The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau approved Verizon’s $20 billion acquisition of Frontier by granting a series of applications that transfer FCC licenses and
authorizations. The merger:
Kinetic and Thomas County (GA) announced the completion of a nearly $13.3 million fiber optic expansion project. The Thomas County project has been generously funded through a combination of more than $6.8 million from the State Fiscal Recovery Fund and a county match of $1.3 million. To complete the project, Kinetic invested $5.1 million of its own funds to bolster Thomas County’s digital infrastructure and ensure that residents have access to reliable, fast internet services.
Clallam County (WA) and Astound announced a partnership to bring high-speed fiber internet connectivity to a large unserved and underserved rural area of the county that generally extends along and parallel to the approximately 15-mile State Route 112 Highway corridor, beginning just west of Port Angeles. Once complete, the project will provide more than 1,500 homes with access to Astound’s fiber-to-the-home network, delivering symmetrical speeds of up to 5 gigabits per second. This $22.2 million partnership is backed by a combination of funding source.
Spectrum announced the launch of Spectrum Internet, Mobile, TV and Voice services to more than 770 homes and small businesses in Hertford County (NC). Spectrum’s multi-year rural construction initiative is driven by more than $7 billion in private investment from Spectrum and will ultimately add an additional 100,000+ miles of fiber-optic network infrastructure and deliver symmetrical and multi-gigabit speed internet access to more than 1.7 million new locations across the country.
On Friday, May 9, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration terminated North Carolina’s $22.4 million Digital Equity Capacity grant. Without this funding, the North Carolina Department of Information Technology is not able to move forward with the $17 million Digital Opportunity Grant program, which would have expanded North Carolinians’ access to digital devices, help desk and technical support, as well as digital skills and online safety programs.
The National Digital Inclusion Alliance launched the 2025 Digital Navigator Program Toolkit. It provides guidance for setting up and managing successful digital navigator programs. The authors of the toolkit are experts from the NDIA team who have experience training, supporting, and learning from hundreds of digital navigators and programs providing digital navigator services across the country. The toolkit takes readers from conception to execution to sustaining a digital navigator program, with concrete tools and advice from practitioners across the country.
Telecommunications giant Verizon is ending several internal programs that foster—or simply mention—a diverse workforce, following a federal probe and threats from Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr. After President Trump issued an executive order to rid the federal government of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” initiatives, the FCC launched a formal investigation into Ver
America’s cable giants are being squeezed from all sides. Competition from wireless carriers is surging. Government subsidies are on hold. The onetime fortress of cable TV has all but crumbled. Those forces propelled the $21.9 billion deal Charter Communications struck to buy Cox Communications. A decade ago, broadband providers pursued big mergers to protect their ailing TV businesses.
Education and technology leaders weighed in on what the elimination of Digital Equity Act funds means for students, teachers, and the nation as a whole. Amy Loyd, CEO of the nonprofit All4Ed and former assistant secretary of the U.S.
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