On August 19, 2025, West Virginia released its revised Final Proposal for the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program. The West Virginia Office of Broadband recommends awarding $625 million in BEAD funding to deploy broadband infrastructure to 73,701 eligible locations. Of those locations, 94.2 percent would be served by fiber to the premises and 5.8 percent by low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite.
The Supreme Court recently provided the Federal Communications Commission a sizable legal win by upholding its Universal Service Fund as constitutional.
When the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) ended in April 2024, a well-known financial juggling act ensued. Low-income recipients, now left to pay for their internet services without assistance from the federal program, shuffled payments, negotiated discounts, haggled, and stretched their limited financial resources to remain connected, a recent AARP study showed. The study found that internet access has become deeply embedded in daily life.
States are showing fiber is still king in their plans for the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program—much to the dismay of Starlink. Starlink’s parent company SpaceX, which expected the lion’s share of BEAD money once the Trump administration axed the program’s fiber preference, has filed complaints against Louisiana and Virginia for awarding most of their funds to wireline providers. The company urged the states to re-evaluate, or it will ask NTIA to reject their final proposals.
The Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority (PBDA) Board of Directors has provisionally approved $793.4 million in Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grants that will universally connect all Pennsylvanians to high-speed internet once fully approved by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
On August 15, Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) signed the Electrical Service Broadband Deployment and Access Law, which allows electric cooperatives that receive state or federal funding to improve broadband service to use existing electric easements and road rights-of-way to install the infrastructure in grant areas, subject to specific notification and compensation requirements for property owners. The bill’s purpose is to improve broadband access in unserved and underserved areas by providing electric cooperatives with more flexibility in infrastructure deployment.
Over the past few years, a quiet revolution has taken place in the U.S. home broadband market—not on the ground, but in the air. Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) delivered over 5G networks has emerged as a fast-growing alternative to traditional fixed broadband. One of the most compelling aspects of 5G FWA is its ability to deliver fast, reliable broadband without the need for physical fiber or cable infrastructure all the way to the home.
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