Jon Brodkin

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr says Internet service providers (ISPs) shouldn't have to list every fee they charge. Responding to a request from cable and telecommunications lobby groups, he is proposing to eliminate a rule that requires ISPs to itemize various fees in broadband price labels that must be made available to consumers. The rule took effect in April 2024 after the FCC rejected ISPs' complaints that listing every fee they created would be too difficult.

SpaceX's $17 billion deal to buy spectrum licenses from EchoStar should help Starlink satellites deliver better service to smartphones, and it might give a few large corporations second thoughts about their current partnerships with Starlink competitors.

The Federal Communications Commission's Republican chairman is eliminating regulations at breakneck speed by using a process that cuts dozens of rules at a time while giving the public only 10 or 20 days to review each proposal and submit objections.

Starlink operator SpaceX isn't getting the broadband money it sought from state governments despite the Trump administration rewriting the rules of a $42 billion grant program.

Starlink operator SpaceX is fighting Virginia's plan to deploy fiber Internet service to residents, claiming that federal grant money should be given to Starlink instead. SpaceX is already in line to win over $3 million in grant money in the state, but is seeking $60 million. Starlink is poised to benefit from the Trump Administration rewriting rules for the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant program.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is telling states they will be shut out of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program if they set the rates that Internet service providers receiving subsidies are allowed to charge people with low incomes.

Samuel Herman and Alexander Baciu never liked using Comcast's cable broadband. Now, the residents of Saline (MI) operate a fiber Internet service provider that competes against Comcast in their neighborhoods and has ambitions to expand. When Herman, now 25, got married in 2021 and started building his own house, he tried to find an internet service provider other than Comcast to serve his property. But no fiber ISP was looking to compete directly against Comcast where he lived, though Metronet and 123NET offer fiber elsewhere in the city, Herman said.

A federal appeals court struck down a "click-to-cancel" rule that would have required companies to make cancelling services as easy as signing up. The Federal Trade Commission rule was scheduled to take effect on July 14 but was vacated by the US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. A three-judge panel ruled unanimously that the Biden-era FTC, then led by Chair Lina Khan, failed to follow the full rulemaking process required under US law.

The recent changes to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program "undoubtedly create additional work and effort for Maine and every other state and territory," said Maine Connectivity Authority president Andrew Butcher. "So we will execute it as quickly and efficiently as possible, but it kind of jams two years of work into two months." The new timeline is difficult, but "Secretary Lutnick has committed that funds will be awarded and projects started this year. We're going to hold them to that," he said. Butcher said he was relieved that the BEAD program wasn't canceled entirely.

Former Federal Communications Commission Chair Ajit Pai is back on the telecommunications policy scene as chief lobbyist for the mobile industry, and he has quickly managed to anger a coalition that includes both cable companies and consumer advocates. In April, Pai became president and CEO of wireless industry lobby group CTIA.