In a letter to the leaders of the Congressional Committees on Agriculture, a coalition of partners in rural development, education and communications urged Congress to "aim for levels of connectivity in USDA programs that will meet the needs of rural Americans not just today but well into the future." They wrote, "we encourage you to continue to put the interests of rural communities first by codifying in the Farm Bill a minimum service level commitment of 100 Mbps symmetrical broadband service – the level specified in the oversubscribed third round of ReConnect – for any applicant seeking funding through ReConnect. By contrast, employing a lesser standard would represent an inefficient step backwards, flying in the face of the substantial demand demonstrated in the most recent round of ReConnect and failing the rural communities that need broadband capable of keeping pace with user demand for decades to come. Policies that encourage sustainable networks that meet the needs of consumers now and into the future will be most efficient in responding to consumer demand over the lives of those networks, particularly when compared to short-term solutions that are likely to be quickly outpaced by technological evolution and consumer demands and require substantial re-investment relatively soon thereafter."

The Federal Communications Commission’s recent lapse in authority to auction off wireless spectrum has members of the House of Representatives concerned about the US's ability to stay competitive in a global wireless market. It has others concerned that the upgrade to next-generation 911 just lost its primary funding source. The Senate recently declined to vote on the House’s Spectrum Innovation Act, a bill that would have funneled spectrum fees into numerous initiatives, including $10 billion for upgrading aging 911 systems. The Senate’s also failed to take action on any other bill that extended either the FCC’s ability to license wireless spectrum or the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) power to arbitrate spectrum holdings. The recent lapse marks the first time in three decades since the FCC was granted the power to auction off wireless spectrum for commercial uses. A full upgrade to next-generation 911, which the federal government in 2018 estimated could cost as much as $12.7 billion, promises to equip the nation’s thousands of public safety answering points with digital technology, replacing the analog systems widely used today. The ability to send and receive photos, video, text, and location data, while also seamlessly handling call transfers across jurisdictions, are key features promised by the new technology.

The Federal Communications Commission has big plans for that future. Because a few months ago, I announced a shake-up at the Federal Communications Commission. I shared my plans to reorganize the agency to create a new Space Bureau. This effort is part of what I believe needs to be a broader rethinking of satellite policy in the United States. There are now new technologies in the space industry, thousands of satellite applications pending before the agency, and so many more innovations on the horizon that I believe we cannot keep doing things the old way and expect to thrive in the new. So with the new Space Bureau we are building a faster, more nimble, and more transparent satellite regulatory process. But that is not all. By bringing focus and resources to our work in this sector, I believe the new Space Bureau is going to support United States leadership in the growing space economy—and that’s important... Beyond just reorganizing the agency for this new world, we have made real policy changes as part of our Space Innovation Agenda. We have kicked off efforts to streamline our rules to expedite the processing of new satellite and earth station applications and to promote new spectrum sharing opportunities. We have updated our approach to orbital debris to care for our skies so that the space economy can support our grandest ambitions. And now looking ahead to the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference, we are going to promote United States leadership with satellite actions that broadcast to the world how important we believe this sector is to our future.

Prior to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, adoption of telemedicine was slow and its usage was rare. However, during the pandemic, usage of telemedicine increased dramatically with physicians using a number of telemedicine tools to deliver health services, while limiting patients’ exposure to the virus. Wide use of telemedicine may impact various aspects of health care delivery such as quality, cost, and access to care. Thus, a detailed understanding about the usage of telemedicine is vital to develop better policies associated with health care delivery. In this data brief, we document rates of officebased physicians’ use of telemedicine, the types of telemedicine tools used, the characteristics of physicians using telemedicine, and physicians’ overall satisfaction with telemedicine. Additionally, we report the percent of physicians who plan to continue using telemedicine beyond the pandemic and usage rates by physicians’ EHR technology.

• While only 15 percent of office-based physicians used any form of telemedicine in 2018- 2019, its usage increased six times to 87 percent in 2021.
• Self-employed physicians were less likely to use telemedicine by at least 17 percentage points than larger practices (with more than 3 physicians).
• Physicians participating in payment models (patient centered medical home (PCMD, accountable care organizations (ACOs), or Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)) were significantly more likely to use telemedicine than non-participants.
• Over 70 percent of physicians reported patients’ difficulty using telemedicine tools as the most common barrier to using telemedicine.
• A majority of physicians (62 percent) were fully or somewhat satisfied with their use of telemedicine.

According to the financial analysts at Evercore, US fiber operators are significantly scaling back their network buildout efforts. Indeed, the analysts warned that the pace of residential fiber construction activity in 2023 "will be consistent with 2022 levels, and perhaps even a little slower." That's a dramatic turnaround from just a few years ago, when analysts were cheering the "historic" fiber buildout plans of US operators like AT&T, Windstream, and Frontier Communications. And throughout 2022, those operators mostly made good on their promises. According to a survey backed by the Fiber Broadband Association, US fiber providers collectively built connections to a total of 7.9 million more homes in the US during 2022—"the highest annual deployment ever." But at the beginning of 2023, many of those same providers lowered their buildout targets for 2023. In total, the Evercore analysts noted that US fiber providers had planned to collectively build 9.4 million new locations during 2023, but now they expect that number to be around 6.5 million. The Evercore analysts pointed to a variety of factors—ranging from inflation to sluggish home sales—as conspiring to cool the US fiber industry during 2023. Indeed,  yet another challenge for fiber operators: Upgrading aging utility poles owned by electricity companies. But the most concerning element in Evercore's report is the firm's suggestion that fiber might not provide the return on investment that sparked the fiber frenzy of 2020 and 2021.