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  2. September 2026

September 2026

GAO Says Public Broadband Investment Hasn't Reached Its Fullest Potential Yet

Since 2020, Congress has steered tens of billions of dollars, including more than $50 billion from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, through federal agencies to connect homes and businesses that lack high-speed internet access. Four agencies account for most of that money: the Federal Communications Commission, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Department of the Treasury.

Analysis

GAO Says Public Broadband Investment Hasn't Reached Its Fullest Potential Yet

Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

Tuesday, September 8, 2026

Golden State Connect Authority Signs Agreement with FiberTel to Advance Construction on Golden State Fiber Network in Rural California

The Golden State Connect Authority has signed an agreement with FiberTel for the design and construction of multiple county projects within the Golden State Fiber broadband network, which aims to expand last-mile connectivity across rural California. Under the agreement, FiberTel will design and build fiber deployments in Alpine, Amador, Imperial, Mono, and Tehama counties, as well as the Town of Mammoth Lakes. The company will also complete Phase 2 of the network buildout in Glenn County, where GSCA broke ground on Phase 1 in April 2026.

AI Giants Work Hand-in-Hand With the Pentagon, Contracts Reveal

The acrimonious breakup between Anthropic and the Department of Defense played out largely in public. But despite the high-profile salvos between the artificial intelligence giant and the Pentagon, ostensibly over the ethics of 21st-century warfare and corporate power, their actual falling out hinged on a government contract that has remained hidden away. Through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit conducted with the help of Legal Advocates for Safe Science and Technology, The Intercept obtained more than 400 pages of documents related to the U.S.

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