Press Release

The Federal Communications Commission announced that it is committing $1,159,681,350.34 for 2,471 schools, 205 libraries, and 26 consortia that applied for support from the $7.17 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund Program. Combined with the first funding wave, students, school staff and library patrons in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands will receive access to the devices and broadband connectivity they need to support their off-premises educational needs.

Major reform of the international tax system finalized at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will ensure that Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) will be subject to a minimum 15 percent tax rate from 2023. The landmark deal, agreed by 136 countries and jurisdictions representing more than 90 percent of global GDP, will also reallocate more than USD 125 billion of profits from around 100 of the world’s largest and most profitable MNEs to countries worldwide, ensuring that these firms pay a fair share of tax wherever they operate and generate profits.

The Atlantic Telephone Membership Cooperative announced a multi-year, $100 million-dollar construction project to replace all of its copper and coaxial cable network within its Brunswick County (NC) service area with a new 100 percent fiber optic network. At the conclusion of this project, every cooperative member will have access to the company’s FOCUS Broadband fiber optic service with internet speeds up to one Gigabit. The project is expected to take up to eight years to complete and is slated to start in January of 2022.

The Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is joining more than 600 organizations to celebrate Digital Inclusion Week, an annual event that raises awareness of solutions to address home internet access, personal devices, and local technology training and support programs.

The Federal Communications Commission announced that it is ready to authorize $163,895,636 to 42 providers in the second round of funding for new broadband deployments through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. The FCC is also continuing its work to refocus the program to ensure that funding goes to unserved areas that need broadband.

Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA), senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, called on the Committee to subpoena documents from Facebook related to recent whistleblower complaints and testimony. “Frances Haugen courageously exposed what we've long suspected: Facebook has known the harm caused by their platform and has done nothing about it," stated Eshoo. "The Energy and Commerce Committee must subpoena all documents from Facebook related to Ms.

AT&T will work with Frontier Communications to bring fiber-optic connectivity to large enterprise customers outside AT&T’s current footprint. The two companies signed multi-year strategic agreements that will also support the deployment of AT&T’s 5G mobility network. As the demand for edge computing and 5G networks grows, so too does the need for resilient fiber pathways for a connected society. Enterprises need more bandwidth to keep data moving fast.

Rep Elise Stefanik (R-NY) joined her colleagues in sending a letter to Acting Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel pushing for an end to the delay of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) distribution. In December 2020, the FCC announced Phase 1 awards under the RDOF, which would deploy broadband to 5.2 million unserved locations.

Reps Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Chair and Ranking Member of the Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, introduced legislation to combat the online sale of stolen, counterfeit, and dangerous consumer products.

Rep Brett Guthrie (KY-02) introduced the Simplifying Management, Reallocation, and Transfer of Spectrum Act, or SMART Spectrum Act (H.R.5486). The SMART Spectrum Act would create an information sharing capability at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to allow more commercial use of spectrum licensed for federal government use. The federal government is currently not fully utilizing all of the spectrum licenses that are allocated for federal use.