The Federal Communications Commission committed $46.3 million in a new funding round through the Emergency Connectivity Fund Program, which provides digital tools and services to support students in communities across the country. The funding supports applications from the third application window, benefitting approximately 125,000 students nationwide, including students in Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio, Oregon, and Washington. The funding will support approximately 250 schools and school districts, 13 libraries and library systems, and 2 consortia.  Approximately $6.86 billion in funding commitments have been approved to date, approximately $4.14 billion is supporting applications from Window 1; $834 million from Window 2; and $1.89 billion from Window 3. To date, the funding has provided support to approximately 18 million students, 11,100 schools, 1050 libraries, and 120 consortia, and provided nearly 13 million connected devices and over 8 million broadband connections.

Governor Kay Ivey (R-AL) announced that more than $400 million in federal funding and over $1.4 billion from the US Department of Commerce Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program will be used to expand access to high-speed internet across Alabama. Governor Ivey also unveiled Be Linked Alabama as the name and hub representing the state’s continued efforts to expand access to high-speed internet. Be Linked Alabama represents the state’s united effort to expand access to affordable, reliable high-speed internet to all Alabamians. The statewide initiative is coordinated by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs and brings together partners from across the state, including but not limited to Governor Ivey, the Alabama Legislature, internet service providers, research institutions, utility companies, community leaders and the public as Alabama works toward achieving the goal of high-speed internet access for all. The new brand comes alongside significant investments made possible by federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) that were allocated by the Alabama Legislature in 2022 and 2023 to support expansion of high-speed internet to unserved areas of the state. Governor Ivey announced the upcoming opening of grant applications for the $182 million from the Capital Projects Fund (CPF) to support “last-mile” projects that provide the actual connections to homes, businesses, and community anchor institutions. The application period is expected to open on August 14 and close in October 2023. Additionally, the state’s new Anchor Institution/Middle Mile (AIMM) program will be funded with the second round of ARPA funds allocated during the 2023 Legislative Session. More than $200 million will support this effort, which will potentially serve 500 anchor facilities – including institutions such as colleges and universities, rural hospitals, and government facilities that are inadequately served, along with “middle-mile” deployment that will provide the infrastructure to help facilitate last-mile deployment by internet service providers. The application dates for the AIMM program will be announced at a workshop to be held on August 11, 2023. 

The National Telecommunication and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded Connecting Minority Communities (CMC) Pilot Program grants to Grambling State University, Southern University and A&M College, Southern University Law Center and Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO). The funding for this two-year program will provide a variety of broadband services for universities and their anchor communities. With $3 million in funding, SUNO will install towers on campus buildings to expand broadband to the immediate area, as well as purchase 400 Wi-Fi units for families in the community. SUNO will also build a mobile Wi-Fi vehicle to provide broadband service during power outages. In addition to addressing infrastructure needs on campus, SUNO plans to improve digital literacy in the neighboring community. SUNO wasn't the only university given funding to address disparities in broadband access in its community. Grambling State University also received a CMC grant of $2.2 million. For students and faculty, lack of internet access has created difficulties in learning environments. Through the grant, the university will provide 600 students with mobile hotspots for one year. Along with improving broadband access on campus, the university will establish a laboratory to support telemedicine conferencing. 

If UScellular were to sell some of its wireless assets, “under most scenarios that’s an opportunity and a positive for where we’re trying to go,” said Charlie Ergen, chairman of the board of DISH Network and
Echostar. DISH is building a 5G mobile network aimed at competing with wireless giants AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. Acquiring UScellular assets could help DISH meet network buildout deadlines. UScellular parent TDS said that it would consider a sale of UScellular network assets. Tom Cullen, DISH executive vice president of corporate development, noted that UScellular “operates in areas that we haven’t fully built out,” which could help meet deployment deadlines. Ergen noted that there might be regulatory constraints on DISH’s ability to buy UScellular assets but that those constraints would be less likely for DISH than for other companies.