Federal

“We have worked really hard within the confines we’ve been given to create one of the most competitive, free-market-based, business-friendly (or business-encouraging) types of programs,” said Arkansas broadband director Glen Howie. Howie said Arkansas’ broadband funding program is flexibly designed, allowing providers to use census block groups (CBGs) to align their project footprints, while accounting for their financial modeling. Before Howie joined the Arkansas State Broadband Office, providers were able to draw their own project footprints and submit their designs to the state.

Decades after the internet’s debut, millions of Americans still lack access to high-speed broadband service. The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program (BEAD) provides $42.45 billion in federal funding to expand high-speed internet service across the country.

I’ve been peppered with questions about the impact of the change of administration on the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant program. I don’t have any better crystal ball than anybody else. But it’s not hard to speculate on the kinds of changes that might come. Some possible paths for BEAD:

The Republican who is likely to lead the Federal Communications Commission under President-elect Donald Trump detailed how he would run the agency when he wrote a chapter for the conservative Heritage Foundation's Project 2025. Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr, a longtime opponent of net neutrality rules and other broadband regulations, has also made his views clear numerous times when opposing rulemakings initiated by the current Democratic majority.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act identifies Veterans as one of eight “covered populations” and encourages states to research and address the barriers Veterans face in accessing, adopting, and benefiting from internet access and other digital technologies. States’ digital equity plans acknowledge the common challenges facing Veterans and other covered populations while also developing strategies to address the unique needs of Veterans.

In an increasingly congested wireless spectrum, conflict is both inevitable but often resolvable. Between commercial applications (e.g., terrestrial and non-terrestrial wireless communications, navigation, and telemetry), scientific activities (e.g., radio astronomy, polar research, earth observation), and other vital spectrum-dependent uses (e.g., air traffic control), competition for spectrum access will only increase with new and emerging applications and technologies.

The Federal Communications Commission received 2,734 applications from schools, libraries, and consortia of schools and libraries to participate in the Schools and Libraries Cybersecurity Pilot Program, representing $3.7 billion in requests to fund cybersecurity projects during the three-year program. During the application filing window—which ran from September 17, 2024 through November 1, 2024—the Pilot Program attracted applications from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, including schools and libraries in both rural and urban communities.

On November 5, 2024, Donald J. Trump was elected to serve as the 47th President of the United States. The election will result in changes not just in the executive branch but in Congress as well. Even with results still coming in, we take a look at changes to the Congressional committees that oversee broadband policy, the Federal Communications Commission, and the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

Verizon asked a federal appellate court to nix the $47 million fine imposed by the Federal Communications Commission for sharing customers' location data. “The agency ignored the limits of its authority in these multiple ways, in an effort to show force against a large company that did nothing wrong,” Verizon argues in a written brief filed with the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

Patrick Yoes, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, announced that the organization has sent a letter to President-elect Donald J. Trump asking him to appoint Brendan T. Carr to be the next Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. “Commissioner Carr has been a great partner to the men and women in law enforcement,” Yoes said. “He is known as ‘Mr. 5G’ for his strong advocacy in accelerating the availability of this new technology.