Federal

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved and recommended for award an application from Vermont, allowing the state to request access to more than $5 million to implement its Digital Equity Plan. This funding comes from the $1.44 billion State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program, one of three Digital Equity Act grant programs created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.  Vermont will use the $5,299,150 in funding to implement key digital equity initiatives, including:  

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved and recommended for award applications from Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming, allowing them to request access to more than $100 million to implement their Digital Equity Plans. This funding comes from the $1.44 billion State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program, one of three Digital Equity Act grant programs created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The states can request access to:

The Federal Communications Commission has adopted final rules for cellular-vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) technology. These rules will improve transportation safety and permit more efficient mobility as this advanced communications technology is integrated into vehicles and infrastructure.

Fiber deployment has significant incremental economic benefits even in the presence of other high-speed broadband technologies. The report also argues that because private actors will not capture all the benefits of fiber deployment the marketplace will not deploy enough fiber on its own. Based on these findings we suggest a few policy takeaways:

At first, Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” looks like the most Silicon Valley-style project one could imagine. But now that they’ve laid out their plans for the “department” (actually an advisory commission outside government) in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, concern is bubbling up—even in the tech world—that the project might suffer from a couple other very Silicon Valley qualities: ego and overpromising. It’s not clear to many experts that the pair’s plans, as detailed as they s

The Federal Communications Commission voted to launch a major, comprehensive review and update of licensing rules for submarine cables that transmit information between continents and fuel economic activity.

I want to thank Chairwoman Rosenworcel for her astute leadership on critical issues not only as the first woman ever to be confirmed by the Senate to lead the Federal Communications Commission but also as Commissioner. The list of issues is long. She focused on consumers, especially those that have been historically left behind and those that are in vulnerable situations, on economic priorities such as the space economy and our digital future, and on national security. Her impact will be felt by many. I also want to thank her for her support and friendship.

Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB) is pleased to announce the availability of $8 million in additional funds for the state’s broadband buildout. The money is interest earned on initial American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money that the General Assembly entrusted to the Vermont Community Broadband Fund.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently released the 5th version of the National Broadband Map, with data as of June 2024. At a high level, the trend continues of fewer and fewer unserved and underserved locations: in the previous version, 8.8 million locations were unserved or unserved. Now, with six months more data, we’re down to 7.5 million locations needing better broadband service. That’s an 15 percent decrease over one six-month period.

There has been a lot of speculation since the election that the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant program is going to get revamped. This raises the interesting question if it’s too late for a new administration to make major changes to the BEAD program. There is also the question of the process needed to change the BEAD rules. The BEAD rules were created by Congress, and it seems that Congress would have to act to change the rules. There are several ways the administration could give more funding for satellite.