Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission announced winning bidders in the 2.5 GHz band auction (Auction 108). In total, 7,872 of the 8,017 offered county-based licenses, or 98 percent of the total inventory, have been sold. With most of the available spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band located in rural areas, this auction provides vital spectrum resources to support wireless services in rural communities.

The Federal Communications Commission authorize $791,604,299 through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) to six providers to fund new broadband deployments to over 350,000 estimated locations in 19 states. The top three states receiving funding include Illinois, $212 million, Arizona, $140 million, and Iowa, $113 million. This round of funding supports projects using a range of network technologies, including gigabit service hybrid fiber/fixed wireless deployments that will provide end-user locations with either fiber or fixed wireless network service using licensed spectrum.

Indiana Governor, Eric Holcomb (R-IN) and Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch (R-IN) are leading the largest broadband investment in the state's history. Ball State University researchers found that thousands of homes across the state--urban and rural, low-income, and non-English speaking--experience the brunt of lacking access to broadband internet access. To combat this, Lt. Gov Suzanne Crouch created the Office of Broadband Opportunities in 2018 to identify needs and eliminate roadblocks to broadband deployment and digital literacy in the state.

At the annual National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) conference in Denver, Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) highlighted the progress Congress has made to expand access to high-speed, affordable broadband and close the digital divide. In 2021, Sen. Bennet introduced the bipartisan Broadband Reform and Investment to Drive Growth in the Economy (BRIDGE) Act with Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Angus King (I-MA), which was incorporated into the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to make the single largest investment in broadband in history.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau announced that there is sufficient funding available to fully meet the Universal Service Administrative Company’s (USAC) estimated demand for category one and two requests for E-Rate supported services for funding year 2022. USAC estimates the total demand for funding year 2022 will be $3.15 billion, which includes $1.64 billion for category one services and $1.51 billion for category two services.

Auction 108 of spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band closed after raising less than $428 million, a considerably lower amount in comparison with what we have seen in other recent auctions. The spectrum is considered mid-band, which is widely seen as supporting the optimum mixture of speed and coverage for 5G.

AT&T, Verizon and Lumen Technologies lined up alongside utility providers in arguing against changes to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) pole attachment regulations, pitting the unlikely partners against cable and fiber providers alike. At the heart of the current FCC debate are proposed reforms which would force pole owners to share the cost of replacing poles with attachers, rather than leaving the latter to shoulder the entire cost burden.

Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Brendan Carr made headlines when he denounced the FCC's decision to deny Starlink $885.5 million in broadband subsidy support from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I auction.

Charter's Spectrum Mobile service only uses geolocation information to optimize its service and does not sell to or share it with third parties, including advertisers, the company told the Federal Communications Commission. Charter assured Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel that the company has been, and will continue to be, completely transparent about its privacy practices, and explicitly requests permission to collect customer geolocation data—which Charter limits to data that will "optimize service." 

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel shared the responses from the nation’s 15 top mobile carriers following a request for information about their data retention and data privacy policies and practices. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said: