Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

On July 30, 2025, Arielle Roth was sworn in as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and National Telecommunications and Information Administrator. Over the past year, NTIA has moved with urgency to deliver results for Americans: ensuring universal broadband availability, freeing spectrum for commercial innovation, advancing American technology leadership, strengthening public safety communications, and demanding greater accountability for taxpayers.

In a joint status report filed August 17, 2026, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) and the U.S.

We urge the Commonwealth to expand its efforts to comprehensively address the digital divide, including the issues of broadband affordability and adoption. Specifically, we recommend that Pennsylvania:

After several stalls and an administration overhaul, Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment money has at last started flowing into states, and—according to rural service provider Vistabeam—households.

A recent court ruling holds good news for digital skills advocates, signaling that $1.25 billion in Digital Equity Act funding is back on the table. National Skills Coalition Senior Government Affairs Manager Caroline Treschitta and Senior Fellow Amanda Bergson-Shilcock explain what happened and what it means for skills advocates.

There seems to be an increasing chance that the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program is back in play. In a status report filed by the Department of Commerce in the lawsuit where the National Digital Inclusion Alliance filed to reinstate the grant program, the government said it is targeting a December 2026 opening date for applications for the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program. Like everything associated with the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program and the Digital Equity Grant programs, nothing is final until this is put in place.

The Office of the Governor and the University of Hawaiʻi announced that deployment of $ 149.5 million in federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment projects is set to begin to bring reliable high-speed internet connections to Hawaiʻi‘s most rural and underserved communities. This effort marks a major milestone in the state’s ongoing initiative to provide universal access to affordable broadband internet on every island.

Federal broadband funding is doing more than expand service. It is also changing the competitive landscape in the communities receiving it. Nearly 43% of federally funded served locations in non-BEAD areas now have access to more than one broadband provider. That is meaningful progress for rural communities that have historically had limited choice, creating the potential for better pricing, stronger service and more bundled offers for consumers. A funded area is no longer just a future build opportunity. It may already be, or soon become, a contested market.

Three years ago, the Mountain Connect conference in Denver was bursting with excitement and enthusiasm. State broadband offices were either completing their final Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment proposals, or they were actively reviewing bids from sub-grantees. The talk was all about “putting shovels in the ground.” And there was a keynote interview with SpaceX’s President Gwynne Shotwell, which turned out to be eerily prescient.

The Texas Broadband Development Office placed a temporary hold on August 12 on all disbursements of billions of dollars in federal funds related to the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program.