Doug Dawson

There has been a lot of talk over the last year at the state and national level about lowering the regulatory and paperwork barriers for internet service providers (ISPs) building rural networks funded by Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program grants. I don’t know any rural ISP that doesn’t think this is a good idea. Any efforts that can simplify processes like permitting, pole attachments, and environmental studies would be a big benefit for a rural construction effort. There is another situation that probably warrants easier and simpler paperwork.

The House of Representatives recently approved H.R. 5419, a bill introduced by Rep Tom Kean (R-NJ). Titled the Enhancing Administrative Reviews of Broadband Deployment Act, the bill would attempt to improve the process of getting permits for broadband on federal land. The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Specifically, the bill would direct the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture to conduct a comprehensive review of administrative barriers involved in reviewing applications to use federal rights-of-way.

According to the Census Bureau’s Building Permit Survey, the top five states for permits for single-family homes in 2025, as measured in permits per 100,000 residents, were South Carolina (56), North Carolina (48), Florida (45), Idaho (45), and Delaware (43). At the bottom of the list were New York (4), Connecticut (5), Illinois (6), Rhode Island (6), and Massachusetts (6). Since my state of North Carolina had the second-fastest growth in single family-home permits per 100,000 residents, I thought I’d look deeper at the statistics in the state by county.

When the new administration came in, one of the first things we heard from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was that the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program process would be accelerated to put the grant funds to use. He was highly critical of the prior administration that hadn’t yet connected any households to broadband by the end of 2024. Everybody in the industry was hoping that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration was going to speed up the process.

The Federal Communications Commission has been tasked by Congress to find and auction 800 megahertz of mid-range spectrum. This was a key element of the One Big Beautiful Bill that planned to use the proceeds from spectrum auctions to offset other costs created by the bill. The bill specifically requires the FCC to auction 100 megahertz of spectrum in the upper C-Band, located at 3.98 – 4.2 GHz. The new requirement to auction that spectrum has resulted in a strong response from the aviation industry and the Federal Aviation Administration.

I've written a lot recently about the impact of AI on broadband. There are other, more subtle, impacts from the AI boom. One of the unexpected issues is the sudden shortage of electricians in regions where AI data centers are being constructed. Electricians are needed during the massive effort to wire a new data center used for AI.

I’ve been hearing for years about how good broadband can open access to telemedicine. It’s certainly something that is increasingly needed as rural hospitals and clinics are closing across the country. But telehealth is not just a rural issue, and a recent article by Sean Gonvales points out a successful telehealth program in San Francisco.

The industry and the press have been laser-focused on Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment grants for the last few years. It’s easy to forget that there are a lot of federal broadband grants that have been issued under other grant programs, many of which are facing completion deadlines.

Amazon announced a new device that offers broadband backup for broadband outages. The new device is the eero Signal, which is an add-on to Amazon’s eero WiFi system that will automatically connect a customer to cellular broadband any time the primary broadband connection fails. The Signal device will connect with the strongest carrier signal in your area, meaning that Amazon has made arrangements with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

I’ve worked with rural counties across the country, and one of the most common recurring themes is a hope from elected officials that local internet service providers will step up and build fiber and solve the broadband gaps in the area. County officials often beg local ISPs to pursue grant funding. Far too many times, local ISPs are unable to expand to provide what they are being asked to do. Only rarely have I ever heard a small ISP admit to local leaders the real reason it can’t solve the broadband gaps.