Nicole Ferraro

A new analysis of the broadband and cable market for Q3 shows continued pain for cable providers as subscriber losses grow, and as broadband industry net adds stay below pre-pandemic levels. The causes of the continued slowdown range from the loss of the Affordable Connectivity Program to a rise in mobile-only households and slow move rates.

The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) recently filed a letter with the Federal Communications Commission in which the lobbyist implored the FCC to avoid auctioning spectrum from the CBRS band, citing the spectrum's importance to the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, among other concerns. WISPA's letter comes in response to the FCC's mandate, via President Donald

When the Supreme Court released its decision in June 2025 declaring that the Universal Service Fund is constitutional, telecommunications and broadband industry groups breathed a collective sigh of relief while also calling on Congress once again to pass reforms to strengthen and improve the USF, which supports several high-cost and low-income telecommunications programs to the tune of $8 billion/year.

As states and cities across the US seek to close their digital divides, getting a closer look at where and why the problem is particularly persistent is key to finding the right solutions. In New York City, the greatest digital divide exists in the borough of the Bronx. The third-most densely populated county in the US, the Bronx is home to roughly 1.4 million people, as of the most recent census data.

On September 4, states must submit their final proposals, selecting Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment grant winners, to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration for approval. Early signs suggest those awards will favor satellite providers and serve fewer locations than expected. As a refresher, the Trump administration's NTIA revised the rules for the BEAD program in early June.

Tucker Farms—which grows corn, wheat, and soybeans to sell commercially—is one of roughly 2,800 locations in the rural region of Warren County (KY) to receive a broadband upgrade from Charter Communications' Spectrum network. Spectrum launched its network in the area in 2022 as part of its $7 billion multi-year rural construction initiative to connect 1.7 million homes and businesses, for which it received $1.2 billion from the Federal Communications Commission's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. But prior to Spectrum coming in, "we really didn't have a lot of options," said Jennifer Tucker.

Digital equity advocates have been supporting a bill in the California state legislature that, similar to New York, would require broadband providers to offer an affordable service option for low-income households. But now those same advocates are opposing the legislation over amendments that would make it difficult to enforce and saddle low-income Californians with slower services. The bill in question—AB 353—was introduced by Democratic Assemblymember Tasha Boerner in early 2025 and was passed in the Assembly on June 4.

Tyler Cooper, editor-in-chief at BroadbandNow, joins the Divide to discuss recent research released by BroadbandNow, following a manual audit of over 100,000 addresses, revealing that the Federal Communications Commission's broadband map is still undercounting the number of people without broadband access in the US by 6.4 million.

According to research released by the Fiber Broadband Association and consulting firm RVA, roughly 88.1 million households in the US now have access to fiber, representing 56.5% of all homes.

DigitalC got its start roughly a decade ago as an organization dedicated to digital literacy and skills training.