Level of Government

Kentucky’s mountains, hills and large rural population have historically made broadband rollout challenging for the state, so in lieu of home internet, some residents depend on local libraries, such as the Spencer County Public Library in Taylorsville. The library has all the things you’d expect to find: children’s and teens’ sections, reading areas, community meeting spaces, as well as more than a dozen computers scattered around. Director Debra Lawson said that wh

A federal judge recently told us what we already knew: that Google is a monopolist in the Web search market. In his scathing 277-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta noted that Google has an 89.2 percent share of the overall search market and a 94.9 percent share of searches conducted on mobile devices. Fixing the problem will be tricky.

In a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) that touched on a series of controversies, Meta Platforms Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said it was improper for the Biden administration to have pressured Facebook to censor content in 2021 related to the coronavirus pandemic, vowing that the social-media company would reject any such future efforts. Zuckerberg wrote that senior Biden administration officials, including from the White House, had “repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and expressed a lot

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is seeking public comment on one of the most challenging aspects of the Internet for All initiative: projects serving the most difficult and remote locations to connect. Connecting everyone in America will require a variety of technologies.

The Federal Communications Commission announced a $950,000 settlement with AT&T to resolve an Enforcement Bureau investigation into whether the company violated FCC rules by failing to deliver 911 calls to, and failing to timely notify, 911 call centers in connection with an outage AT&T experienced on August 22, 2023, in parts of Illinois, Kansas, Texas, and Wisconsin.

Kentucky is working to remove barriers to digital adoption by creating opportunities through technology, affordable high-speed internet, and digital skills development for all people and businesses. The goal is to bridge the digital divide and ensure that each citizen can participate in the modern economy and society. Kentucky's affordability strategy leaned heavily on promoting ACP participation by eligible residents and internet service providers (ISPs). Of course, the ACP expired earlier this year due to a lack of funding.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) announced the sixth round of recommended awardees, including three Tribes, for last mile broadband projects as part of the $2 billion Last Mile Federal Funding Account Grant Program. This program aims to expand internet access for underserved and unserved communities across California.

There are a lot of folks who think there will be substantial Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) spending in 2025. I don’t want to burst bubbles, but I just can’t see that happening. Like every other part of the BEAD process, there are delays coming that are going to drive folks crazy.

In May, the $14.2 billion Affordable Connectivity Program officially ran out of money, leaving 23 million households with internet bills that were $30 to $75 higher than the month before. That's if they decided to hang on to their internet service at all: 13% of ACP subscribers, or roughly 3 million households, said that after the program ended they planned to cancel service, according to a Benton Institute survey

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report requested Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) that found the Universal Service Fund (USF) operator is burning through cash with only minimal government oversight of its budget. The report confirms the need for greater Congressional oversight of the USF as Sen. Cruz laid out in his Blueprint for Universal Service Fund Reform, published last year.