June 2025

The reverberations from the last-minute changes to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program continue. But, since the new BEAD plans were unveiled, industry expert Blair Levin — policy adviser to New Street Research — has had time to refine his assessment. “Our initial reaction was that the new rules would shift funds from fiber to satellite, a negative for wired providers…We still think that but in talking to numerous stakeholders, that magnitude of the shift may be less than we initially thought,” says Levin.

Sens Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mike Lee (R-UT), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced the bipartisan Open App Markets Act. The Open App Markets Act would:

The Senate confirmed Paul Dabbar as the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce in 56-40 vote. In this role, he will serve as the Department’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), overseeing its day-to-day management, a $11.4 billion annual budget, 12 operating units, and 47,000 employees. He is also a member of the President’s Management Council. Most recently, Mr. Dabbar was President and CEO of Bohr Quantum Technology, where he led the development and deployment of technologies for emerging quantum networks.