September 2024

Each year, the Federal Communications Commission must adopt a schedule of regulatory fees to be collected by the end of September. For fiscal year (FY) 2024, the FCC is required to collect $390,192,000 in regulatory fees, pursuant to section 9 of the Communications Act of 1934 and the Commission’s FY 2024 Further Consolidation Appropriations Act. In this Report and Order, the FCC adopts the regulatory fee schedule to assess and collect $390,192,000 in congressionally required regulatory fees for FY 2024.

If the proposed recombination of Windstream and Uniti is completed, the combined company could win Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding for fiber builds to 500,000 locations. Windstream has a strong focus on Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets, where locations are most likely to be eligible for BEAD funding. The company also may have a cost advantage in comparison with other companies that might want to bid for BEAD funding to serve the same locations. The company has been touting its comparatively low average fiber deployment cost of $650 per passing.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration released a report based on the Government Accountability Office’s recommendation to assess legislative barriers in coordinating Federal broadband programs, and how to address those barriers. The report outlines recommendations to build on current efforts, mechanisms currently in place to minimize potential duplication between federal programs, and NTIA’s role in coordination. NTIA makes the following recommendations to build on current efforts: