Analysis

Following a June 6 announcement from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) that restructured the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, all states and territories have been tasked with reevaluating their plans to connect un- and underserved locations to high-speed internet.

US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled that the Federal Communications Commission must produce more documents related to its communications with Elon Musk's government-slashing Department of Government Efficiency. Public interest group Frequency Forward and journalist Nina Burleigh have sought agency records tied to the work of Musk's DOGE and moved for a preliminary injunction forcing the agency to fully comply with their Freedom of Information Act request.

A problem inherent to the Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment Program and any similar infrastructure subsidy program: Winners’ incentive to come back to the government later to ask for more subsidies and the inability to credibly claim they won’t. The post-award incentive to return to the trough does not have an easy solution.

A well-planned program is only effective if people are aware of it, highlighting the crucial role that marketing and outreach play in the success of your digital navigator program. Shannon O’Brien, a digital navigator with the National Digital Navigator Corps from Washington State University – Grays Harbor Extension, was “surprised at how much program development and marketing were needed when starting out.

The "Digital Determinants" podcast offers critical insights into how historical events, particularly the Great Migration, intersect with today’s pervasive digital inequities. Each episode offers intersectional analysis, tying technological barriers to broader socio-political challenges. Through storytelling, historical frameworks, and actionable insights, the podcast converges different disciplines to advocate for digital equity.

Rural broadband is facing a dramatic moment when the National Telecommunications and Information Administration decides what it's going to do with the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment proposals that States have presented to it. State Broadband Offices have been submitting final BEAD plans that are mostly fiber, which seems to fly in the face of the Trump administration's June 2025 changes to the program.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the product of high-speed computer analysis of vast data sets that results in predictive guidance for users. It can be used across a wide range of industries and applications, including broadband network management; medicine and health care; writing and content creation; and customer  service support. AI represents both an opportunity and challenge for rural broadband providers and the communities they serve. AI promises efficiencies and other gains but also implicates privacy, data security  and labor market considerations.

On August 19, 2025, West Virginia released its revised Final Proposal for the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program. The West Virginia Office of Broadband recommends awarding $625 million in BEAD funding to deploy broadband infrastructure to 73,701 eligible locations. Of those locations, 94.2 percent would be served by fiber to the premises and 5.8 percent by low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite.

When the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) ended in April 2024, a well-known financial juggling act ensued. Low-income recipients, now left to pay for their internet services without assistance from the federal program, shuffled payments, negotiated discounts, haggled, and stretched their limited financial resources to remain connected, a recent AARP study showed. The study found that internet access has become deeply embedded in daily life.

Although the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) just approved an update to its pole attachment rules, the FCC also launched a new proceeding to make the process more efficient. With the goal of expediting broadband deployment in mind, the FCC is seeking public input on how to further reduce barriers to infrastructure investment. The FCC has questions about six specific proposals and their potential impact on the industry.