Permitting sits on the critical path to broadband deployment, and understanding what agencies require can decide whether a project finishes on schedule. That was the central message of a National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) webinar held August 26, which brought together federal permitting officials and a broadband provider who navigated a large Alaska fiber project. NTIA acting Chief Environmental Review and Permitting Officer Amanda Pereira moderated the session. She was joined by Craig Litteken, deputy director of infrastructure portfolio management at the Permitting Council, and Jason Louvier, project superintendent for the NANA Regional Broadband Network in northwest Alaska. The NTIA webinar started with Litteken describing the FAST-41 permitting process, a federal coordination program created under Title 41 of the 2015 Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act. It places qualifying projects on a publicly visible dashboard with a shared permitting timetable, an approach meant to give sponsors more predictability and a seat at the table rather than leaving applications to move through agencies individually. As part of the NTIA staff, Pereira noted that the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program is ramping up and that many providers will not meet its high-dollar threshold, making those permitting habits valuable regardless.

Industry groups USTelecom and NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association are backing a request from fiber operator Lumos for the Federal Communications Commission to override some permitting fees and requirements imposed by Stark and Mahoning counties in Ohio. But the County Engineers Association of Ohio is urging the FCC to exercise caution in its decision-making, while the counties themselves argue that Lumos' claims misrepresent the situation. The petition in question was initially filed by Lumos in June, claiming that the counties' permitting fees and requirements for fiber buildout projects violate section 253 of the Communications Act by erecting barriers to deployment. According to Lumos, these prohibitive requirements forced it to abandon fiber builds set to serve roughly 200,000 homes and businesses in the Ohio counties.

U.S. 5G fixed wireless access connections from Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T topped 17 million in Q1 2026—capturing 13.74% of the nation’s 123.75 million home broadband subscriptions, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s January 2026 American Community Survey. Ookla looked at FWA performance trends throughout the first half of 2026 and found steady progress in speeds and latency. Key takeaways include:

• T-Mobile dominated its competitors in Q2 2026 with a median download speed of 222.7 Mbps, 38.4% higher than AT&T Internet Air and 76% higher than Verizon 5G Home. Similarly, T-Mobile’s Q2 2026 median upload speed of 18.1 Mbps was 80.1% higher than AT&T and 48.5% higher than Verizon. 
• All three providers experienced a performance drop in both download and upload speeds between Q1 2026 to Q2 2026, which is likely due to the seasonal impact of foliage —dense leaves on trees can weaken FWA signals.
• Rural FWA users across all three providers nationwide have lower median download speeds and higher multi-server latency than urban FWA users.  Speedtest data indicates that urban users receive a median multi-server latency anywhere from 7 ms to 13 ms lower than their rural counterparts. 

Elon Musk's SpaceX is making moves to acquire more AWS-3 midband spectrum for Starlink's mobile satellite direct-to-device service and is getting closer to nationwide coverage in the US. In a recent Federal Communications Commission filing, SpaceX subsidiary Starlink Spectrum Holdings requested permission to transfer control of three unpaired AWS-3 licences in the 1695MHz–1710MHz band that are held by Tristar License Group. The license transfer request is part of a proposed transaction between the two companies described as "a membership interest purchase agreement," in which Starlink will acquire all "outstanding membership interests" in TLG. After the transaction, TLG will become a subsidiary of Starlink and an indirect subsidiary of SpaceX.

In the final stretch of a national election, this Federal Communications Commission is unleashing a flood of coordinated campaign money into broadcast advertising, just as the Supreme Court has cleared the way for unlimited coordinated spending between parties and candidates. This unprecedented, last-minute decision gives the biggest political spenders an even bigger advantage over everyone else by expanding the candidate-only discount established by law to joint fundraising and party committees, an advantage that will make it hard for anyone else to catch up before Election Day. Broadcasters are being directed to slash prices and sell their most valuable inventory during their busiest and most lucrative season, even as this same FCC has spent months arguing broadcasters need economic and regulatory relief to compete with Big Tech and streaming. You cannot claim broadcasters are struggling to survive and then force them into a fire sale on the one thing that could actually help them compete and increase revenue.