Digital Divide

Two pieces of news came across our desks this morning that we wanted to share regarding the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program (BEAD) and the status of guidance from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) on how states can use BEAD Non-Deployment funds. On October 28, NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth delivered a speech regarding the BEAD program.

The Federal Communications Commission approved a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPR) that would eliminate certain broadband label requirements and seek comment on other ways to streamline the broadband label rules to reduce compliance burdens while preserving their consumer benefit. According to the draft FNPR, the FCC proposed to eliminate six requirements from its broadband label rules and seeks comment on other ways it might streamline the requirements.

In a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, a group of Democratic U.S. Senators urged the Commission not to "gut" the FCC's 2024 final rule implementing the bipartisan Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2022. "As a Commissioner, you voted for the FCC’s 2024 final rule that was adopted on a bipartisan basis, 5-0," says the letter. "Consistent with Congressional intent, the 2024 final rule cut prison phone rates bymore than half and banned junk fees charged by providers.

The Federal Communications Commission took action to revisit the framework established by the FCC’s 2024 Incarcerated People’s Communications Services (IPCS) Report and Order. The FCC's action will supersede the Commission’s previous rate cap calculations by using only billed minutes to determine the Commission’s rate caps, incorporating all safety and security measure expenses that IPCS providers reported incurring, and creating an additional rate cap tier for extremely small jails.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is currently reviewing all the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program proposals from states and territories, and it could, theoretically, reject a lot of them and force states to make changes. We won’t know for sure until NTIA starts publishing its decisions on all the proposals.

U.S. broadband speeds are on the uptick, and more users are getting better performance than ever from their broadband connectivity. However, there are still some states (particularly those with lower population density and vast terrain) that are struggling to deliver broadband services to their residents.

A public-private partnership between Cisco, the City of Los Angeles, Destination Crenshaw, the California Community Foundation, and Digital Equity LA has unveiled a new community Wi-Fi initiative that will provide free internet access along major streets, parks, and public gathering places in LA’s historic Crenshaw Corridor. The public-private partnership, dubbed the Crenshaw Community Connectivity Pilot, comes after years of collaboration among government, industry, and nonprofits.

One of the things that mystifies me is how many federal elected officials have disappeared in terms of supporting broadband. For example, there has been little talk of elected officials openly trying to stop the National Telecommunications and Information Administration from gutting the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program. There’s no news about trying to force NTIA to go ahead and award grants from the Digital Equity Act. This may be happening behind the scenes, but there’s no big public news about supporting better broadband.

The North Carolina Department of Information Technology’s (NCDIT) Office of Digital Opportunity is defining what it means to be digitally prepared. Recognizing that digital access alone is not enough, NCDIT released its North Carolina Digital Skills Standards, a statewide framework that identifies the essential knowledge and abilities residents need to engage in civic, economic, and social life.

Sen Deb Fischer (R-NE) would prefer her state funded more fiber under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, she said on October 23. The Trump administration handed down new rules for the $42.45 billion broadband expansion program in June, ending an explicit preference for fiber and requiring another bidding round with an emphasis on lowering deployment costs.