ACA Connects elects Greg Wheeler, altafiber, to its board and reelects Patricia Jo Boyers, Boycom Cablevision (chair), John Reardon, Schurz Communications (vice chair), Marty Carollo, All West Communications, Paul Cowling, Cogeco/Breezeline, Carla Framil, Liberty Puerto Rico, Ed McKay, Shentel, and Drew Petersen, TDS … Mollie Timmons, ex-American Petroleum Institute, joins NTIA as senior adviser for public affairs.

States and territories can't set forth a specific rate for a low-cost service option in BEAD, even if that rate is required by state law, according to new NTIA guidance issued Tuesday. The agency's 63-page FAQ document on BEAD covers an array of topics, including whether subgrantees can use BEAD-funded facilities to provide other offerings, such as telephone and video (they can), and how applicants are supposed to track their 2% administrative costs.

Trade groups are urging federal agencies to treat deliberate damage to communications networks, such as fiber-optic cable cuts, as domestic terrorism in some instances and increase investigative and enforcement resources in regions with more incidents. Widespread, organized attacks on communications networks represent "a significant and rapidly growing threat demanding urgent, coordinated federal, state, and local action," the groups said in a letter Wednesday to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel.

NTIA should "expressly condition" BEAD funding on a state's commitment not to enforce rate regulation, ACA Connects said in a letter Tuesday to recently confirmed NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth. The agency should also clarify that it won't issue waivers, the group added. Doing so "will have the most immediate impact" in New York, ACA Connects said, noting that ISPs are subject to the state's Affordable Broadband Act (see 2505290045). The law requires ISPs operating there to offer an affordable service plan for low-income households.

The Senate confirmed Republican Arielle Roth as NTIA administrator Wednesday on a largely party-line 52-42 vote, as expected (see 2507160076). Senate Commerce Committee member John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat who joined Republicans in backing Roth, as he was when the panel advanced her in April (see 2504090037). The chamber invoked cloture on Roth last week 50-34 (see 2507170065). President Donald Trump nominated Roth, who was Senate Commerce Republicans’ telecom policy director, to the NTIA role in February (see 2502040056).

Utility and broadband interests are pushing the FCC for changes to the agency's pole attachment item on its July 24 meeting agenda. In a speech earlier this month laying out his "Build America" agenda, Chairman Brendan Carr highlighted the pole attachment draft order and a copper line retirement draft NPRM, also on July's agenda, as prime examples of an intertwined focus on infrastructure deployment and deregulation (see 2507020036). Communications infrastructure deployment experts have mixed feelings about whether the pole attachment item notably eases pole attachment gripes. Commissioners' unanimous approval is expected, as pole attachment issues are generally nonpartisan.

Public interest groups, MVPD groups and low-power TV broadcasters opposed to NAB’s petition for a mandatory ATSC 3.0 transition are “protecting their turf” rather than the public interest, said NAB Chief Legal Officer Rick Kaplan in a blog post Monday. Kaplan was responding to a June ex parte filing from the Consumer Technology Association, NCTA, ACA Connects, Public Knowledge, the Advanced Television Alliance and the LPTV Broadcasters Association, which said NAB’s request goes against both the public interest and the Trump administration’s push for deregulation (see 2505090060).

California broadband advocates and industry clashed over how the state should treat fixed wireless and other non-fiber technologies in its BEAD plan, as the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) races to finalize a revised proposal by Sept. 4. In reply comments posted Wednesday (docket 23-02-016), commenters disagreed on whether fixed wireless can serve as a viable long-term solution for bridging the digital divide.

Now with a Republican majority, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Wednesday laid out policy priorities that range from accelerating and easing broadband infrastructure deployment to tackling blue-collar workforce issues.

The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it would hear Cox Communications' challenge of a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision regarding willful contributor copyright infringement. Cox filed a cert petition in August (docket 24-171) over the 4th Circuit upholding a lower court's copyright infringement finding against Cox for the piracy of some of its internet subscribers (see 2408160034). Cox argued there was now a circuit court split over willfulness standards in secondary-infringement cases. The cert petition had been challenged by music label plaintiffs in the original litigation (see 2410160045).