The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program was designed to close the digital divide in the U.S., but the size and shape of that divide have changed dramatically since Congress created the program in November 2021. Private investment and other broadband programs have continued to connect locations, while BEAD, the largest-ever broadband grant program, has followed a circuitous path across two very different presidential administrations to finally get to the point of being able to dole out funds. As a result, far fewer locations remain unserved or underserved today, and those that remain tend to be harder and more expensive to reach.

• The number of locations still eligible for BEAD has fallen 69% since funding was initially allocated, extending the 65% decline we reported in July 2025. None of this is BEAD’s doing as ISPs have not sat idly by waiting for funding from this program.
• Looking only at the locations that needed BEAD in December 2022, 79% are now served, are no longer serviceable locations, or are covered by a federal program other than BEAD.
• Round One’s projects have been overtaken by this ceaseless buildout. 69% of projects receiving funds via BEAD Round One now have more than a fifth of their locations receiving 100/20 service, and 89% have more than a fifth at 25/3.
• Looking ahead to BEAD Round Two, we estimate that 1,041,099 locations will appear on NTIA’s supplemental lists.
• Further, we estimate that the amount of supplemental funding that will likely be made available by NTIA to serve these locations could be anywhere from $5.3B to $8.8B. An exact figure depends on several variables, notably whether provider matching funds count toward NTIA’s “average cost per location.” Dipping into remaining BEAD will reduce BEAD “savings” by 25% to 42%, leaving $12.2B to $15.7B unspent.

AT&T and Verizon (and now the newly purchased Frontier) have continued with their big push to shut down copper networks. There are good reasons to finally walk away from this obsolete technology. Copper networks are largely far past the end of economic life and are rotting on the poles. Vandalism is rampant since the price of copper is making it attractive for people to rip down copper for the resale value. A large majority of customers who have a good alternative have fled the copper networks, so there are fewer people each year on the remaining copper networks. 

Attorneys representing the state of New Mexico told jurors that targeted political ads, attempting to lower Democratic turnout during the 2016 election, used Facebook data sold to a political consulting firm, during opening statements in a trial over the platform’s data protections. In court documents, the state argues Facebook failed to alert or protect users from a personality quiz on the social platform that harvested data from roughly 87 million Facebook profiles and sold it to a political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica. The data was used to generate targeted ads during the 2016 presidential election. Randi McGinn, the attorney representing New Mexico, said Cambridge Analytica used Facebook profile data to geographically target Democratic voters with messaging such as “‘Hillary’s got it, you don’t need to vote’,” in an alleged attempt to reduce voter turnout. The now-defunct firm’s clients included the 2016 campaign for Donald Trump. Facebook’s attorney said the social media company investigated suspicious third-party apps following the breach and told jurors the state’s evidence is outdated because safeguards have improved. Facebook conducted independent investigations and tried to stop suspicious third parties from harvesting user data following revelations about how the data was used. The company also banned apps and referred suspicious developers to regulators. New Mexico is the only state that has pushed the case toward trial, expected to last four weeks, as part of its go-it-alone approach to prosecuting Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.

When the Wright brothers laid down 60 feet of wooden track in the North Carolina sand dunes and launched America into the age of flight, they could not have imagined the broader possibilities for human ingenuity and thriving that their innovation would unlock. Today, artificial intelligence is at a similar inflection point, a budding innovation that is already ushering in the future of technology, while many applications and effects remain unknown. That’s why I’ve made responsible AI innovation a central focus of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The country that lays the foundation for the AI economy will define the next century, and Congress has a responsibility to position America as the global leader. To ensure the United States wins this race, legislation such as the Ratepayer Protection Act will be needed to provide a pathway—protecting our communities from increased costs and ensuring that hardworking families aren’t the ones paying for the electricity needed to power this new technology. 

[Rep Brett Guthrie (R-KY) has served Kentucky's 2nd congressional district since 2009.]

Meta announced Muse, a personal AI agent built on the latest generation of models developed under chief AI officer Alexandr Wang. Muse exists in a chat interface, similar to a text thread. It's designed to be more proactive and long-running than typical chatbots. Users can name their agent, create an avatar, and customize how it communicates. The Muse agent runs on a dedicated virtual machine in Meta's cloud, using a built-in browser that's visible to the user. Meta is offering a free tier of Muse, as well as two subscription options, at $20 per month and $100 per month. "For the vast majority of users, they should be able to do what they need to within the free tier," said Wang. "But for real power users, you know, those subscription tiers help us cover the compute costs."