As detailed below, there are several steps the Federal Communications Commission can take as part of carrying out Congress’s direction to take into account technical and economic feasibility as it adopts rules in to eliminate digital discrimination. As an initial matter, when evaluating technical and economic feasibility, the FCC should account for the capital constraints that internet service providers (“ISPs”) face and the multi-faceted business decision-making processes that they implement to optimize investment. The FCC should refrain from adopting rules that would unreasonably disrupt ISP business decisions and thereby deter deployment of next-generation networks. Further, as the FCC considers implementing the law's requirement to revise the FCC's public complaint process, for complaints where the FCC determines that a prima facie (that is, upon initial examination) showing of digital discrimination has been presented, it should permit ISPs to raise arguments based on feasibility barriers. In particular, first, the FCC should create rebuttable presumptions where, in certain predictable circumstances there are feasibility hurdles that would lead an ISP to prioritize investing in deployment elsewhere. Second, the FCC should enable an ISP to demonstrate that it designed its policies and practices that direct its deployment investment in a non-discriminatory manner to allocate resources based on the company’s business goals, and that it applied those policies and practices consistently across the areas at issue.

AT&T CFO Pascal Desroches said it's a safe bet that AT&T and BlackRock's joint venture—Gigapower—will tap into Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding; but stressed the importance of targeting those funds in “areas that make sense for us.” Deroches said “We are not getting dollars for the sake of getting dollars. We want to make sure we can get an appropriate return on those.”

Spectrum launched the Internet, Mobile, TV, and Voice services to more than 200 homes and small businesses in Craven County, North Carolina. Spectrum’s newly constructed fiber-optic network buildout in Craven County is part of the company’s approximately $5 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF)-related investment in unserved rural communities, which includes $1 billion won in the Federal Communications Commission’s RDOF auction. 

The Federal Communications Commission has been ramping up our work to promote space-based innovation. To keep pace with the increase in both the complexity and number of applications for space services before the agency, the [FCC] will vote on new rules to streamline our satellite policies to expedite the processing of space and earth station applications [which] will promote competition and innovation by making it easier for new companies to enter the market. I also have put before my colleagues a plan to provide long-term regulatory certainty by [ensuring] all operators can access the spectrum they need for successful commercial space launches [via additional] airwaves for vital links to launch vehicles, [and a simpler process] for new competitors to get reliable access to the spectrum they need. At the same time, I am working with my colleagues to unlock the kind of space-based technology that supported the Maui fire rescue effort, [as we] are on the cusp of a much broader effort to bring together terrestrial wireless and satellite capabilities to accomplish what neither network can do on its own. The FCC is developing a new regulatory framework to support direct satellite-to-smartphone communications [in what] we call the Single Network Future. Our approach is designed to make it easier for satellite operators to collaborate with wireless carriers to access their terrestrial spectrum and fill gaps in coverage from space to the phone in your pocket. The [FCC] is also [working on] in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (ISAM) capabilities [by] exploring ways [that communications can enable] it [to] help us repair and refuel satellites in space, assemble whole systems in orbit, or even build entire new industries that advance our scientific frontiers and national security. [Finally, the FCC] put in place rules that reduced by 80 percent the amount of time operators regulated by the FCC have to deorbit retired satellites. This is big because it helps reduce the risk of collisions that can cause space communications failures.

Powerful tech leaders—including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg—expressed unanimous agreement that the government needs to intervene to avert the potential pitfalls of artificial intelligence (AI). However, there was little apparent consensus about what a congressional framework should look like to govern AI, as companies forge ahead amid a tense industry arms race. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) said Congress’s “difficult job” ahead will be finding ways to enhance the benefits of the technology while minimizing its risks. But Sen. Schumer's remarks made it clear that lawmakers are at least months away from unveiling a legislative framework to address AI. Ultimately, lawmakers, industry and civil rights leaders and tech industry advocates say the US can’t afford a repeat of past attempts to craft tech legislation because of AI’s potential to discriminate and its critical role in national security.

California lawmakers passed a bill known as the Delete Act (Senate Bill 362) that would allow consumers, with a single request, to have every data broker delete their personal information. Data brokers include a variety of businesses that gather and sell people’s personal information, such as their address, marital status and spending habits. Those companies include credit reporting agencies, people-search sites and data analytic firms that work with political campaigns. The Senate approved the legislation a day after it was passed by the Assembly. The bill heads to the governor’s desk for consideration.