Libraries

The recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) is likely to result in substantial changes in the financial prospects of low-income households. There is no shortage of analyses that foresee a budget shock for the less well-off among us as the social safety net contracts and the tax burden for low-income households increases. Direct effects are one thing, whether that is less food assistance or help with the heating bill in the winter. Indirect impacts are inevitable as well—and the ability to pay for home broadband service is bound to be one of them.

Mission Telecom—a nonprofit that provides wireless internet hotspots primarily to schools and libraries—announced a $7 per month plan called Mission-Connect. Mission Telecom was founded in the 1980s as Instructional Telecommunications Foundation, Inc. Originally, the organization bought 2.5 Gigahertz spectrum licenses from the Federal Communications Commission to bring educational television to its markets. The FCC has changed its rules regarding spectrum licenses over the years to allow them to be used for 3G wireless internet.

The Supreme Court ruled that an $8 billion fund that provides telephone and internet service in rural and low-income communities is constitutional, a break from a string of major rulings by the high court that have sharply curtailed the power of federal agencies.

On behalf of the 156 individuals leading 140 organizations serving communities from 39 states, we, the undersigned, urge you to reinstate the Digital Equity Act (DEA) Programs that were cancelled on May 9, 2025. We are the organizations that would have carried out the work funded by the Digital Equity Act Program, created and authorized by Congress in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.

On June 6, 2025, the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) changed the direction of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, a federal-state partnership established by Congress in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. States, Washington (DC), Puerto Rico, and U.S.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) announced the category two multipliers and funding floors for the upcoming five-year cycle that will begin funding year 2026 and run through funding year 2030.

It’s not just Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment delays we have to worry about.

The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition and more than 80 national and state organizations urged the House of Representatives to vote NO on S.J.Res.7/H.J.Res.33—Congressional Review Act resolutions that would overturn the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to allow E-Rate funding for wireless hotspot lending by schools and libraries, and bar future Commissions from funding hotspots.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) announced that there is sufficient funding available to fully meet the Universal Service Administrative Company’s (USAC) estimated demand for category one and category two requests for E-Rate-supported services for funding year 2025. On March 27, 2025, USAC submitted a demand estimate for the E-Rate program for funding year 2025.  USAC estimates the total demand for funding year 2025 will be $3.225 billion, which includes estimated demand for category one services of $1.806 billion, and of $1.418 billion for catego

While it’s not common for an Federal Communications Commission issue to face the court of last resort, two combined lawsuits recently heard before the bench—Federal Communications Commission v. Consumers' Research and Schools, Health & Libraries Coalition v. Consumers' Research—could put millions of anchor institutions, rural communities and American families nationwide in real jeopardy of losing connectivity.