Internet/Broadband

The Federal Communications Commission released draft rules for the Affordable Connectivity Program. If adopted, the released Report and Order would finalize rules for the Affordable Connectivity Program, which builds upon the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program (EBB Program), and will offer eligible low-income households discounts off the cost of broadband service and connected devices.

Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY) announced the ConnectALL initiative, the largest ever investment in New York's 21st-century infrastructure. Under the new initiative, New York State will use over $1 billion in public and private investments to connect New Yorkers in rural and urban areas statewide to broadband. This includes:

The US Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is requesting public comment on a wide range of policy and program considerations associated with new broadband grant programs authorized and funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act: the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, the Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program, and the State Digital Equity Planning Grant Program.

On December 23, 2021, the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) highlighted the accomplishments of its new Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth over the past year and begins what will be annual tracking of investments in federal broadband support programs and Universal Service Fund programs. In the ACCESS BROADBAND 2021 Report NTIA also makes recommendations to improve efforts to track broadband spending and outcomes. The law also requires the Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth to submit a report to Congress each year that i

The US Department of the Treasury started disbursing State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds to state, local, territorial, and Tribal government recipients on May 10, 2021. A subset of these recipients were required to submit initial reports on August 31, 2021. Treasury is processing these reports and will make them publicly available soon. In the meantime, highlights from the Recovery Plan Performance Reports submitted by recipients include both immediate and long-term plans across eligible use categories.

In November 2021, the Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau sought comment on a range of issues related to modifications and changes in transitioning the EBB Program to the Affordable Connectivity Program established by Congress in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. To create a record that would allow the FCC to promulgate rules by the statutory deadline of January 14, 2022, and consistent with congressional directive, the Bureau established a “permit-but-disclose” proceeding with comments due December 8, 2021, and reply comments due December 28, 2021.

Lumen plans to increase locations reached by fiber from the current 2.5 million to 12 million, representing a five-times increase over the company’s traditional deployment rate according to President and CEO Jeff Storey. Those deployments target the 16 states that Lumen will retain after plans to sell its local exchange business in 20 states to Apollo Funds are completed.

The US Department of the Treasury issued the Final Rule for the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) program, enacted as a part of the American Rescue Plan, which delivers $350 billion to state, local, and Tribal governments to support their response to and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over 230 communities have applied for National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Broadband Infrastructure Program grants. But community leaders increasingly say they’re facing costly, unnecessary challenges from incumbent broadband providers, who are exploiting unreliable US broadband maps to overstate existing coverage and defend the status quo.

Benton Institute for Broadband & Society Executive Director Adrianne B Furniss named Adam Echelman a new Benton Fellow. Over the next two years, Echelman will create unique and diverse narratives that explore how low-income adults are grappling with the digital divide. The narratives will appear as a mix of photo essays, video shorts, radio interviews, feature articles, and op-eds. "Adam Echelman's exciting and much-needed work is exactly what the Marjorie & Charles Benton Opportunity Fund was created to support," said Furniss.