Gov performance

The  Federal Communications Commission, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Covered Agencies) agree as follows:

There’s been much handwringing this year over the prospect of defaults in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) program, but very little empirical analysis of the actual extent of default that has occurred to date or data-driven projections of what’s likely to occur in the future. It’s time to dig deeper to figure out what’s going on at the local level. The FCC authorized 379 companies to receive $6 billion in RDOF support over a ten-year term, covering just under 3.5 million locations in 48 states and one territory.

A Q&A with Jenna Leventoff, a senior policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. What’s one underrated big idea? Section 230 [of the 1996 Communications Decency Act], which is both underrated and underappreciated. What’s a technology you think is overhyped? AI is both overhyped and a little bit under-hyped. What book most shaped your conception of the future? “To Paradise” by Hanya Yanagihara. What could government be doing regar

On July 9, the House Commerce Committee's Communications and Technology Subcommittee held a hearing on the fiscal year (FY) 2025 budget for the Federal Communications Commission. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel testified before the subcommittee along with fellow commissioners Brendan Carr, Geoffrey Starks, Nathan Simington, and Anna Gomez.

The National Telecommunications Information Administration's (NTIA) $3 billion Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) aims to expand access to and adoption of broadband service on tribal land. NTIA is distributing these funds through two rounds of grant funding; NTIA finished announcing awards for the first round of funding in September of 2023, and the application period for the second funding round closed in March 2024.

This report examines topics related to the  National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) including: (1) grants that reached Tribes that had not received previous federal broadband support; (2) the extent to which NTIA provided support to recipients on financial sustainability; and (3) the extent to which NTIA provided recipients with technical assistance in the environmental review process. Tribal leaders have hailed the TBCP as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to close the digital divide on their lands, areas that have long lag

The record shows that Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) recipients regard using access to broadband as critical to their healthcare. A recent study found that 75% of ACP participants fear that losing access to ACP will result in losing access to healthcare. This is consistent with another large-scale survey found that 45% of adults believe that inadequate access to technology, including broadband and computers, is a barrier to telehealth, and this was especially prominent among rural residents and adults over the age of 65. That is, ACP

By connecting more people to the internet via the Affordable Connectivity Program, the savings from reductions in the cost of Medicaid alone could result in a net gain to the government.  And that does not incorporate savings from Medicare, the Veterans Administration, and other government-funded healthcare programs.  Further, there are other savings related to other government programs.  For lower-income individuals, adopting in-home broadband increases their likelihood of employment by 14%, with 62% of those newly connected households citing the connection as having helped them or a 

Residential fixed broadband internet access in the United States (US) has long been distributed inequitably, drawing significant attention from researchers and policymakers. This paper evaluates the efficacy of the Connect America Fund (CAF), a key policy intervention aimed at addressing disparities in US internet access. CAF subsidizes the creation of new regulated broadband monopolies in underserved areas, aiming to provide comparable internet access, in terms of price and speed, to that available in urban regions.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) Office of Minority Broadband Initiatives (OMBI) has released its Annual Report for 2023.