June 2025

Are Fiber and Fixed Wireless the New PB&J?

In the world of broadband, fiber providers and fixed wireless access providers tend to be at odds. But Karsten Gewecke, president of Zyxel Communications, believes it doesn’t need to be that way. Gewecke, who is from Denmark, pointed to his experience with European markets as proof positive that fiber and FWA should go hand-in-hand.

California Affordable Internet Bill Advances to State Senate

California Assembly Bill 353, which will require every provider in the state to offer an affordable internet option for no more than $15 per month, passed the Assembly floor on June 4 by a 52-17 margin. “In light of the federal internet subsidy program going away, we have to do something for California,” said Assemblymember Tasha Boerner, who introduced the legislation.

Sustaining Select Efforts to Strengthen the Nation's Cybersecurity and Amending Executive Order 13694 and Executive Order 14144

President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order to strengthen the nation’s cybersecurity by focusing on critical protections against foreign cyber threats and enhancing secure technology practices. The order:

Updating My BEAD Bingo Card

When the National Telecommunications and Information Administration made it clear that it was going to change the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program rules, I wrote a piece that I called, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, the BEAD Bingo Card. It listed a range of options for how NTIA might modify BEAD—from canceling the program to leaving it largely intact. On June 6, NTIA issued a BEAD Restructuring Policy Notice that defines how BEAD is going to work.

Everything You Know About Speed for BEAD is Now Moot

The June 2025 Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Policy Notice significantly rewrites the rules of the $42.45 billion federal broadband program just as states and territories were preparing to implement their plans. After the National Telecommunications and Information Administration spent over a year approving 56 unique, state-tailored Final Proposals—each shaped by the original 2023 Notice of Funding Opportunity’s emphasis on flexibility, local coordination, affordability, and fiber preference—the agency has now rescinded those approvals and issued a uniform, cost-first, technology-

What Does Tech-Neutrality Mean for BEAD?

The BEAD Restructuring Policy Notice released on June 6, 2025, is full of changes. One is a shift in language from “fiber first” and “Extremely High Cost per Location Threshold” to “technology-neutral.” After another round of bidding, under new rules, where will BEAD end up?  Will the fiber networks the public has been expecting emerge, or will they be largely replaced by fixed wireless networks and satellite? A hopeful scenario is that:

Growing Support for Assessing Big Tech to Fund Universal Service

The Universal Service Fund's reliance on a shrinking base of traditional voice services has created an unsustainable contribution rate, prompting industry leaders to call for technology giants to start paying into the fund. While companies like Apple, Amazon, Meta, and Netflix earn an estimated $2,600 annually from each household connected through the USF, they contribute virtually nothing to maintaining that connectivity. The discussion comes as the Supreme Court prepares to rule on a Constitutional challenge to the fund's structure in Federal Communications Commission v.

The scariest AI reality

The wildest, scariest, indisputable truth about AI's large language models is that the companies building them don't know exactly why or how they work. With the most powerful com

Judge declines to block Trump’s Corporation for Public Broadcasting board firings

U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss in Washington (DC) rejected a request for a preliminary injunction filed by three board members of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting—Laura Ross, Diane Kaplan, and Thomas Rothman—who sued the Trump administration after receiving termination notices via email on April 28.