Report on past event

As state broadband offices enter the planning phase of the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, industry leaders say that community engagement is key to ensuring affordability and long-term sustainability.

In a reference to all the attention and funding that is being focused on rural broadband, NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield said, “We need to be making hay while the sun is shining.” Bloomfield highlighted two new initiatives aimed at helping members make hay.

As Los Angeles County officials work with community coalitions to improve high-speed Internet access in underserved communities across the region, the Digital Equity LA Summit focused on the challenges ahead: urging state officials to fix the broadband priority maps the state will use to target where to invest $2 billion in state broadband grant funds with the state months away from receiving over a billion additional dollars from the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. Representing the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) were Michael Mullaney, Preside

There needs to be a way to consistently track the billions in broadband infrastructure money coming from the federal government, said Information Technology and Innovation Foundation panelists. With $42.5 billion coming to the states from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, experts floated the idea of having mandated ongoing reporting requirements on what that money is doing. Brookings Institution senior fellow Nicol Turner-Lee said her research group is discussing their own version of a tracking me

The United States and our allies are in a high-stakes technology competition with authoritarian adversaries. How this competition plays out will profoundly shape our economic security – our ability to innovate, grow exports, create jobs of the future, and provide opportunities to all our people. It will also shape our national security – our ability to protect our advantages while preserving our freedoms and democratic values at home and abroad.

As states begin to receive funds from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Act, they need to lay the groundwork for high adoption and fiscal sustainability said Brookings Institute panelists. The majority of the BEAD program’s $42.5 billion in funding has yet to be disbursed, and state allocations are expected by June 2023.

When Jase Wilson with Broadband Money reached out to share that he was convening a gathering of broadband leaders in Florida to have some off-the-record conversations about funding, state activity, challenges, and opportunities and asked me to be around the table, it was hard to say no. From state broadband office leaders to community leaders to a few policymakers and interested parties, the conversations were fast-paced and ran the gamut from technology to deployment to sustainability of networks to the role that anchor institutions play in the mix. We also all committed to Chatham House r

The Senate Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications, Media and Broadband held a hearing examining ongoing and past efforts within the public and private sectors to bring affordable, resilient and secure broadband to all communities. Four witnesses testified during the hearing: 

A panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit explored what would happen if the Federal Communications Commission's fee collection to support telecommunications subsidies were overturned, as they dissected the legality of giving the Federal Communications Commission and the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) power to levy the fees.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk led a call with civil rights groups in an effort to assure them that he would curtail hate speech — and stop the spread of misinformation ahead of the midterm elections. Musk said that Twitter employees responsible for election integrity who had been locked out of their moderation tools during the company’s acquisition will have their access reinstated soon. Musk also said that users banned by the platform — including former President Donald Trump — will remain off the site “for at least a few more weeks.” The gathering was part of Musk’s effort to set up a “content mo