Press Release

TDS Telecommunications announced the completion of its Monroe County (TN) broadband grant project, upgrading services to more than 3,000 locations with new fiber-optic connections. The network upgrades were supported in part by a grant awarded by the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development using federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to expand access to high-speed broadband in unserved and underserved areas. TDS contributed the remaining project costs to bring state-of-the-art infrastructure to the region.

Nearly 4,000 homes, businesses, and community institutions in northern New Mexico are set to receive broadband connections after the state and an internet service provider signed a grant agreement, clearing the way for work to begin on the state’s first project under the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program. The Office of Broadband Access and Expansion announced that Kit Carson Electric Cooperative has become the first provider to sign a BEAD agreement with the state.

Public Knowledge is pleased to announce two additions to our staff to enhance the organization’s broadband expertise and government affairs outreach. First, Public Knowledge welcomes Raza Panjwani, Senior Policy Counsel, to the team. Mr. Panjwani will focus his efforts on broadband access, affordability, and adoption, as well as consumer protection in the technology and communications sectors. Prior to joining Public Knowledge, Mr.

Starlink recently announced plans for some interesting billing options. First, they will consider allowing customers to resell bandwidth to their neighbors by setting up small local grids. They are also considering allowing for billing by the hour, day, or week. What’s interesting about this is if this introduced in the U.S., it would allow for broadband billing in ways that already happen in many other parts of the world.

The Arkansas State Broadband Office has disbursed the State’s first funding through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, marking another major milestone as Arkansas moves from program development and awards into project implementation. The first disbursement, totaling $2.6 million, was made to Brightspeed following completion of its first required project milestone. Brightspeed was awarded funding through Arkansas’ BEAD Program for 13 projects across 25 counties, which will ultimately connect more than 13,700 homes and businesses to high-speed internet.

As part of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr’s commitment to unleashing high-speed infrastructure to close the digital divide, in an Order circulated for a Commission vote, he proposes providing an additional $162 million for the Alaska Connect Fund. This additional funding builds on the work of the FCC’s Alaska Plan and Alaska Connect Fund by injecting additional dollars in Alaska for the deployment of mobile broadband services.

Louisiana’s GUMBO 2.0 program has delivered two national firsts in fiber deployment, with Coushatta becoming the first community in the nation to receive fiber internet service through the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program and SkyRider Communications becoming the first provider in the nation to begin BEAD fiber construction.

First Lady Melania Trump launched her 2027 Presidential Super Intelligence Challenge and established a new First Lady Seal of AI Readiness—inviting K-12 students, educators, and schools across America to participate in the nationwide initiative. Following the success of the inaugural Challenge, which engaged more than 20,000 students from all 50 states and U.S. schools around the world, the 2027 Presidential SI Challenge will continue to give students the opportunity to use SI to dream, build, and develop solutions to real-world challenges. 

The Center on Technology Policy at New York University is pleased to announce that Blair Levin, who has spent decades shaping and analyzing technology and telecommunications policy from inside government, Wall Street, and leading policy institutions, has joined CTP as a senior fellow. Levin is an internationally recognized leader in technology and telecommunications policy, with a distinguished career spanning senior roles in federal government and decades of influential analysis of technology policy, business, and capital markets.

Thirty-three New Mexico schools and districts will use $385,785 in state grants to buy lockable phone pouches, device lockers and network controls designed to support safe and focused connectivity during the school day. The funding comes from the New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion’s (OBAE) Wireless Communication Device Policy Implementation Grant (WCDPIG) program, a joint effort with the New Mexico Public Education Department (PED), to curb screen time during instructional hours and support educational use of technology.