Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that certain Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) census blocks are now eligible for other funding programs. This comes after Charter Communications and Altice informed the FCC of their decisions to withdraw from the RDOF support program. Both companies will face penalties for withdrawing from the program. 

On May 10, the Federal Communications Commission published an order proposing an $8 million fine K20 Wireless LLC and Krandon Wenger for apparently violating Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) rules. "From at least June 2022 to May 2023, K20 sought and received ACP Tribal lands support for subscribers who were not eligible for those benefits.

This report summarizes information about Internet access in the United States as of June 30, 2022, as collected by FCC Form 477 and the Broadband Data Collection (BDC). [For purposes of this report, Internet access is defined as a service that allows information to be sent to or received from the Internet with a speed of at least 200 kilobits per second.] Total connections increased by about 3.4% between June 2021 and June 2022 to 517 million.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) updated guidance regarding location and broadband coverage in the Enhanced Alternative Connect America Model (Enhanced ACAM) mechanism. Specifically, to best reflect deployment as of the August 30, 2023 offer, the Bureau will use FCC Broadband Data Collection broadband availability data as of June 30, 2023 to determine deployment obligations and support for locations in the December 2023 Serviceable Location Fabric for which such availability data are available.

On April 3, members of Congress wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioners Carr, Starks, Simington, and Gomez expressing concern about the proposal to ban bulk billing agreements in multi-tenant buildings. Specifically, they asked that the FCC reconsider the proposal since in 2010 the FCC found that bulk billing arrangements “predominately benefit consumers.” On May 3, Chairwoman Rosenworcel responded, explaining that the proposal was designed to protect consumers, and would allow them to opt-out of bulk billing arrangements.

In December 2023, members of Congress wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel expressing concern that proposed data breach reporting requirements would violate the Congressional Review Act. On May 3, Chairwoman Rosenworcel responded and explained that the new requirements were a needed update, and consistent with the Congressional Review Act.