At least 36 states and territories have submitted to the federal government final proposals outlining how they plan to use the billions of dollars in funding provided by the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. While the federal agency overseeing the program said the new proposals will deliver a projected “savings of at least $13 billion for American taxpayers,” experts say this assertion may be misleading.
The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program deployment effort is coming in far under budget. Now, a political battle could evolve over who controls the remaining BEAD funds. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry sent a letter to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick suggesting that states keep the excess funds and spend them on state-led AI-related programs.
Gov Tony Evers (D-WI), together with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, announced a major milestone in the state’s efforts to expand high-speed internet statewide. On Sept. 3, 2025, the PSC submitted the state’s Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program Final Proposal to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration for approval.
Two companies, ViaPath and Aventiv Technologies, form a duopoly that controls 80 percent of the $1.5 billion prison communications market. These two companies contract with nearly every correctional agency at the state, county, and federal levels, and the size of their kickbacks—money agencies earn from our communications—depends on how willing public officials are to allow price gouging. According to the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, one-third of families with an incarcerated relative go into debt
Gigapower, the open-access fiber network joint venture launched by AT&T and BlackRock in May 2023, is experiencing significant challenges in its phase I deployment. Gigapower’s prime contractor in several states, Tilson Technology Management, blamed Gigapower for driving it into bankruptcy, a development that is just the most extreme of numerous problems stemming from Gigapower’s business model. The Communications Workers of America, which represents tens of thousands of frontline technicians at AT&T, has closely tracked the Gigapower build-out in various markets.
There is an old vaudeville-era joke about diners advertising “blue plate specials” with eye-catching, low prices.
On August 29, 2025, Virginia became the first state in the nation to submit its revised final proposal for the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program. On September 9, a group of 15 bipartisan, bicameral Virginia state legislators sent NTIA Assistant Secretary Arielle Roth a letter expressing support for their state's final proposal. They commend the Virginia Office of Broadband for producing a strong plan while adhering to NTIA's revised BEAD guidance and urge Assistant Secretary Roth to approve the proposal as originally submitted.
Flanked by Silicon Valley’s most powerful executives in the White House, First Lady Melania Trump hailed artificial intelligence as potentially “the greatest engine of progress in the history of the United States of America.” Less than a mile from the first lady, in a hotel ballroom packed with MAGA faithful, Sen Josh Hawley (R-MO) had a different message. AI “threatens the common man’s liberty” and could even undermine the Republic itself, he said. “The problem with the AI revolution as it’s currently going is that it only entrenches the power of the people who are already the most powerf
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