The Federal Communications Commission has directed the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau to offer an additional funding opportunity of up to $10 million for the National Competitive Outreach Grant Program (NCOP) and the Tribal Competitive Outreach Grant Program (TCOP), which are components of the Affordable Connectivity Outreach Grant Program. This maximum of $10 million will come from a combination of: (a) unspent funding – funding previously allocated to the Outreach Grant Program but not awarded; and (b) unobligated funding – funding from the $100 million Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) outreach budget that we have not yet allocated to specific outreach efforts. The FCC directed the Bureau to issue a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to initiate the application process for this additional funding. This new funding opportunity for ACP outreach is intended to provide additional funding awards beyond the outreach grant awards announced by the FCC on March 10, 2023. For more information on the FCC's funding opportunity, visit here.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) seeks comment on identifying airwaves for more intensive use and innovative new uses by both the private sector and federal agencies. NTIA seeks input on creating a spectrum pipeline for the next decade of frequencies that could be studied for new or additional uses. The agency’s goal is to identify at least 1,500 megahertz of spectrum to study for potential repurposing—perhaps the most ambitious study goal for NTIA to date—to meet future requirements for non-federal and federal users. Developing a strategy to increase access to this finite resource will help ensure continued US leadership in emerging technologies, advance connectivity and competition, create jobs and produce improvements to overall quality of life. The request for comment seeks input from a diverse range of stakeholders, including private industry academia, civil society and the public sector, on three proposed pillars of the National Spectrum Strategy.

1. Developing a spectrum pipeline: What are the requirements such a pipeline needs to address? Which spectrum bands may be best suited for particular purposes, what access approaches should we consider, and what are the benefits and tradeoffs of each band or approach?
2. Long-term spectrum planning: What should a long-term planning process entail?  Who are the key stakeholders and what are the key inputs? How can the necessary collaboration best be implemented and executed?
3. Expanding spectrum capacity through technology: What innovations on spectrum management models are coming? What spectrum management capabilities/tools would enable more robust and quicker implementation of spectrum sharing?

[Parties should file their comments no later than April 17, 2023. Docket number NTIA– 2023–0003]

The US wireless and mobile industry spent $11.9 billion building additional capacity and coverage into the nation’s wireless networks in 2022. This does not include spending on spectrum or maintenance and ongoing network operations. In total, network operating expenses for US wireless and mobile networks in 2022 topped $46 billion. Some key statistics:

• 142,100 cellular towers were in operation;
• 209,500 macrocell sites, not including small cells, were deployed;
• 678,700 macrocell sectors, not including small cells, were in operation;
• 452,200 outdoor small cell nodes were deployed; and
• 747,400 indoor small cell nodes were in use, including private Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) networks, distributed antenna systems (DAS), small cells and mmWave, and other licensed frequency bands.