Public Notice

BroadbandOhio has drafted Volume 1 of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Initial Proposal including: identification of existing broadband efforts, existing unserved and underserved locations, and community anchor institutions as well its detailed challenge process plan.

This first-of-its-kind comprehensive approach is aimed at addressing both immediate and long-term cyber workforce needs. Filling the hundreds of thousands of cyber job vacancies across our nation is a national security imperative and the Administration is making generational investments to prepare our country to lead in the digital economy.

The Universal Service Fund Working Group seeks public comment on the future of the Universal Service Fund (USF). The goal of this working group is to create a bipartisan forum to guide education, awareness, and policy-making on the USF. The working group invited comments on ten questions related to money collected from telecommunications companies that is dedicated to fulfilling the goals of universal service.

President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Harry Coker, Jr. for National Cyber Director. Coker is a senior national security leader with more than four decades of public service, including in leadership positions in the US Navy, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and National Security Agency (NSA). From 2017 to 2019, Coker served as the Executive Director of the NSA, where he helped lead and manage the largest component of the US Intelligence Community, and prior to that, as the Director of Open Source Enterprise in the CIA’s Directorate of Digital Innovation.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted the Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM) program as a voluntary path for supporting the widespread deployment of 100/20 Mbps broadband service throughout the rural areas served by carriers currently receiving A-CAM support and in areas served by legacy rate-of-return support recipients. In adopting this program, the FCC promotes the universal availability of voice and broadband networks, while also taking measures to minimize the burden on the nation’s ratepayers.

The Federal Communication Commission updated minimum service standards for Lifeline-supported services. This standard will continue until December 1, 2024. Additionally, the FCC announced that the budget for federal universal service support for the Lifeline program for calendar year 2024 will be $2,778,691,284. 

The Federal Communications Commission announced that Wavelength's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) long-form application has defaulted. Wavelength’s defaulted bids are identified here.

On July 18, the Federal Communications Commission adopted an order amending Section 8.1(a)(1) of the FCC's rules to update the template for the recently adopted broadband consumer label. The revised label template reflects a new Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) application landing page, now available here. This action does not modify or otherwise change any entity’s underlying responsibilities under the Broadband Label Order.

The Iowa Office of the Chief Information Officer issued Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) #008 for the Empower Rural Broadband Grant Program making available up to $148,960,000 for broadband expansion in Iowa. The purpose of this NOFA is to solicit applications from Communications Service Providers for Broadband Infrastructure Projects that will have the greatest overall effect of reducing or eliminating Eligible Unserved or Underserved Locations in the State through the installation of Broadband Infrastructure.

President Biden's March 2023 National Cybersecurity Strategy lays out a vision for cyberspace. It outlines a path for achieving two significant shifts: the need for more capable actors in cyberspace to bear more of the responsibility for cybersecurity and the need to increase incentives to make investments in long term-resilience. The Implementation Plan is structured by pillar and strategic objective, to align with the National Cybersecurity Strategy, which has the following 5 pillars and strategic objectives: