Kelcee Griffis

When he was growing up, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr says, his chief ambition was to land a comfy job at a big law firm and spend his career bringing in new business. But instead, he says, a series of “Gump-like experiences and opportunities” had propelled him up the ranks at the FCC. By the time he reached the top of the institution he’d come to cherish, a particularly tumultuous, anti-institutional fervor was sweeping through the federal government led by President Trump and Elon Musk, a technology billionaire wielding a chainsaw.

SpaceX, the company that owns the Starlink satellite network, agreed to acquire wireless spectrum from EchoStar for about $17 billion in cash and stock. SpaceX is buying EchoStar’s AWS-4 and H-block spectrum licenses, and will pay as much as $8.5 billion in cash and up to $8.5 billion in SpaceX stock. EchoStar will use proceeds from the deal to retire some of its debt, as well as fund its continued operations and growth initiatives.

The Trump administration is making changes to the Broadband Equity and Access Deployment Program (BEAD) Program that will benefit satellite internet providers like Elon Musk’s Starlink, but some state and federal officials worry the technology isn’t robust enough to connect Americans on a mass scale and at affordable rates. State and former federal officials, several of whom spoke to Bloomberg on the condition of anonymity, described pitfalls with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s new approach, which gives more opportunities for satellite terminals that are initially inexpensive, but can

The Federal Communications Commission is prepared to block mergers and acquisition proposals from companies that promote “invidious” diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, according to chairman Brendan Carr. The move could threaten billions of dollars worth of deals in the communications sector, with Carr specifically mentioning Paramount Global’s merger with Skydanc

When President Joe Biden put $42 billion behind making high-speed internet accessible across the US, he committed to doing it the old-fashioned way—with miles upon miles of fiber-optic lines. That frustrated Elon Musk, who said his Starlink satellite-internet business could get rural areas online faster, at lower cost.

At her first Federal Communications Commission meeting since gaining Senate confirmation, it became clear that Commissioner Anna Gomez would be a changemaker.

Regulators and members of the telecom industry are ratcheting up the pressure on Congress to renew an expiring internet subsidy program, which just downgraded its monthly subsidies from $30 to $14 as it enters its final month of operation. The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) will fully cease providing financial support at the end of May if lawmakers fail to imbue the program with new funds. If nothing changes, more than three-quarters of participating households said they’ll have to change their internet plan or forgo service entirely, according to a Federal Communications Commission 

When Dorothy Burrell’s lupus flares, she has days she can’t walk or get out of bed.

When an underwater volcanic eruption severed a key internet conduit in 2022, the island nation of Tonga lost most of its connection to the outside world for more than a month.  Thanks to a new subsea cable project Google unveiled on January 17, South Pacific islanders are less likely to be cut off from the global internet in the future.

When Alisa Gusterer tells farmers that her company’s technology can flag that their cows are getting sick before it actually happens, the most common response is happy disbelief.