Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-TX) and House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R-TX) called for an audit of the Texas Broadband Development Office after the office faced allegations of favoring satellite companies when it came to distributing more than $5 billion in state and federal dollars. In a joint statement, the lawmakers said concerns were raised during a Senate hearing about the award process.

On the afternoon of July 17, 2026, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration approved California's Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Final Proposal. This milestone represents months of work by the California Public Utilities Commission and our federal partners since the submission of the Final Proposal in December 2025.

Home internet is so fundamental to daily life that it barely registers as a subscription anymore. Now, it’s an essential utility, on par with electricity and running water. Yet as household budgets remain stretched from years of elevated prices, a growing share of Americans are quietly straining under the weight of their monthly internet bill. However, this is one cost they cannot afford to cut. This report is based on a BroadbandNow survey of 954 U.S. adults conducted in March 2026, combined with our analysis of active plans from more than 2,100 internet providers.

The Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program is designed to close broadband gaps across the country, but getting the funding out the door is only part of the challenge. The harder question is what happens next.

While Chairman Brendan Carr's Federal Communications Commission continues to highlight efforts to strip and streamline regulations to get broadband deployed faster, some stakeholders are saying a proposed change to how pole attachments are regulated would do the opposite.

We commend NDIA’s commitment and courage in bringing the case. This decision is a significant but incomplete victory for those of us committed to meaningful connectivity for all. Congress was right to recognize the historical disparities in access and adoption of critical connectivity tools—and to address these inequities with thoughtful planning and funding. We disagree with the court’s decision that considering the connectivity needs of racial or ethnic minorities constitutes an unconstitutional race-based classification.

On July 15, 2026, Judge John D. Bates of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a decision that could revive a federal grant program the President declared dead more than a year ago. In National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) v. Trump (Civil Action No. 25-3606), the court held that the Digital Equity Act of 2021 contains an unconstitutional racial classification, but that this single flaw does not doom the law.

We analyzed the Federal Communications Commission's latest Serviceable Location Fabric (v9) and the latest Broadband Data Collection (BDC) data release (2025-12-31, which uses Fabric v8) to see how many locations awarded  Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program funds for satellite service are either (1) no longer included in the Fabric as broadband-serviceable locations or (2) are already “served.” About 35 percent of locations awarded BEAD funds for satellite service are likely no longer in need (42% if unlicensed fixed wireless is included).

When the Blue Ridge Broadband Alliance (BRBA) launched in July 2025, momentum was not on its side. The previous five years had been a time of immense growth in the broadband and digital opportunity space. The COVID-19 pandemic thrust the digital divide into the spotlight, and stories of students doing homework in fast food parking lots made it clear that something needed to be done.

In today's broadband debate, fiber has often been described as “future-proof” and “the gold standard” while other technologies, such as low-Earth orbit satellite systems have been dismissed as temporary solutions. Fiber is unquestionably one of the greatest communications innovations ever developed. It is expected to continue playing a key role in supporting AI, cloud computing, advanced manufacturing, and wireless networks. But 250 years of communications history teach us that no technology should be insulated from competition or presumed to be the final word in innovation.