Fierce

Windstream Wholesale is building a fiber spur to one of Hurricane Electric’s data centers in the San Francisco Bay area, a primary location in Hurricane Electric’s global service provider and co-location network. In terms of the general landscape for long-haul fiber, John Nishimoto, senior VP of Product and Marketing said there’s good demand for both lit fiber and dark fiber. Windstream is definitely seeing demand for lit fiber, such as the deal with Hurricane Electric, he said.

States are itching for action on broadband access. But as they wait for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment money to flow—and policy changes under Trump—New Mexico wants to take matters into its own hands. New Mexico’s broadband office requested $70 million in state funds to help connect 95,000 locations with satellite broadband in the next two years.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) seems to hate many things about the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which Congress passed in 2021 with bipartisan support. Cruz’s hatred could presage rocky times for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program in 2025 because he is likely to head up the Senate Commerce Committee when Republicans take majority control of the Senate in January.

The fate of the $8 billion Universal Service Fund (USF) now lies in the hands of the Supreme Court, which has the power to determine whether the subsidy program is unconstitutional. The legality issue concerns the Federal Communications Commission’s choice to delegate the administration of USF programs (Connect America Fund, Lifeline, E-Rate and Rural Health Care) to a private third party—the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). The Sixth and Eleventh Circuits have already ruled to uphold the constitutionality of the USF’s current funding mechanism.

With a new presidential administration soon upon us, a panel of broadband operators was asked what policy changes they’d most like to see. Leigh Fox, CEO at altafiber, gave a point-blank answer: “Permitting needs to be addressed.” From his perspective, it’s the one thing slowing down broadband deployments, and municipal permitting is “getting tougher and tougher,” he said. Five to ten years ago, a joint use agreement would take around 6-8 months to set up, said Fox. Now, that process can take “18-24 plus months.” Fox wasn’t the only one with permitting gripes.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has laid out a list of all its accomplishments related to the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. But somehow, the list has a sad ring to it—as if it’s the final swan song of a group that’s worked very hard for three years but knows that all that work could get kicked under the rug by the new Trump administration. But in the interim, NTIA put out an announcement, updating everyone on the program and touting its milestones.