Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Headlines Daily Digest
Eliminating Barriers to Rural Internet Development Grant Eligibility (E-BRIDGE) Act Signed into Law
Don't Miss:
Every Connecticuter Connected With Capacity Funds
Legislation

Broadband Funding


Affordability

Digital Equity

State/Local Initiatives






Emergency Communications

Platforms/Social Media/AI










Journalism

Telecom

Policymakers

Stories From Abroad


The Eliminating Barriers to Rural Internet Development Grant Eligibility (E-BRIDGE) Act, was signed into law as part of the Thomas R. Carper Water Resources Development Act of 2024 (S. 4367). S. 4367 was approved by both House and Senate in December 2024. The E-BRIDGE Act removes hurdles for broadband projects under Economic Development Administration (EDA) grants, including difficult last-mile efforts that often delay rural broadband deployment. It also ensures that local communities can partner with the private sector in carrying out broadband projects and gives communities more flexibility in complying with their funding match requirements. By helping to increase the reach of broadband to rural and economically distressed communities, the E-BRIDGE Act will help attract new business and support current businesses in distressed regions of the country, lay the groundwork for economic recovery in these areas, and better prepare these communities for future disasters.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved Louisiana’s Final Proposal for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris Administration’s “Internet for All” initiative to connect everyone in America to affordable, reliable high-speed Internet service. Louisiana’s Final Proposal outlines its plan for using the more than $1.3 billion in allocated BEAD funding to connect 140,030 households and businesses. Louisiana is the first state to have its Final Proposal approved. This is the final step required under the BEAD statute before Louisiana moves forward with signing agreements with the Internet service providers it has selected to build BEAD-funded networks and begin connecting new locations this year.

The incoming Trump administration should not pause the government’s $42.5 billion effort to end the digital divide, said Brandy Reitter, head of Colorado’s broadband office. There’s been speculation the Trump administration might alter some Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) rules the GOP has been strongly critical of, from its fiber preference to its low-cost service requirement for low-income households served on subsidized infrastructure. The latter might, like previous adjustments, not cause a tangible delay, but some experts have said changing how projects are to be scored or selected could be disruptive. “Anything we can do to streamline the process and right-size the BEAD program” would be beneficial, Reitter said. She pointed to the procurement process, which she said was similar to standard infrastructure projects but could be more tailored to broadband deployments.

Private and federal broadband investments have achieved universal broadband deployment throughout the United States. Still, barriers that prevent some households from accessing the Internet remain. This lack of broadband adoption, not lack of deployment, is the central reason for the remaining digital divide. Therefore, identifying and addressing barriers to broadband adoption should be the core of broadband policy. One major barrier to broadband adoption is whether low-income households can afford it. The Affordable Connectivity Program was a step in the right direction to effectively address the affordability problem, but it was overly broad and ran out of money and has not been replaced. Meanwhile, deployment programs continue to get billions of dollars year after year. By reversing these priorities to put more focus on affordability, rather than deployment subsidies, we can address a real remaining cause of the digital divide without new federal spending.

Public libraries play a critical role in addressing the digital divide and advancing digital equity in their communities. However, little is known about their participation in digital equity coalitions and what this information might tell us about public libraries as partners in community-wide efforts to advance the public good. This paper seeks to address this gap in the literature by presenting findings from a pilot study of public libraries working with digital equity coalitions in the U.S. Findings revealed that public libraries support the public good through: (1) convening and leading digital equity coalitions; (2) participating in coalition action planning and advocacy to advance digital equity; and (3) actively centering equity, as opposed to equality, and social justice in their efforts to create and sustain healthy digital equity ecosystems. These findings suggest that if public libraries are to effectively lead and actively participate in digital equity coalitions they must not take a neutral stance to librarianship.

A comprehensive and ongoing assessment and celebration of states’ digital inclusion work. This new evaluation reflects a broader focus on other components of digital inclusion and reflects a range of activities that state governments can engage in:
- State Capacity & Organization – The state dedicates human or financial resources to digital inclusion
- Community Engagement – The state contributes to the digital inclusion ecosystem and has established a mechanism for ongoing public feedback
- Digital Skills – The state connects residents with digital skills resources for education and training opportunities
- Devices – The state creates and contributes to pathways for device access or low-cost device ownership
- Affordability & Adoption – The state supports affordability through competition and consumer assistance
- Data – The state shares digital inclusion data with the community and uses these data to inform digital inclusion work

The New York law requiring Internet providers to offer cheap plans to people with low incomes will take effect on January 15 following a multi-year court battle in which the state defeated broadband industry lobby groups. A US appeals court upheld the law in April 2024, reversing the ruling of a district judge who blocked it in 2021. The Supreme Court decided not to hear the broadband industry's challenge, leaving the appeals court ruling in place. The state law requires Internet providers to offer $15- or $20-per-month service to people with low incomes.
Indiana announces $378,000 to expand broadband access to 93 locations through the Indiana Connectivity Program

Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs announced 93 addresses in 19 counties will gain access to high-speed broadband as a result of $378,578 awarded in the 12th round of the Indiana Connectivity Program. The Indiana Connectivity Program helps Hoosier residents and business owners, often in rural areas, obtain access to reliable broadband by assisting internet providers with the expense of extending its services to underserved locations of Indiana. Of the 93 addresses funded in the Indiana Connectivity Program’s 12th round, 88 are households and 5 are businesses. Internet providers carrying out the projects are matching $276,869 for a total investment of $655,447.

New Hampshire's $90 million broadband expansion plan to provide access to 48,000 unserved and underserved addresses across 115 municipalities has surpassed the halfway mark, according to the Department of Business and Economic Affairs (BEA). As one of the first states to receive approval for its broadband expansion program as part of the American Rescue Plan Act’s Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund, New Hampshire awarded a total of $90 million in two rounds of funding, to connect a total of 48,016 homes and businesses by the end of 2026. BEA contracted with the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative to connect 23,259 addresses for $50 million, and Consolidated Communications to connect 24,757 addresses for $40 million. The deadline for completion is Dec. 31, 2026.

The National Telecommunications Administration (NTIA) awarded the Connecticut Department of Administrative Services (DAS) Commission for Educational Technology over $9 million in Digital Equity Capacity Grant funding towards implementing the state's Digital Equity Plan. According to NTIA, Connecticut will use its $9,183,114 in funding to implement key digital equity initiatives, including:
- Creating an urban and rural Digital Navigator Pilot program;
- Developing a digital equity curriculum covering basic digital literacy, online safety, digital citizenship, information literacy, and the use of AI tools; and
- Creating a searchable database that identifies and categorizes digital equity resources.
Here is how and when DAS will implement all the initiatives in its digital equity plan.

At the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state officials, the Federal Communications Commission has boots on the ground through the deployment of spectrum survey teams to assess the impact to cellular communications in Los Angeles County. This data is used to identify communications gaps, which informs emergency response activities and identifies where communications assets are needed. Our staff is also helping to manage public safety spectrum use and coordinating with government and industry on response efforts, and we have issued grants of Special Temporary Authority to keep communications operational. While communications outages remain minimal, the FCC will continue to closely monitor developments and do whatever we can to help ensure that residents and first responders are able to communicate and stay informed during this crisis.

As they entered office at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2021, Xavier Becerra and his allies had a plan to restore Americans’ faith in the nation’s beleaguered public health agencies. Four years later, the pandemic has receded. But trust in America’s health agencies has not recovered. The percentage of adults who regarded the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as “excellent” or “good” fell from 64 percent in April 2019 to 40 percent in October 2021—a rating that has stubbornly refused to budge in the subsequent three years, according to Gallup polls, despite the Biden administration’s efforts to rebuild confidence. Sitting in his office at HHS headquarters, America’s top health official identified a culprit: a media climate that he says drowns out reliable information. False claims about vaccines run rampant online; government health experts at news conferences barely make a dent compared with influencers who have huge followings.

The Washington Post recently published an article detailing how NewsGuard, whose journalists rate the reliability of news sources, has become the target of incoming Trump administration regulators and far-right Republicans in Congress. They are accusing me and my NewsGuard colleagues of being part of some left-wing conspiracy—or “cartel” in the words of the incoming chairs of both the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Our cartel is supposedly aimed at censoring conservative websites and their associated social media and video platforms. What we actually do is provide consumers and businesses with our journalists’ assessments of the professional standards of thousands of news websites, assigning them reliability scores based on apolitical, journalistic factors. If we fail to meet standards of accountability and fairness, our business will—and should—fail. But in this country, the one audience journalists should never have to defend themselves to is a group of government regulators.
[Steven Brill is the co-CEO of NewsGuard and author of The Death of Truth.]

OpenAI's policy proposals for extending America’s global leadership in artificial intelligence innovation, ensuring equitable access to AI, and driving economic growth across communities nationwide. As AI becomes more advanced, we believe America needs to act now to maximize the technology’s possibilities while minimizing its harms. AI is too powerful to be led and shaped by autocrats, while the economic opportunity AI presents is too compelling to forfeit. As our CEO Sam Altman has written, AI will soon help our children do things we can’t. Not far off is a future in which everyone’s lives can be better than anyone’s life is now. With such prosperity in sight, we want to work with policymakers to ensure that AI’s benefits are shared responsibly and equitably. This blueprint is designed to support the entrepreneurship and individual freedoms that have long been at the heart of the American innovation ecosystem. If done right, the developers who are AI’s Main Street will thrive along with companies of all sizes, and the broad economic benefits of the technology will catalyze a reindustrialization across the country.
Benton (www.benton.org) provides the only free, reliable, and non-partisan daily digest that curates and distributes news related to universal broadband, while connecting communications, democracy, and public interest issues. Posted Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are factually accurate, their sometimes informal tone may not always represent the tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang (headlines AT benton DOT org), Grace Tepper (grace AT benton DOT org), and Zoe Walker (zwalker AT benton DOT org) — we welcome your comments.
© Benton Institute for Broadband & Society 2024. Redistribution of this email publication — both internally and externally — is encouraged if it includes this message. For subscribe/unsubscribe info email: headlines AT benton DOT org

Kevin Taglang
Executive Editor, Communications-related Headlines
Benton Institute
for Broadband & Society
1041 Ridge Rd, Unit 214
Wilmette, IL 60091
847-220-4531
headlines AT benton DOT org
The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society All Rights Reserved © 2024