Legislation

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that Massachusetts received its first “Internet for All” grants for deploying high-speed Internet networks and developing digital skills training programs under the Biden-Harris Administration’s Internet for All initiative.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is like a start-up within the federal government, despite being nearly 45 years old. We delivered on programs to improve Internet connectivity while also notching big wins on spectrum policy, international standards, and other important tech policy issues. Highlights from the year included:

AT&T will launch broadband services in states it doesn’t currently serve by forming a joint venture with BlackRock to fund the rollout of fiber-optic networks in new markets. The venture with BlackRock Alternatives will be called Gigapower LLC and aims to reach an initial 1.5 million customer locations across the US. The companies didn’t disclose the financial terms of the deal or the states they would seek to serve. The joint venture will be in addition to ATT's current goal of reaching more than 30 million fiber locations, including businesses, by the end of 2025. 

The bipartisan leadership of the Senate Commerce Committee wants stakeholders to have more time to challenge the accuracy of the Federal Communication Commission's new broadband availability map given what they said were the “significant flaws’ already discovered in the draft map. The FCC has conceded the mapping is an iterative process that will be improved by stakeholder challenges. The senators said, “it is absolutely critical that states, tribes, localities, and stakeh

On November 22, seven Republican US senators led by Sen Steve Daines (R-MT) wrote to National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) head Alan Davidson about the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program: "Unfortunately, in your recent BEAD Notice of Opportunity Funding (NOFO), NTIA excluded broadband service using entirely unlicensed spectrum from its definition of reliable broadband, a stark contrast to Congress’s tech-neutral intent and previous determinations reached by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)." On December 20, Administrator Davidson r

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that New Mexico received its first “Internet for All” grants for deploying high-speed Internet networks and developing digital skills training programs under the Biden-Harris Administration’s Internet for All initiative.

Congress passed the bipartisan Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2022, which restores the Commission’s authority to ensure service providers charge “just and reasonable rates” for intrastate and interstate calls and other communications methods used by incarcerated individuals in correctional facilities. The legislation is the result of the dedication of the late Martha Wright, who led the charge in 2003 to create positive change and ensure families with incarcerated individuals had the ability to stay in contact with their loved ones by eliminating the burden of

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that Kansas received its first “Internet for All” grants for deploying high-speed Internet networks and developing digital skills training programs under the Biden-Harris Administration’s Internet for All initiative.

The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau started the 2022 Quadrennial Review of the FCC’s media ownership rules. The Bureau seeks comment on whether the media ownership rules remain “necessary in the public interest as the result of competition.” Although the FCC has not yet adopted final rules in the 2018 Quadrennial Review proceeding, it remains cognizant of the statutory obligation to review the broadcast ownership rules every four years.

What counts as a fiber passing, anyway? It seems the answer varies slightly by operator, though most consider a passing to be any location which can be connected to fiber running along the main road. A Consolidated representative said passings are locations that are in “close proximity” to its network.