Individuals who primarily Reside in a Rural Area

The House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications and Technology convened an oversight hearing focused on the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and Administrator Arielle Roth was the sole witness.

Data centers have arrived in rural America. The Daily Yonder analyzed crowd-sourced data on the locations of data centers, how they connect to existing grid infrastructure, and where communities are fighting back. Though the majority of in-progress data centers are in metropolitan areas, our reporting and data analysis show that large data centers, characteristic of the current boom, represent outsized investments in rural areas.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (Bureau) adopted the Performance Plan Template that mobile providers must use to submit their Alaska Connect Fund (ACF) performance plans for Bureau review and approval. The Bureau incorporates, in part, three of the four requested changes to the proposed template and declines to incorporate a requested change because it is inconsistent with the Alaska Connect Fund Order. The Bureau also clarifies that providers may voluntarily claim additional hex-9s in the comparable areas columns of the Performance Plan Template. 

Copper network retirement in California has taken another litigious turn. In a suit against the Federal Communications Commission, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is asking the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, a federal court in San Francisco, to determine that the FCC's new rules aimed at expediting copper network shutdowns constitutes an overreach that violates federal law and conflicts with notice-and-comment rulemaking requirements.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and the North Carolina Department of Information Technology announced three new programs to improve the digital infrastructure of rural health care through new digital solutions and tools.

Vermont Community Broadband Board is encouraging eligible Vermonters to take advantage of the Affordable Long Drop Program, which helps pay the cost of connecting homes to fiber broadband service. Funding for the program is currently scheduled to end in September 2026, creating a limited-time opportunity for Vermonters that have delayed connecting because of installation costs. The Affordable Long Drop Program assists eligible providers to cover the cost of long or nonstandard broadband connections, including underground installations.

Alyrica Networks, Blue Mountain, Columbia County, Comcast Cable, Consumers Power Inc., Douglas Services, E4 Connect, Farmer’s Mutual Telephone Company, Gilliam County, Hood River Electric & Internet Co-op, Northwest Fiber, Pioneer Connect, Siuslaw, Stimulus Technologies, Windwave Communications, and Starlink have all accepted Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program awards to build broadband networks in Oregon. However, Astound, Siuslaw Broadband, Q-Life, and Hunter have declined BEAD awards. These rejections affect 13,381 broadband-serviceable locations.

Jeff Bezos—along with newly minted trillionaire Elon Musk—has become one of the biggest beneficiaries of Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD), a $42.45 billion broadband expansion program passed as part of President Joe Biden’s 2021 “Build Back Better” initiative.

On the run-up to SpaceX’s historic initial public offering on June 12, commentators worried about who would get hurt. Their top concern was for everyday retirement savers: Major stock index providers like NASDAQ had changed their own rules to fast-track SpaceX’s inclusion in their market measures. These unusual moves would force holders of plain vanilla index funds to buy into a risky, unproven stock.

Public Knowledge, UnidosUS, and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance released a new report on digital equity policy. The Blueprint for Equitable Digital Participation was designed to center the lived experiences of those directly impacted by digital inequities. The Blueprint illuminates the systemic barriers faced by communities most impacted by the digital divide and proposes a variety of effective policy solutions that empower consumers and ensure sustainable f