Infrastructure

As we move into 2025, the Trump Administration and Congress have a unique opportunity to enact infrastructure policy reforms that will serve as a springboard for finishing 5G deployment and setting the stage for all the future G’s. This is critical to America’s economic success and the safety and vitality of our communities. With a mixture of common-sense reforms and strengthening existing rules, we can build on prior successes and set the stage for continued generational investments in wireless.

Among several cities with 75,000–125,000 residents, the city of South Bend (IN) was named the No.1 Digital City at the 2024 National League of Cities Conference. Established by the Center for Digital Government to recognize cities improving constituent services through innovative technology, South Bend won first place for incorporating generative AI, expanding the Open WiFi Network, and the revamped Police Transparency Hub. Inside INdiana Business spoke with South Bend Chief Innovation Officer Denise Linn Riedl about the digital transformation that is occurring within city government.

The Rural Utilities Service, a Rural Development agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), announces the acceptance of applications under the Community Connect Grant (CCG) program for fiscal year (FY) 2025. This notice is being issued prior to passage of an FY 2025 appropriations act in order to allow applicants sufficient time to prepare their applications and give the Agency time to process applications within FY 2025. Based on FY 2024 appropriated funding, RUS estimates that approximately $26 million will be available for FY 2025.

An impressive milestone is inching its way to completion in North Dakota.

Pretty much everybody at this point knows the U.S. is trying to close its digital divide with the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. But what about the rest of the world?

Every day at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), we work to promote technology in the service of human progress. That has been the throughline of our actions on Internet connectivity, spectrum and tech policy.

A lot of internet service providers (ISPs) that seek grant money take advantage of in-kind matching rules. In-kind contributions recognize non-cash benefits of property, goods, or services that will benefit a grant project. Many grant programs allow in-kind matches to be used in calculating the matching funds being provided by a grant applicant.

On January 2, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) published the Final Bead Alternative Broadband Technology Policy Notice to provide additional guidance to states and territories regarding the use of non-fiber technologies to serve unserved and underserved locations through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. The BEAD Program is designed to deploy broadband service to all unserved and underserved locations

The Federal Communications Commission released the 2024 Communications Marketplace Report on December 31. By law, the FCC must publish a Communications Marketplace Report every two years, assessing the state of competition across the broader communications marketplace.

On January 3, 2025, the 119th Congress was sworn in. Republicans now hold majorities in both the House and the Senate. With the incoming Trump administration, Congressional Republicans have a lengthy list of priorities.