Federal

We write concerning the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Implementing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) “Prevention and Elimination of Digital Discrimination” (Docket/RM 22-69). We urge you to take swift action to adopt final rules to facilitate equal access to broadband internet.  Congress intended Section 60506 to require internet service providers to end discrimination resulting from programs and policies that perpetuate systemic barriers for people of color and other underserved groups.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded nearly $5.5 million in the first round of grants from the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund. This first round of funding will support research and development and testing activities related to evaluating energy efficiency, measuring performance of interoperable equipment and testing methods for sharing spectrum. The funding totaled $5,482,052 and was awarded to projects at Northe

A group known as the Coalition of Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Winners is still hoping that the Federal Communications Commission will release additional funding to the companies to help cover the large increases in deployment costs that the winners have experienced since the RDOF rural broadband funding auction was completed in 2020, just prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. One of the companies seeking extra funding is Aristotle Broadband, which won $62 million in the auction for deployments primarily in Arkansas and Mississippi, including persistent poverty cou

In January 2023, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) publicly released a report which makes nine recommendations to assist the Federal Communications Commission  enhance the Affordable Connectivity Program’s (ACP) performance goals and measures, language translation process, consumer outreach plan, and various processes for managing fraud risk. The FCC  has undertaken an aggressive and robust corrective plan to address and resolve each of GAO’s nine recommendations.

Gov. Jim Justice (R-WV) announced the preliminary approval of more than $32 million under two programs of the West Virginia Broadband Investment Plan. This announcement includes applications received under the programs Line Extension Advancement and Development (LEAD) and Major Broadband Project Strategies (MBPS). LEAD and MBPS projects announced through this application cycle will provide broadband connectivity to more than 6,000 targeted locations with the deployment of approximately 793 miles of new infrastructure.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) released illustrative results for the Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model (Enhanced A-CAM) (v2.6.0) program recently adopted by the FCC. These results utilize three different combinations of per-location funding caps for unserved locations and funding percentages for locations already deployed by the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC).

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and Office of Native Affairs and Policy seek comment on ways in which the FCC can improve its understanding of how and the extent to which Tribal Nations and the Native Hawaiian Community are able to access wireless spectrum today. This information will be used as the FCC develops and implements new and existing policy initiatives designed to increase broadband connectivity in Tribal communities.

In October 2022, I wrote a blog about a bipartisan attempt to exempt broadband grant funding from being taxable income. Unfortunately, Congress has still not moved this legislation forward.

The Vermont Community Broadband Board has approved amendments totaling approximately $20 million to increase broadband grant funding for two communications union districts (CUDs). CUDs are groups of towns in the state that work together to obtain broadband buildouts to unserved areas within the CUD. The decision to up the funding was made via vote of the VCBB on July 18, 2023. Maple Broadband will receive $2.1 million more for its buildouts and NEK Broadband will receive $17.9 million more for its buildouts.

The Federal Communications Commission voted to launch a proceeding designed to advance its understanding of non-federal spectrum usage and take advantage of new data sources, methods, and technologies to do so in a cost-effective, accurate, scalable, and actionable manner. This Notice of Inquiry will explore how these new tools can promote effective spectrum management and identify new opportunities for innovation. This proceeding will explore the feasibility, benefits, and limitations of techniques to understand non-Federal spectrum usage.