Federal Agency

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provided over $42 billion in subsidies for broadband deployment via the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. Although BEAD funds are supposed to be disbursed on a technology-neutral basis, the Biden Administration mandated a preference for fiber deployment, even when alternative technologies—including satellite broadband—are the more efficient mechanism to serve certain high-cost areas. With the recent election of President Donald Trump to the presidency, the government’s preference for fiber now faces significant uncertainty.

Ever since Donald Trump bumped Brendan Carr up to chair of the Federal Communications Commission in November 2024 (after naming him a commissioner during his first term), Chairman Carr has attacked the country’s media, entertainment and even tech giants with a cool fury, threatening their business and, critics say, attempting to bully them into more favorable coverage of the President. Historically concerned with the sundry matters of broadcast licenses and station fines, the FCC hardly would seem like the centerpiece of a major media-suppression effort.

The marketing arm of the broadband industry spends a lot of time convincing folks that the most important part of a broadband product is download speed. This makes sense if fiber of cable are competing in a market against slower technologies. But it seems like most advertising about speed is to convince existing customers to upgrade to faster speeds. While download speed is performance, the industry doesn’t spend much time talking about the other important aspects of broadband:

Within the Trump administration’s Defense Department, Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocketry is being trumpeted as the nifty new way the Pentagon could move military cargo rapidly around the globe. In the Commerce Department, SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service will now be fully eligible for the federal government’s $42 billion rural broadband push, after being largely shut out during the Biden era. At NASA, after repeated nudges by Mr. Musk, the agency is being squeezed to turn its focus to Mars, allowing SpaceX to pursue federal contracts to deliver the first humans to the distant planet.

Elon Musk’s Starlink is set to cement its dominance of the satellite internet market with a surge in revenues in 2025, but the world’s richest man’s ties to President Donald Trump are shifting from an asset to a hindrance in Starlink's global rollout. The billionaire’s SpaceX group is engaged in talks to rapidly bring the service to countries with 1 billion potential new users, including holding negotiations with Turkey, Morocco and Bangladesh, while making progress towards regulatory approval in other vast markets such as India.

Recently, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr announced that he had established a new Council on National Security within the FCC. Chairman Carr is now disclosing the first major initiative that this Council has been leading. Specifically, the FCC has launched a sweeping investigation into the ongoing U.S. operations of CCP-aligned businesses whose equipment or services the FCC previously placed on its Covered List based on determinations that those equipment or services pose unacceptable risks to America’s national security.

The Federal Communications Commission is prepared to block mergers and acquisition proposals from companies that promote “invidious” diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, according to chairman Brendan Carr. The move could threaten billions of dollars worth of deals in the communications sector, with Carr specifically mentioning Paramount Global’s merger with Skydanc

Spectrum announced the launch of Spectrum Internet, Mobile, TV and Voice services to more than 260 homes and small businesses in rural areas of Pike County (OH), with additional launches planned across the county. Spectrum’s multi-year rural construction initiative is driven by more than $7 billion in private investment from the company and will ultimately add an additional 100,000+ miles of fiber-optic network infrastructure and deliver symmetrical and multi-gigabit speed internet access to more than 1.7 million new locations across the country.

At a time when its parent company is battling financial hardship, WBEZ is among more than a dozen public media stations being investigated by the Federal Communications Commission for its underwriting practices, an inquiry which may put federal money the station relies on into jeopardy. On Jan.

The Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is delegated the authority to make final suitability determinations and take suitability actions regarding employees in the executive branch based on post-appointment conduct, consistent with applicable law.