Jericho Casper

Former regulators and policy advocates accused Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr of having “obliterated” the FCC’s credibility as an independent, expert regulatory body. Experts examined whether the FCC could still serve the public interest or whether, as some argued, it had become too politically captured to function as an independent regulator. Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who led the agency under President Obama, said the FCC’s statutory independence had collapsed under Chairman Carr.

President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as undersecretary for rural development at the Department of Agriculture, Glen Smith, pledged to review how the agency can better coordinate its rural broadband expansion efforts. During his nomination hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee, Smith equated high-speed internet access with a “higher quality of life” and repeatedly called for improving broadband infrastructure to help revitalize rural economies. Sen Joni Ernst (R-IA), pressed Smith to address what she described as “duplicative” efforts among the government’s 133 broadband progr

Virginia’s next governor, Abigail Spanberger, says broadband expansion will be at the heart of her administration’s infrastructure priorities. A three-term member of Congress and former CIA case officer, Spanberger said her experience in Washington showed that many Virginians still lack dependable high-speed internet.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr acknowledged that the agency’s momentum could slow in the weeks ahead, saying staff shortages would likely force the FCC to trim its November meeting agenda. “We will try to move ahead with the November meeting, but not with quite as many items as we would ideally like,” Chairman Carr said. “You’ll see a bit more difficulty going forward, but we will try to keep moving forward the most important items with this limited staff.

A year after oral arguments, the fate of the Federal Communications Commission’s digital discrimination rules remains unresolved in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. A three-judge panel, all Republicans, heard the case, Minnesota Telecom Alliance v. FCC, on Sept. 25, 2024.

Why is it that households eligible for an income-based federal program don’t take advantage of it? Only 20 percent of eligible households use Lifeline, and fewer than one in five enroll in the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, yet the Affordable Connectivity Program drove take-rates of about 43 percent, more than twice as high. At a 

Rural broadband executives told lawmakers that Congress must modernize the Universal Service Fund to keep small town networks affordable and sustainable. “USF doesn’t just cover network construction, but also ongoing operations, maintenance, and upgrades,” said witness Karen Jackson-Furman, CEO of West Kentucky and Tennessee Telecommunications Cooperative.

A coalition of public interest groups filed a formal challenge to a recent bureau-level decision at the Federal Communications Commission to delay rate caps that would make prison phone calls more affordable. Public interest groups including Worth Rises, the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry, and the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, filed an application for review urging the FCC to overturn the 

A surprise broadband mapping update under the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program did not trigger the mass disqualifications some state officials had feared. A June 6 policy update from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration required states to reevaluate whether areas served by unlicensed fixed wireless providers qualified for BEAD funding.

As broadband officials dig into the fine print of updated guidance governing a $42.45 billion federal broadband expansion program, many raised concerns about new advantages carved out for low-Earth orbit satellite providers. One of the clearest examples, they argued, was a provision under revised rules for the Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment program, that gives satellite providers up to 10 years to meet performance benchmarks—more than double the four years allowed for fiber and other technologies to comply.