Federal

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced it has awarded eight grants totaling $3,998,000 to eight Tribes as part of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP). This funding from will help Tribes reduce monthly Internet service costs, plan for future Internet infrastructure investments, upgrade network equipment, and purchase devices. The winning Tribes are as follows:

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced changes to her leadership team, as well as the addition of a new Legal Advisor. Chairwoman Rosenworcel announced the departure of Umair Javed from her team and the agency more broadly. Effective as of July 20th, 2023, Priscilla Delgado-Argeris will serve as Chief Counsel, Ramesh Nagarajan will assume the role of Chief Legal Advisor, and Rashann Duvall will join the Chairwoman’s team as Acting Legal Advisor on the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) and other wireline issues.

At the July 16-19, 2023 summit of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), the organization passed a resolution supporting permanent funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). In its resolution, NARUC acknowledged that there were $8.6 billion of remaining ACP appropriations available for disbursement as of June 2023 and that the program is expected to run out of funding by the second quarter of 2024.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted an order providing Tribal libraries and other E-Rate participants enhanced access to funding so they can obtain affordable, high-speed broadband services and equipment to connect students and library patrons with online learning opportunities.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted rules to help ensure that the public has access to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline if a service outage occurs. The new rules:

The Federal Communications Commission circulated draft rules to govern the lower 42 GHz spectrum (between 42 – 42.5 GHz). This is within the range of spectrum referred to as millimeter wave spectrum. This is one of the more unusual FCC spectrum deliberations because this spectrum is totally empty – there is nobody currently authorized by the FCC to use the spectrum band.

The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are releasing a draft update of the Merger Guidelines (Draft Guidelines), which describe and guide the agencies’ review of mergers and acquisitions to determine compliance with federal antitrust laws. The goal of this update is to better reflect how the agencies determine a merger’s effect on competition in the modern economy and evaluate proposed mergers under the law. Both agencies encourage the public to review the draft and provide feedback through a public comment period that will last 60 days.

The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, the US government’s $42 billion broadband grants program, requires recipients to provide a Letter of Credit for 25% of the grant award. Alongside the additional 25% match requirement, this capital barrier will shut out a huge number of internet service providers (ISP).The small and community-centered ISPs, minority and women-owned businesses, nonprofits, and municipalities that the program claims to be targeting will be most affected.

The US Department of the Treasury announced the approval of $112 million in federal funds for broadband infrastructure and multi-purpose community facility projects in Rhode Island under the American Rescue Plan’s Capital Projects Fund (CPF). Rhode Island is approved to receive $25 million for broadband infrastructure projects, which the state estimates will connect 7,500 homes and businesses to affordable, high-speed internet and serve about 30 percent of locations still lacking high-speed internet across the state.

Municipal broadband providers, which play a vital role in bridging the digital divide, should have equitable access to federal funding regardless of state regulatory roadblocks, said Gigi Sohn, executive director of the American Association for Public Broadband.