Federal

Sponsor: 

Communications and Technology Subcommittee

House Commerce Committee

Date: 
Tue, 05/23/2023 - 10:00

Witness

The Honorable Alan Davidson, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and Administrator, National Telecommunications and Information Administration



US Treasury Releases Final Version of SLFRF/CPF Supplemental Broadband Guidance

The US Treasury Department has released the final version of important compliance guidance applicable to broadband projects funded through the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF) or Capital Project Fund (CPF) awards.

Rural Tennessee co-op a year ahead of schedule on fiber buildout

The state of Tennessee is expected by some estimates to receive as much as $896 million through the federal government's $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program.

Vermont Congressional Delegation Announces First USDA ReConnect Grant to Vermont

Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Peter Welch (D-VT) and Representative Becca Balint (D-VT) announced that NEK Community Broadband (NEKCB) will receive Vermont’s first-ever United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) ReConnect grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network in Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans counties in Vermont.

Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Defaults Estimate: Over $2.8 Billion -- What Happens to That Money?

Nearly every winning bid in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) rural broadband funding program has now either been authorized or deemed to be in default.

President Biden Announces Federal Communications Commission Nominees

President Joe Biden will nominate the following individuals to serve as key leaders in the Federal Communications Commission:

Will Congress Fund the ACP?

The clock is ticking on the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). Current estimates show the program may run out of funding as soon as the end of the first quarter in 2024. The only solution for keeping ACP operating is for Congress to refill the ACP funding bucket somehow. Angela Siefer of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance said that reauthorizing ACP was one of the biggest broadband issues on the plate for Congress. She talked about the many gains that have been made in getting broadband to low-income homes.

The FCC's new "Funding Map" comes up short

The Federal Communications Commission’s “Funding Map” was just published and, at first glance, it needs work. The FCC’s own Rural Digital Opportunity Fund originally had winning bids for 5.2 million locations. As of the latest release of authorized winners, 3.5 million locations were moving forward.

An industry short on enthusiasm: Where are all the fiber technicians?

The federal government has been trumpeting its efforts to expand access to high-speed internet service for underserved areas across the US, namely through $42.5 billion in Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program funding. But in BEAD’s shadow stands another obstacle to closing the digital divide: a massive shortage of fiber technicians. Flume Internet CEO Prashanth Vijay put a salient reason for that shortage simply enough. “There's just not much enthusiasm to go and like… dig a trench,” he told Fierce Telecom.

What did NTIA's Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth Accomplish in 2022?

The Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth (OICG) is housed within the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Congress created OICG in the ACCESS BROADBAND Act of 2021, part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, to oversee all broadband activity at NTIA and lead federal efforts to fund and expand broadband access across the country.