Fierce

Asked about net neutrality, Verizon Business CEO Kyle Malady said the Federal Communications Commission has flipped back and forth on the issue over the years. In his view net neutrality wasn’t needed before it was instituted, it wasn’t missed after it was revoked, and it still isn’t needed.

Plans to spend Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program dollars to connect underserved populations could be impacted by state elections, according to broadband policy experts. Among the ten states that got the largest BEAD allocations, three (Missouri, North Carolina and Louisiana) will hold gubernatorial elections before the end of 2024. Executive Director of ConnectLA Veneeth Iyengar—Louisiana’s broadband program—plans to have as much BEAD work as possible done before th

Mediacom has completed a fiber-optic network expansion in rural Truesdale (IA), delivering phone plans and download speeds of up to 2 Gbps with a focus on low-cost accessibility. Truesdale is the tenth community that Mediacom, the fifth largest cable operator in the US, has constructed through collaboration with the Empower Iowa Rural Broadband Grant Program. The operator has expanded its fiber network to over 1,400 locations in rural Iowa through that public-private partnership.

Tachus Fiber, with help from private equity partner Crosstimbers Capital Group, is set to spend $100 million to expand its footprint in the Houston (TX) metropolitan area. The company has the aim of adding 100,000 passings in southwest Houston by the end of 2025.

A House Commerce Committee hearing centered on the future of rural broadband funding had industry leaders testifying on the improvements they deem necessary for the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program to be effective. US Telecom CEO Jonathan Spalter said in addition to financial backing, Congress can take non-funding actions to expedite and improve programs for rural broadband, and spoke against BEAD’s letter of credit requirement, which he contended could “actually reduce the amount of broadband deployed in the next few years using private capital.” Additi

The fate of the Universal Service Fund (USF) remains uncertain, as the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held an en banc (before the entire bench) hearing to debate whether the current system is illegal The USF includes four main programs aimed at addressing the digital divide – High Cost, Lifeline, E-Rate (for schools and libraries) and Rural Health Care.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) supports Dish Network’s request for more time to buy 800 MHz spectrum licenses from T-Mobile but says seven more months is sufficient rather than the ten months that Dish had requested. In a September 18 filing with the US District Court for the District of Columbia, the DoJ said a modest extension of the deadline for Dish to acquire the spectrum licenses will serve the competition goals of the final judgment that enabled Sprint to merge with T-Mobile. The DoJ referred back to a 2013 petition that T-Mobile filed with the Federal Communications Commission when