August 2025

The 1996 Telecommunications Act not only established the Universal Service Fund and its programs, it also required that the Federal Communications Commission regularly provide a report that determines “whether advanced telecommunications capability is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion.” To develop the report, Congress required the FCC to release a Notice of Inquiry to gather information for the public record and inform the Commission’s final determination of whether ‘advanced

The University of Mississippi Medical Center is proof that when Mississippi talent meets modern technology, there’s no limit to what can be achieved. And nowhere is that more clear than at the Center for Telehealth. UMMC’s telehealth program has become a national model, showing how broadband can deliver quality, life-saving care straight into people’s homes, whether they’re down the road or five counties over. For many Mississippians, this kind of access isn’t a luxury, it’s a lifeline. That’s why I’m here.

Arizona and New Mexico reported a surge in applications for federal broadband funding after being directed to relaunch “technology-neutral” grant rounds under the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program. Nick Capozzi, Arizona’s state broadband director, said that the state received 33 percent more applications in the latest round.

Just how far is the U.S. ahead of China in the AI race? The conventional wisdom is that the U.S. has an edge on China in artificial intelligence—and President Donald Trump’s ambitious new AI policy is built around keeping it. What it means to have an “edge” is ill-defined: it could be technological, economic or geopolitical. “I don’t know how to answer that,” said Suresh Venkatasubramanian, who served in the Biden White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, when DFD asked if the U.S. is ahead.