Frontier has received $440 million in government grants for broadband deployments, said the company’s Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President Scott Beasley. Most of that money came from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). Frontier was one of the top 10 winning bidders in the RDOF auction, which awarded funding to the company that committed to deploying service to an area for the lowest level of support. Frontier’s winning bids totaled over $370 million, although the final amount that the company received may have been adjusted, as most large winners had some defaults when it was found that an area believed to be unserved already had service available. The remaining portion of the $440 million in Frontier broadband grants came from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and other state and municipal funding, Beasley said. The ARPA directed $350 billion in funding to states and municipalities that could be used for a variety of infrastructure projects. Some states and municipalities opted to use a considerable portion of that funding for broadband. Frontier continues to pursue additional government funding, Beasley said. He also noted that the company is in the process of challenging the broadband availability data that providers filed last year and which will determine areas eligible for support. Frontier aims to make sure that the broadband maps that are being created are accurate, he said.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau announces the grant of four long-form applications and the issuance of 12 licenses for Auction 108. On August 29, 2022, the FCC completed the auction of new flexible-use geographic overlay licenses in the (2.5 GHz) band and announced the results of that auction on September 1, 2022. This auction raised a total of $419,133,261 in net bids and $427,789,670 in gross bids, with 63 bidders winning a total of 7,872 licenses. Long-form applications for licenses won in Auction 108 were due on September 16, 2022. The Bureau accepted these four Auction 108 applications for filing on December 8, 2022. Upon further review and examination, the Bureau finds the applications for the licenses to be complete and in conformance with the FCC's rules. Accordingly, the FCC announces the grant of these licenses to Farmers Mutual Telephone Company, Michigan Wireless, Northwest Open Access Network, and Rocky Mountain Broadband.

The Federal Communications Commission launched a proceeding to strengthen rules for notifying customers and federal law enforcement of breaches of customer proprietary network information (CPNI). The FCC will look to better align its rules with recent developments in federal and state data breach laws covering other sectors. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking launches a formal proceeding to gather information on this important issue and also take comment on rule changes proposed by the FCC. The FCC seeks to better address telecommunications carriers’ breach notification requirements. The FCC proposes eliminating the current seven business day mandatory waiting period for notifying customers of a breach. The FCC also proposes clarifying its rules to require consumer notification by carriers of inadvertent breaches and requiring notification of all reportable breaches to the FCC, FBI, and US Secret Service.