Vice President Kamala Harris and other Biden administration officials touted the FCC’s $14.2 billion affordable connectivity program Monday as an example of successful implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, as the program hit a milestone of enrolling more than 10 million households. House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., is holding out hope that Congress could appropriate additional money for the FCC Emergency Connectivity Fund and other broadband programs by passing it as part of a balkanized chunk of the scuttled Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation package (HR-5376) but told us he believes keeping the connectivity money isn't going to make or break his support.

The FCC order amending the E-rate program's definition of a library to clarify tribal libraries are eligible for the program takes effect March 16, says Monday's Federal Register (see 2201270030).

The FCC Wireless Bureau deemed “acceptable for filing” the applications of additional tribal entities to use the 2.5 GHz band for broadband, made during a 2020 tribal window. The FCC said Friday it has already granted 328 licenses to Tribes or tribally controlled entities to use the band. “That an application has been accepted for filing means that the application, upon initial review, is complete and contains sufficient information to be accepted for processing and further review, including a required period during which public comment on the application is sought,” the notice said. The applications were filed by the Native Village of Unalakleet, Skagway Village, the Alaska Tribal Spectrum, the Chilkoot Indian Association, the Native Village of Igiugig and Nikolai Village, all in Alaska. Petitions to deny are due March 14, oppositions March 24 and replies March 31.

Industry groups pressed NTIA to give states maximum flexibility in awarding the billions of forthcoming dollars from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, as the agency prepares to roll out program rules for the broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) and middle-mile programs, in comments we reviewed (see 2202070053). The agency made most of the more than 750 comments it received available Wednesday.

Rescind recent guidance that "expresses a clear preference for networks built by municipalities, non-profits and electric co-ops," said USTelecom in a letter to federal, state, local, and tribal leaders Thursday on the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act. The Treasury Department and USDA's rules favoring these entities are "concerning" given their "well-documented propensity to fail at building and maintaining complex networks over time." Funding decisions "should be based solely on how best to connect unserved and underserved" areas, USTelecom said, "not on a provider's status as a public or private entity." States should also "think holistically" about their broadband plans and use the FCC's forthcoming maps "to ensure deployment funds go to their intended use," it said. Don't regulate broadband as a Title II utility, the group said, saying net neutrality and consumer privacy laws should "apply equitably across the internet ecosystem."

FirstNet is committed to expanding the number of first responders in Indian country who are using the network, CEO Edward Parkinson said at a FirstNet board meeting Wednesday, streamed from Albuquerque. FirstNet staff and board members visited the Laguna Pueblo Reservation in New Mexico Tuesday as part of outreach to the tribes, officials said, meeting with leaders from the Pueblo and the Navaho Nation.

Community engagement at “all levels” will be “key” to the broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, said Doug Kinkoph, associate administrator for NTIA's Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth, during an Incompas policy summit in Washington Tuesday (see 2202080065). “You really do need to get down to the grassroots to make this effective,” Kinkoph said. A notice of funding opportunity for the BEAD and middle mile programs will come out “mid-May,” he said, and a notice for the digital equity programs will come out in early June (see 2202070053).

State and local governments sought close coordination as billions of broadband dollars come from the federal infrastructure law, in comments we received. Comments were due Friday on NTIA’s request for comments on implementing broadband programs in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Industry groups sought NTIA assurance the broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) and middle mile programs would be technologically neutral. Advocacy groups wanted maximum stakeholder participation and a focus on equitable deployment.

Conexon withdrew its FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction waiver request "without any tribal consultation" and "cannot access and deploy service to the tribal areas at issue" without tribal consent, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe told Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's aide, Wireline Bureau Chief Kris Monteith and other staff, per a filing Friday in docket 19-126 (see 2201250041). The Colorado tribes disputed Conexon's claim they received "any state or federal broadband stimulus funding" and said Conexon's winning RDOF bid "continues to represent a significant concern." Deny Conexon's pending eligible telecom carrier waiver petition, the tribes asked, noting it's "not in the public interest," partly "given the impact an awarded RDOF grant would have in frustrating the tribes' own broadband deployments."

The House passed semiconductor-funding legislation 222-210 on a largely party-line vote Friday. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and lawmakers are looking ahead to conference talks to combine elements of the newly House-passed America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength Act (HR-4521) and Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260) (see 2202010001).