As states continue to submit their Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment proposals, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration seems to already be pushing for changes to the plans.
At the Datacloud USA and Metro Connect conferences, fiber industry executives said they are getting plenty of requests from data center developers. But those developers are often pushing projects out of major metro areas in order to chase available power. So, they’re asking for fiber in places that don’t otherwise make economic sense for providers. Sound familiar?
No, despite multiple breathless posts on LinkedIn, SpaceX won’t become the fourth mobile network operator in the United States, even with its $17 billion purchase of wireless spectrum from EchoStar, according to analysts.
The UK and U.S. are pleased to announce a memorandum of understanding between the UK Department for Science, Innovation & Technology and the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration to deepen our collaboration in support of communications supply chain security and innovation. We will work through our labs, relevant agencies, and with industry and academic partners to enable joint research and development on 6G-relevant technologies, such as software for AI-enabled 6G. These efforts will complement our engagement at standards bodies, where the U.S.
On September 18, 2025, Federal Communications Commissioner Olivia Trusty spoke at the Free State Foundation Luncheon, where she touched on her three priorities for her time at the FCC: (1) Universal connectivity, (2) public safety and national security, and (3) restoring U.S. leadership in nextgeneration technologies. "The choices we make today, about spectrum, infrastructure, competition, and security, will define our nation’s trajectory for decades.
Build America Agenda into meaningful wins for U.S. businesses and consumers. First, we are working to create a regulatory environment that empowers you, the private sector, to build and innovate. Through the Chairman’s “Delete, Delete, Delete” initiative, the Commission is eliminating obsolete rules, from outdated telegraph provisions to regulations tied to expired deadlines. We are also taking a hard look at rules that impose unnecessary costs without serving the public interest. Second, we are making more spectrum available for commercial use.
The United States is about to make the largest broadband investment in our country’s history. This investment—the $42 billion Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, or BEAD—has the potential to drive high-quality, affordable broadband to every last home and business in rural America. But BEAD’s historic levels of deployment will put historic pressure on permitting authorities. And this is especially true in rural areas, where permitting capacity is lowest and BEAD activity will be highest. Such permitting bottlenecks are a fundamental threat to BEAD’s success.
Community-driven outcomes contracts (CDOCs) focus on advancing social outcomes in Indigenous communities, including in areas such as health, housing, and energy security. Like other outcomes-based financing models, CDOCs aim to attract private capital by linking repayments to investors to the achievement of measurable socially beneficial outcomes. They depart from traditional models, however, in the way in which they define those outcomes and develop solutions. CDOCs’ broad philosophy is to shift money and power into the hands of the communities most affected by social challenges.
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