Infrastructure

The Trump administration released new Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program guidance for states and territories meant to minimize federal spending on broadband deployment as much as possible. Among other changes to Biden-era rules, this guidance mandates that states and territories use cost efficiency of BEAD dollars as the primary criterion for making awards. Further, the new rules prohibit states from showing any preference for particular types of technologies.

Verizon may have scored federal approval of its $20 billion Frontier acquisition, but the coast is far from clear stateside. California is scrutinizing the operator for ending its diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The California Public Utilities Commission this week began conducting hearings to seek input on whether the Verizon/Frontier deal serves the public interest.

A new report from the national internet comparison site ISP Reports ranks several fiber-rich cities among the best in the nation for internet speed. Markets with local infrastructure investments and new deployments outperformed some large markets, the authors said, and “are creating competitive broadband landscapes worth further exploration.” Residents of the Salt Lake City (UT) metro area saw an increase of 282 Mbps to reach a total of 7,215 Mbps. There, 99 percent of the city has access to broadband internet speeds, with 87 percent fiber coverage and 97 percent cable coverage.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s recent Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program Notice changed the BEAD grant process to focus almost entirely on awarding the grant funds to the internet service provider that asks for the least amount of funding for a given location. But there are some other interesting changes in the Notice for ISPs to consider. 

Fiber-based service provider LiveOak Fiber has selected Accelecom to support its fiber-to-the-home expansion in Georgia. LiveOak will work with Accelecom to scale and upgrade its backbone in the state in Chatham and Glynn counties. No information about the timing or financial details were included in the press release. LiveOak Fiber said the arrangement with Accelecom is part of its build-to-service model, which is an effort to reduce the time between infrastructure deployment and when customers receive service.

On May 13, 2025 the Universal Service Administrative Company sent Lumen Technologies an e-mail regarding the company's efforts to meet the 40 percent milestone for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (“RDOF”) program by December 31, 2025. As Federal Communications Commission staff are aware, on Friday, June 6, 2025, Lumen relinquished its remaining RDOF awards. Given this relinquishment, Lumen will not continue its efforts to meet the 40 percent RDOF milestone by the end of this year.

The adoption of digital workforce skills is more crucial than ever, panelists said at the Speeding BEAD Summit.

Rep Randy Feenstra (R-IA-4) introduced the Lowering Broadband Costs for Consumers Act to help construct broadband in rural Iowa. This legislation would require that the largest financial beneficiaries of the networks, also known as “edge providers”—such as Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, and Netflix—ontribute their fair share toward the networks that are built and maintained by the Universal Service Fund (USF) and by consumers who own landlines throughout the country. Rep Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM) is the co-lead of this legislation.

On June 6, the National Telecommunications & Information Administration released a “Policy Notice” revising the prior Administration’s Notice of Funding Opportunity for the landmark $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program, enacted by Congress as part of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act back in late 2021.

Under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Restructuring Policy Notice issued by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration on June 6, state and territory broadband offices must rescind all preliminary and provisional BEAD awards made under the prior rules and must, in very short order, run a single competitive round with a strong preference for providers that promise to provide 100Mbps/20 Mbps service for the least amount of BEAD funding support. Crucially, the Policy Notice puts LEO satellite and unlicensed fixed wireless on the same footing as end-to-end fiber