Federal Communications Commission

For states, broadband mapping is the hot topic in the quest to identify unserved and underserved areas. Collecting accurate, detailed information on who has, and more importantly, who doesn’t have a broadband connection will be essential in securing the maximum amount of Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program funding. North Carolina and Georgia have been proactive in collecting broadband coverage data and making it available to the public but have taken different approaches on how they have built their maps.

Stopgap funding legislation designed to prevent a federal-government shutdown includes language extending the Federal Communication Commission's spectrum-auction authority into December, although the impact on potential funding for next-generation 911 (NG911) deployments remains unclear. Currently, the FCC’s authority to conduct auctions of the radio spectrum—bidding events that have provided airwaves to wireless communications and generated hundreds of billions of dollars for the US Treasury—is set to expire on Friday, Sept. 30.

Tarana is expected to supply gigabit fixed wireless for at least one or two of the biggest winning Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) bidders; one of which is Nextlink. Tarana's new hardware will be able to use spectrum in the 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands, as well as new software that supports what the company calls G1x2 mode. That mode enables the new hardware or the previous version of the hardware to use up to 160 MHz of spectrum. The previous version of Tarana’s offering worked only in the 5 GHz band and could use only 80 MHz of spectrum.

In August 2022, the Federal Communications Commission denied the SpaceX (Starlink) bid to receive $885 million over ten years through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). The FCC went on to say in the order that there were several technical reasons for the Starlink rejection. Starlink appealed the FCC ruling. Current federal grant rules don’t allow federal subsidies to be given to any area that is slated to get another federal broadband subsidy. This has meant that the RDOF areas have been off-limits to other federal grants since the end of 2020.

5G, and the technologies it can enable, are not promised to us. As those in rural America well know, 5G is not an inevitability, or simply a function of time and technological development. It is the product of purposeful effort and long-term planning. The capitalintensive 5G transition has been a decade in the making and we are poised to fully deploy 5G in C-Band spectrum, with the auction of the 3.45 GHz band in sight. But much work remains.

On September 21, 2022, representatives from the USTelecom – the Broadband Association, CTIA, NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association, and ACA Connects – America’s Communications Association met with staffers in the Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics to offer recommendations to maximize the effectiveness of the Affordable Connectivity Program’s (ACP) data collection and to keep it simple, streamlined, and efficient for the benefit of consumers and providers alike.

States have begun to produce their own mapping data for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant allocation.

Common Sense and Public Knowledge recommend that the Universal Service Administrative Company make additional types of data available through the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) Enrollment Claims Tracker. The tracker is the main source of publicly-available data on the ACP. However, the tracker currently lacks key types of data to precisely measure the effect of these campaigns or understand the quality of the services and devices purchased.

Orange Group CEO Christel Heydemann and Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr, called on technology giants to contribute a “fair” share to broadband infrastructure costs, arguing such companies are driving a need for continued upgrades and have disproportionately benefitted from telecommunications investments to date. Regulators in the US, EU, and South Korea are weighing rule changes that would force the likes of Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Netflix to pay telecom companies for the large amounts of traffic they generate.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced Denise Bambi Kraus will serve as the Chief of the Office of Native Affairs and Policy. As Chief,  Kraus will further the FCC's efforts to bring the benefits of modern communications to all Native communities. The Office of Native Affairs and Policy (ONAP) assists the FCC in developing policies and programs to address the lack of adequate communications services on Tribal lands nationwide.