In 2023, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Census Bureau began an experimental project to study the feasibility of—and ultimately to produce—estimates of Internet adoption for small, sub-state areas during a single year to address this knowledge gap and better serve the policymaking process. Using techniques that have been successfully employed in other data products, Census Bureau experts are combining existing data from key household surveys with auxiliary data that are known to correlate with Internet adoption rates. By using a predictive model, the Census Bureau team can produce estimates for less populous geographies or groups that have both smaller margins of error than equivalent estimates based on survey data alone, and reduced risk that such estimates can be used to identify individual respondents. Those two features of small area modeling make it possible to publish more granular estimates than would otherwise be permissible or recommended for estimates generated entirely from survey data. NTIA invites all suggestions for improvements to the initial experimental model. The following questions serve as a non-exhaustive guide to some of the issues commenters may wish to address:

1. Should NTIA be aware of any potential applications where Project LEIA (Local Estimates of Internet Adoption) could make a particularly substantial contribution to policy research or development? Would any future work on Project LEIA help improve or expand these contributions?
2. In the feasibility report, the Census Bureau describes the methodology it used in the experimental model, and lists a number of potential predictor variables it tested before selecting the ones used in these initial estimates. Are there additional variables or data sources that should be considered to improve the model’s predictive power? Should we consider any methodological refinements or modifications to this model to improve its performance?
3. While the current experimental model only produces estimates at the county level, the same principles can potentially be applied for other small geographies and populations. During the next phase of Project LEIA, NTIA and the Census Bureau intend to experiment with creating census tract-level estimates. Are there other small geographies or populations for which model-based estimates of Internet adoption might be beneficial? What relevant data sources at that level could be considered to help generate these estimates?
4. In this first phase, we decided to analyze the percentage of households subscribed to wired Internet services. We did this because (a) the variable is useful for policymaking and (b) sufficient data were available to accurately fit a model. However, this is not the only metric that possibly could be modeled through future work. In addition to considering other variables from the ACS questions on computer and Internet use, we are also interested in applying small area modeling to more detailed questions from the NTIA Internet Use Survey. What metrics from either survey could we prioritize for future work under Project LEIA?
5. Is there anything else NTIA should take into consideration when contemplating the further development of Project LEIA?

The U.S. Economic Development Administration is accepting applications for its FY24 $50 million Build to Scale program to support organizations that strengthen entrepreneurial ecosystems to support entrepreneurs as they build and scale technology-driven businesses—and the employees in the new, good jobs they create—to make and deliver new technology products and services. Build to Scale (B2S) grants fund programs that support innovators, entrepreneurs, and startups transforming ideas into the critical, emerging technologies of the future. The B2S program aims to: 

• build capacity for entrepreneurs and innovators to invent, improve, and bring to market new technology products and services; 

• accelerate the growth of regional economies focused on industries of the future; 

• empower communities to enable technology innovators and entrepreneurs to pilot and test their products and services; and 

• equitably and inclusively increase access to capital for technology-enabled entrepreneurs. 

Brightspeed is on a big mission to deploy more fiber, currently passing about 90,000 new premises per month with fiber. But it is also retiring copper on a home-by-home basis for customers who are experiencing service problems. Sometimes it moves these customers to fiber, but other times it moves them to a unique wireless service. Tom Maguire, CEO of Brightspeed, said that there are two approaches to copper retirement: proactive and reactive. The proactive approach Maguire mentioned would be what AT&T is attempting to do in California and some other states, where it petitions the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and state agencies to retire copper in large areas. But Brightspeed isn’t taking that approach to copper retirement. Instead, it is overbuilding its copper plant as fast as it can.

The recent Georgia school shooting was every parent’s worst nightmare, and one that highlights potential downsides to efforts among states, school districts, and federal lawmakers to ban or restrict access to cellphones in classrooms. The moves to restrict phone use in schools have been driven by concerns about the impact screen time has on children’s mental health and complaints from teachers that cellphones have become a constant distraction in the classroom. But those opposed to the bans say they cut off a lifeline parents have to make sure their children are safe during school shootings or other emergencies. 

Verizon's $20 billion move to acquire Frontier Communications as part of an effort to expand and scale its convergence strategy is considered a compliment at Comcast. "That's validation of what we're doing. People are coming our way," Comcast CFO Jason Armstrong said. While it's true that Comcast and other cable operators have had their share of fits and starts getting into the mobile business, the operator's latest approach—an MVNO deal with Verizon paired with the deployment of a large Wi-Fi network and targeted CBRS spectrum rollouts—has been successful with respect to adding heaps of mobile lines. Armstrong also held that Comcast, with 63 million homes passed by its wireline networks and DOCSIS 4.0 upgrades in motion, continues to maintain a sizable network coverage advantage compared to the current, combined fiber footprints of AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, even when factoring in the proposed Frontier acquisition.

Kara Frederick, the Heritage Foundation’s director of tech policy, on her sweeping vision for re-imagining how conservatives relate to tech, including low earth orbit satellites (LEOs), Smart Cities, and generative artificial intelligence. She spoke about what the government could be doing but isn't, saying "Having a national data protection framework is also, to me, an extremely common-sense measure. Limit the amount of and types of data that these tech companies can collect, store and share, and severely hinder the commercial surveillance apparatus that the American people overwhelmingly dislike."