Monday, August 11, 2025
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A Staredown Between States and NTIA Over the Future of ‘Non-Deployment’ Funding
Public Interest Groups Decline To Seek Supreme Court Review of FCC Open Internet Rules
Canada mandates broadband operators to provide open access networks
Broadband Funding

Net Neutrality

State and Local




Artificial Intelligence


Stories From Abroad

Broadband Funding

State broadband offices are stuck in a staring contest with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. State officials have said they can’t plan for the future of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program without knowing whether they will be getting the additional monies promised their states. For its part, according to an official from the Commerce Department agency speaking at the same conference, the NTIA can’t plan for BEAD “non-deployment” funds until it knows how much the states will actually be spending on broadband deployment. The staredown is over leftover “non-deployment” funds, which are separate from payments to internet service providers for last-mile broadband. These funds could theoretically cover everything from workforce training to connections for community anchor institutions to hardening infrastructure. But the staredown is making both sides frustrated about the future.
Net Neutrality
Public Interest Groups Decline To Seek Supreme Court Review of FCC Open Internet Rules

Public Knowledge joined the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, Free Press, and New America’s Open Technology Institute to announce a decision not to file a petition for certiorari seeking U.S. Supreme Court review of a lower court decision that struck down federal Net Neutrality rules. The overturned Federal Communications Commission decision had also classified broadband internet-access services under Title II of the Communications Act. In April 2024, the Federal Communications Commission properly declared that broadband internet access is a “telecommunications service.” That restored the agency’s jurisdiction over these crucial connections, allowing it to hold powerful companies accountable for providing internet-access service on just, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory terms. The FCC at that time also reinstated its Net Neutrality rules and made allowance for a wide range of consumer protections to improve public safety, broadband reliability, and internet affordability. In January 2025, the Sixth Circuit Court wrongly held that broadband is what the law calls an “information service,” which is subject to far less stringent FCC safeguards. Over the past quarter century, jurists, including Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and appeals-court judges in other circuits, typically understood that broadband is a telecommunications service offering the basic function of transmitting data for its customers. The time period for intervenors to seek Supreme Court review of this decision ended on Aug. 8, 2025.
State and Local
Surf Internet Begins $1.2 Million Fiber Build in Fowlerville as Part of Ongoing Livingston County Efforts

Surf Internet announced that construction will soon begin on a new fiber-optic internet project in the Village of Fowlerville (MI). Fully funded by Surf, the $1.2 million investment will bring high-speed fiber service to approximately 960 locations throughout the village. The Fowlerville project is Surf’s latest step in expanding internet access across Livingston County and complements a broader $26 million infrastructure effort funded in part by Michigan’s Realizing Opportunity with Broadband Infrastructure Networks Grant. Focused primarily on rural areas in the northwest portion of the county, the ROBIN project will deliver high-speed internet to approximately 4,500 unserved homes. It includes $17 million in grant funding from the State of Michigan and a $9 million private investment from Surf. Construction on the ROBIN project is currently 50 percent complete, with full buildout expected by mid-2026.

Canada’s telecommunications regulator is requiring the country’s broadband companies to wholesale their networks to competitors in open-access-type arrangements, angering some of the largest service providers such as Rogers Communications and Bell Canada. In 2024, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission made a decision to require broadband operators to lease their broadband networks to rival companies to allow for more competition on existing networks for high-speed internet services across the country. Canadian Minister of Industry Mélanie Joly said that the government has chosen not to overturn CRTC’s earlier ruling.
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.
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