Federal

Light Reading's Nicole Ferraro and Jake Varn, associate manager with Pew's Broadband Access Initiative, discuss how the lapse of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) in May is now impacting states' plans t

The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to reaffirm its revocation of an award authorizing Space Exploration Technologies Corporation’s Starlink to receive broadband deployment subsidies through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF).  The Committee seeks information from the FCC to ensure that the Commission followed established processes and is not improperly using the regulatory process for political purposes.

U.S. District Judge James Donato ordered Google to make it easier for developers of mobile-app stores to compete on phones and tablets that use the company’s Android software. The injunction is the result of Google losing an antitrust case—brought by “Fortnite” developer Epic Games—during a jury trial in December 2023.

We at Mobile Experts have been tracking the fixed wireless access (FWA) market for many years. In 2017, we predicted that 5G FWA would be a success.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved California’s Initial Proposal for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris Administration’s “Internet for All” initiative. This approval enables California to request access to funding and begin implementation of the BEAD program. California was allocated over $1.8 billion to deploy or upgrade high-speed Internet networks to ensure that everyone has access to reliable, affordable, high-speed Internet service.  

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved North Carolina’s Initial Proposal for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris Administration’s “Internet for All” initiative. This approval enables North Carolina to request access to funding and begin implementation of the BEAD program. North Carolina was allocated over $1.5 billion to deploy or upgrade high-speed Internet networks to ensure that everyone has access to reliable, affordable, high-speed Internet service.  

If you know CostQuest at all you probably think of it as the company that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hired to help the FCC clean up and refine its national broadband map. But the company is also working with state broadband offices on their Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) programs.

Congressman Andrew Clyde (R-GA) introduced the Ending FCC Meddling in Our Elections Act. The legislation would prohibit the use of federal funds to enforce the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) notice of proposed rulemaking related to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in campaign advertising. In May, the FCC, led by a Democrat-appointed majority, voted 3-2 to propose new regulations impacting the use of AI in campaign advertising. The proposed rules would mandate that television and radio providers issue an on-air disclosure every time an AI-created ad is aired.

Ahead of a recent vote in Congress on a child safety bill, a powerful tech lobby representing Google, Meta and other major tech firms sent a forceful warning to lawmakers. The Kids Online Safety Act was “bad on policy and bad on the law,” the lobby, NetChoice, said in a statement, adding, “Courts across the country repeatedly halted these types of provisions.” The child safety bill, which would require social media platforms and other sites to limit features that can promote cyberbullying, har

Now that Broadband Offices have started the process of soliciting Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant applications, I thought I’d discuss a topic that anybody who wins a BEAD grant is going to care about—how a Broadband Office will reimburse grant winners for making expenditures. You might think this is straightforward, but unfortunately it is not. Grant offices are taking a wide variety of approaches to how they reimburse internet service providers (ISPs) for grant expenditures. Why does the method of payment matter? It probably doesn’t to giant ISPs.