Joshua Breitbart, Senior Vice President of New York’s Empire State Development, has spent most of his career working on broadband projects of one kind or another. In early 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY) announced the formation of the Empire State Development ConnectALL initiative in her “State of the State” address. “For somebody who’d been working in this field for about 20 years,” Breitbart said, “the holistic approach, strategy, and vision for ConnectALL was thrilling and inspiring.” New York’s ConnectALL initiative is a combination of five programs:

• A Digital Equity Program to support internet adoption so New Yorkers can “participate in our society, democracy, and economy”
• The ConnectALL Deployment Program, for broadband expansion to the state’s unserved and underserved locations
• Regional and Local Assistance to help local leaders make deployment or digital equity plans
• A Municipal Infrastructure Program for towns, nonprofit organizations, utilities, and other entities to deploy broadband infrastructure
• The Affordable Housing Connectivity Program, which retrofits affordable housing with high-speed broadband 

Ultimately, Breitbart understands that the legacy of ConnectALL will depend on how successful Empire State Development is at realizing the initiative’s ambitious, holistic vision. 

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr ended the FCC’s consideration of a rulemaking proposal that would have subjected tower builds to environmental reviews. That proposed rulemaking plan had been under consideration at the FCC since 2022. He said, “It is time for America to build. It is time to unleash the growth and opportunity that has been stifled by misguided and outdated infrastructure policies. Just look back at the last four years. The Biden-Harris Administration’s stated goal of connecting millions Americans to high-speed Internet service foundered on reams of red tape and a progressive policy agenda that needlessly delayed the promise of new infrastructure builds. For its part, the FCC attempted to double down on broken environmental laws that benefit nobody but special interests by proposing to expand the number of new tower builds that must go through costly, time-consuming, and ultimately needless environmental reviews. Ending the FCC’s consideration of this Biden-era proposal is just an initial step. I look forward to working with my colleagues and stakeholders to ensure that the federal government does not stand in the way of America’s broadband builders and the important work they have ahead.”

AT&T talks a big talk about its fiber broadband ambitions. It’s also putting the pedal to the medal on copper retirement, with a new $850 million deal as the stepping stone. The operator disclosed it signed a sale-leaseback deal of 74 central office (CO) facilities—used to house and connect equipment for copper networks—to real estate developer Reign Capital. What that means is AT&T will no longer own these COs, but it will make lease payments to Reign Capital for the space it needs to still serve copper customers, who make up around 5 percent of AT&T’s residential subscriber base. This move is “great news” for AT&T, said Recon Analytics Principal Roger Entner, as it “monetizes the empty space in prime locations.”