to fixed broadband, mobile broadband, or both. Specifically, for 92.5 percent of veterans, at least one provider of 25 Mbps/3 Mbps fixed broadband services was available, but only 78.4 percent of veterans had 10 Mbps/3 Mbps mobile LTE broadband coverage. Among households with veterans, approximately 85 percent, or 14.4 million, reported that they had paid connections to the internet in their homes. (In comparison to non-veteran households, veteran households had at that time a slightly higher percentage subscription rate for fixed broadband.) However, households with veterans subscribed to mobile broadband services at lower rates than households without veterans. The FCC found that more veterans used a mobile device (62.2 percent) to connect to the internet in any location, compared with using a desktop (37.8 percent) or laptop (44.4 percent) computer.

Low take rates have broadband experts talking about how to pique subscriber interest in the high-speed internet capabilities now available across the US. Matt Collins, chief commercial officer at Calix, said that building higher speed tiers as many providers have been doing “is an incredible capex investment strategy," and "something we all have to do.” Although, in spite of providers racing against each other to provide the highest speed tiers on the market, he noted “subscribers don't understand speed." When Calix researched over a million subscribers across the providers it works with, fewer than 20% opted for speed tiers at 1-gig or higher. According to Collins, take rates for 5-gig and 2-gig services are typically even lower. The answer to that problem for many providers will be educating subscribers on the benefits of high-speed offerings in terms they’ll understand. “The key is understanding the persona that you're going after,” Collins said, whether it’s someone who uses Zoom, someone who is gaming for hours each day, or someone who streams a lot. “These are very, very different subscribers. And so the key is to help them understand how your service will make your experience better, not the technical capabilities of their services,” he added. 

On August 21, 2023, the Minnesota Office of Broadband Development released its Draft Digital Opportunity Plan for public comment. According to the plan, Minnesota's vision for digital equity is a future where digital equity connects all Minnesota residents to opportunities, options, and each other. The Office of Broadband Development created this plan following extensive stakeholder engagement and digital equity data collection. Public comments can be submitted to the state using this form until September 29, 2023. Key strategies include:

• Establish a Digital Opportunity Leaders Network to coordinate support digital opportunity initiatives regionally and statewide.
• Expand OBD’s public data and mapping tools to include digital opportunity measures.
• Prepare reports exploring models for: (1) a statewide tech helpline; (2) state-level programs mirroring ACP or Lifeline; and (3) a state-managed system for loaning large-screen devices long-term.
• Partner with state offices serving people at high-risk for digital exclusion.
• Coordinate with ISPs to support newly connected households needing education and resources.
• Administer targeted grants to support:
  • Local and tribal governments preparing their own digital opportunity plans.
  • Community partners piloting positions focused on trust-based digital opportunity work.
  • Small businesses improving technology access.
  • Local and tribal governments improving web accessibility.

A growing Midwestern provider is continuing their Indiana expansion by bringing fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) and business services in southeastern Indiana. Great Plains Communications (GPC) will expand its network to the communities of Aurora and Vevay (IN). In addition, the company will utilize Next Level Connections Broadband Grant Program funding to expand its network to reach more homes and businesses in specific unserved areas of southeastern Indiana. GPC currently owns over 18,000 miles of fiber network reaching 13 states. With fiber-driven services including symmetrical internet speeds up to 1 Gigabit, residential customers will enjoy highly reliable access to Cloud services, streaming video, gaming, working and learning from home. In addition to residential offerings, businesses will have access to the GPC full suite of fiber enterprise services. Construction is expected to be launched on all projects by mid-fall 2023.  

As adoption of generative AI grows, providers are hoping that greater transparency about how they do and don't use customers' data will increase those clients' trust in the technology. There's a mad scramble to add AI features across the board in the software world — but worries about privacy and security are prompting some businesses to discourage employees from using the new features. Twilio, which helps businesses automate communications with their customers, announced it will place "nutrition labels" on the AI services it offers those businesses, clearly outlining how their data will be used. The labels report what AI models Twilio is using, whether those models are being trained on customer data, whether features are optional and whether there is a "human in the loop." A "privacy ladder" distinguishes between company data that is used only for customers' internal projects and data that is also being used to train models used by other customers, as well as whether personally identifiable information is included in the data. In addition to offering such labels with its own data collection, Twilio is providing an online tool that other companies can use to generate similar AI nutrition labels for their own products. Additionally, Salesforce is unveiling an acceptable use policy that governs what companies can and can't do with its generative AI technologies. While there is still an air of excitement around the potential of generative AI to improve productivity, many companies have been taking a cautious approach, warning employees not to put company data into tools like ChatGPT. Transparency is key to increasing trust, both Salesforce and Twilio say.