Federal Communications Commission

FCC Announces Additional Program Integrity Measures for Affordable Connectivity Program Enrollments

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau announces that it is implementing additional measures to strengthen program integrity surrounding the enrollment of households in the Affordable Connectivity Program based on a Benefit Qualifying Person (BQP).

FCC Inspector General Issues Advisory Regarding Affordable Connectivity Program Enrollment Fraud

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Federal Communications Commission warned that some Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) providers and their agents are making fraudulent program enrollments by using the same child or dependent to qualify multiple households for simultaneous ACP support. Most households are eligible for ACP support based on the subscriber’s own participation in a qualifying federal program like SNAP or Medicaid.

More WiFi Spectrum

There is more Wi-Fi spectrum on the way due to a US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decision which rejected a legal challenge from the Intelligent Transportation Society of America and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. They asked the court to vacate the Federal Communications Commission's 2020 order to repurpose some of the spectrum that had been reserved for smart cars. The FCC had originally given the auto industry a year to vacate the lower 45 MHz of spectrum. This spectrum will be available for home Wi-Fi.

Digital Discrimination: Fiber Availability and Speeds by Race and Income

The lack of broadband in many rural and Tribal communities is widely recognized, but there are also claims of a lack of broadband availability in predominantly Minority and urban communities, sometimes labeled digital redlining or digital discrimination. Motivated by such claims, the bi-partisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA) includes a specific provision to address digital discrimination and the Federal Communications Commission is currently contemplating formal rules for such.

FCC To Award Over $81 Million in Emergency Connectivity Funding

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is committing over $81 million in a new funding round through the Emergency Connectivity Program (ECP), which provides digital services for students in communities across the country.

NTIA won’t have the broadband map it needs for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program until 2023

The Federal Communications Commission plans to come out with the first version of its new broadband map in mid-November.

Arkansas Uses Capital Projects Fund to Connect Rural Areas

In 2019, Governor Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) laid out a goal of 25 Megabits per second (Mbps) download and 3 Mbps upload broadband deployed to population centers of 500 or more by 2022. Approaching the end of 2022 and the time Arkansas set to achieve its original broadband goals, the state has received new funds through the US Department of Treasury's Capital Projects Fund to help achieve universal connectivity. The April 2022 Arkansas Broadband Master Plan, compiled by the Broadband Develo

Chairwoman Rosenworcel Announces Staff Changes

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel added Brad Barry as Senior Advisor to the FCC for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and Deena Shetler, as Deputy Chief of Staff for Administration. Barry will coordinate the agency’s anti-digital discrimination efforts, working in partnership with the Task Force to Prevent Digital Discrimination, which is led by D’wana Terry and Sanford Williams, Special Advisors to the Chairwoman, and Alejandro Roark, Chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, who oversees engagement with stakeholders to ensure that task force rec

These are the top 5 states with the best--and worst--fixed internet coverage

The Federal Communications Commission is working to release new, better broadband coverage maps later in 2022. But in the interim, it released a fresh batch of data based on Form 477 submissions from operators. Fierce sifted through the data to find the states with the best and worst internet coverage, as measured by the percentage of the population without access to any ADSL, cable, or fiber providers offering speeds of at least 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps up. In Mississippi, nearly 21% of the overall population lacked access to fixed broadband providers.

The 2020 Census provides a new source of "ground truth" for unserved locations

One can assess the population that is unserved by broadband, the residential housing units unserved by broadband, or with the new Federal Communication Commission maps, “broadband serviceable locations.” My analyses are based on census block-level housing unit projections for 2019 (based on the 2010 Census), published by the FCC.