Federal

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will announce the allotment of Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funds to the US states and territories in June 2023. And NTIA has indicated it wants areas that are unserved with broadband to receive the funds first. Jonathan Chambers, a partner with the fiber construction company Conexon, says that in terms of deploying fiber to unserved rural areas, deployments are going to be mostly aerial deployments as opposed to trenched deployments.

The US Department of Education, Federal Communications Commission, non-profit group Civic Nation, and broadband operators joined hands to launch a “Week of Action” designed to boost sign-ups for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP).

Comcast is pushing back on a Federal Communications Commission order that will require internet service providers to provide their customers with “broadband nutrition labels” indicating such things as what kind of speed they're getting and what fees they're paying.

Senators Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced the No Section 230 Immunity for AI Act. This new bipartisan legislation would clarify that Section 230 immunity will not apply to claims based on generative AI, ensuring consumers have the tools they need to protect themselves from harmful content produced by the latest advancements in AI technology. For example, AI-generated “deepfakes” – lifelike false images of real individuals – are exploding in popular

The Federal Communications Commission committed over $21 million in a new funding round through the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) Program, which provides digital services for students in communities across the country.

If provider associations are successful in their advocacy, the next Farm Bill will end the need for ReConnect broadband funding to be reappropriated every year. The ReConnect program covers some of the costs of deploying broadband to unserved areas. Farm bills are an every-five-year occurrence and the current bill is due to expire later in 2023. Fortunately, the farm bill typically has bipartisan support and usually passes both chambers, noted NTCA (The Rural Broadband Association) Director o

The Biden Administration announced that Civic Nation and the US Department of Education are launching Online For All, a digital equity campaign working to close the digital divide by focusing on internet access, affordability, and equity for students, families, and all Americans. Online For All will work with nonprofit, government, corporate, and media stakeholders to educate communities about how the Biden-Harris Internet for All Initiative can help them access reliable, affordable high-speed internet. The partnership is kicking off with a Week of Ac

Recently Mike Conlow discussed how cellular companies are reporting large numbers of passings on the Federal Communications Commission's broadband maps as having the capability to receive exactly 25/3 Mbps. That isn’t a very fast broadband speed, so why does this make any difference? It turns out that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is using the number of locations with speeds under 25/3 Mbps to allocate the $42.5 Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant dollars between states. The problem is that, in many cases, the claimed speeds are not

Governor Brian P. Kemp (R-GA) committed nearly $15 million in preliminary grant awards for broadband internet expansion through the second round of the Capital Projects Fund (CPF) Grant Program. These awards will improve connectivity for communities, households, businesses, and anchor institutions in four Georgia counties. When combined with significant capital matches from the awardees, almost $30 million will be invested to serve over 3,500 locations in areas most in need of high-speed internet access. The county awardees are as follows:

Collectively, we have come a long way together since the early days of [the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers] ICANN. In fact, this year marks the 25th anniversary of ICANN. As someone who was around for those early days, it’s amazing to think about how much the Internet has changed. When ICANN began in 1998, there were less than 150 million people on the Internet.