Telecommunications Act of 1996

Library Wi-Fi hotspot lending programs (via the Federal Communications Commission’s E-rate program) are a complement to broadband providers and permanent connections at home—not a replacement for those connections, said Larra Clark, Deputy Director of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Public Policy and Advocacy Office and Deputy Director of the Public Library Association.

The Biden regulatory blitz continues, but courts are beginning to do their job to stop the biggest legal overreaches. A Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals panel blocked the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rule, citing the Supreme Court’s major questions doctrine. Welcome to the post-Chevron world. “An agency may issue regulations only to the extent that Congress permits it,” the court writes.

This is the third Federal Broadband Funding Report produced by NTIA, showing fiscal year (FY) 2022 data reported by 12 agencies across 70 programs making investments in broadband. This is the first Federal Broadband Funding Report to highlight trends across three fiscal years of data collected. For the first time, this report not only will release a dashboard of major findings but will also include a comprehensive view of broadband investment data reported across the last three data collections—reflecting broadband investments from FY 2020 to 2022.

As Tribes work in record numbers to close the significant digital divide across Indian Country, they need good policy that facilitates self-determined and sustainable solutions. To the contrary, the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), administered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), became, for many, yet another lesson in the dangers of investing significant sums of federal money into new Internet networks on Tribal lands without regard to local knowledge or priorities, leaving Tribal governments to spend their own time and resources to fix broken processes. This report exami

How much power may Congress hand off to the Washington bureaucracy? That’s a live question, so grab the popcorn to read a decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. In a 9-7 en banc ruling, it invalidated a “universal service” surcharge added to cellphone bills.

Sen Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced new legislation to help deliver reliable internet to more rural Americans by returning dormant federal funding back to the state it was intended for. The Federal Communications Commission’s current funding structure favors large companies that reap billions in federal government contracts meant to provide high-speed internet access to rural communities.

Perkins Coie Partner Marc Martin, a lawyer who helps companies understand Federal Communications Commission rules, expects multiple FCC cases to go before the Supreme Court. Martin called the recent Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision about the Universal Service Fund (USF)—ruling that the framework through which the FCC created the USF is unconstitutional—“a shock to the industry.” He referred to the Fifth Circuit Court as a “forum-shopping pla

Net neutrality is officially on hold after the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the rule from taking effect. The court granted a stay, extending an earlier temporary pause. This time, net neutrality will be blocked until the court says otherwise after reviewing the petitions from broadband providers who opposed the rule.

In February of 2017, Tom Rutledge, then-CEO of Charter, was asked how changes in Washington were about to impact the company.

In 2024, the Federal Communications Commission ordered Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile to pay nearly $200 million total for sharing customers' location data. The FCC fined AT&T around $57 million, Verizon around $47 million, and T-Mobile $92 million (including $12 million for Sprint, which merged with T-Mobile in 2020). The companies, which paid the fines under protest, now want appellate courts to reverse the FCC's ruling. “The Commission’s forfeiture order is unconstitutional, inconsistent with the limitations of the Communications Act, and arbitrary and capricious,” AT&T writes in