Alaska Communications will deploy fiber to more than 400 tribal households, businesses and anchor institutions in the state, it announced Thursday. Funded by NTIA's tribal broadband connectivity program, the project will include a partnership with the Nenana Native Association and Tanana Chiefs Conference to deploy broadband service to Alaskans living in the Athabascan community of Nenana. The Nenana Native Association will "tap into Tanana Chiefs Conference’s robust workforce development initiatives to offer residents paid on-the-job training opportunities through this project," the group said. Alaska Communications is "honored" to work with both groups, said President-CEO Paul Fenaroli, adding that service is expected to be available in early 2027.
Senate Commerce Committee Democrats are already signaling that they're unlikely to give new NTIA administrator pick Arielle Roth a free pass through her confirmation process, particularly given their amplified doubts about how the agency-administered, $42.5 billion BEAD program will fare under Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary nominee (see 2501290047). Several Senate Commerce Democrats are likely to vote against Lutnick at a Wednesday panel meeting, but lobbyists told us he is all but certain to advance to the floor with unified GOP support.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted an administrative stay late Tuesday afternoon that temporarily blocked a White House OMB memo, which called for a freeze on most federal grants and loans, from going into effect. The Trump administration memo already faced an array of legal challenges, including a planned lawsuit from a coalition of Democratic attorneys general from New York, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Broadband officials and industry advocates raised questions about the memo's constitutionality and the future of certain FCC programs, such as Lifeline. Others warned the freeze could have serious implications for NTIA's BEAD program.
The Maine Connectivity Authority made $5 million available for digital equity and broadband expansion efforts, the agency said Wednesday. The digital opportunity networks grant program will be used as part of the state's efforts under its digital equity plan. In the first phase of the program, MCA is accepting letters of intent from nonprofit organizations, state and local agencies, and tribal governments.
More broadband providers are notifying the FCC that they won't meet their third-year rural development opportunity fund (RDOF) buildout milestones (see 2501150071). Conexon Connect said Thursday it exceeded the 40% milestone in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Missouri as of the end of 2024 but fell short in Arizona, Illinois and Louisiana (docket 19-126). It said it "intends to fully satisfy its RDOF obligations in each of the ten states in which it receives RDOF support." Texas' AW Broadband told the FCC it won't meet its first interim buildout milestone in Texas. It said while it deployed 36% of its RDOF locations as of year's end, it expects to meet the 40% milestone before the end of Q2, and the 60% milestone before year's end. Kentucky's Foothills Connect said it was short of the milestone in that state, and Alabama's Point Broadband Fiber said the same about work in Alabama and Michigan. West Kentucky Rural Telephone Cooperative said it missed its RDOF milestone in Illinois. Cox said it had positive news, exceeding its third-year buildout obligations in six states where it received RDOF awards; however, it's falling short in Louisiana, where it's at 28%, Nebraska (33%) and Arizona (38%). Cox said it's "working to address these shortfalls before the next milestone." Charter Communications, which has asked to return some RDOF census block groups in North Carolina, citing its inability to get tribal consent to build on or across tribal lands, on Thursday added a broadband serviceable location to that list. Charter said it wasn't defaulting on it and the other North Carolina locations but asking that the FCC waive its RDOF rules to remove the locations from its RDOF buildout requirements.
The FCC on Thursday unveiled its selection of the initial 707 participants for the FCC’s cybersecurity pilot program, including 645 schools and districts, 50 libraries and 12 consortia. The program's future is unclear. Commissioners approved its launch 3-2 in June, with Republican Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington dissenting (see 2406060043). Both questioned whether the FCC had the authority to act. The FCC said Thursday, “Participants in the three-year pilot program will receive support to defray the costs of eligible cybersecurity services and equipment and provide the Commission with data to better understand whether and how universal service funds could be used to improve school and library defenses against increasing cyberattacks.” All 50 states, in addition to Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, and several Tribal lands, "are reflected by the Pilot participants announced today," the FCC said. Illinois had the largest number of winners at 76, 12 more than California, which was second.
NTIA awarded nearly $18 million in additional tribal broadband connectivity program support Friday (see 2412170043). Atautchikun, a "public benefit company," received more than $7 million to pre-pay qualifying broadband service for about 800 tribal households, provide end-user devices and expand digital tribal government services. Other tribal entities in Washington, Alaska, Arizona and North Dakota received funding for similar projects.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling overturning the FCC’s latest net neutrality order Thursday was based on the court’s reading of the Communications Act and failed to dive into major questions items, as laid out in recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions (see 2409030030). It also means the next FCC, under President-elect Donald Trump, likely won’t spend its early days on a reversal of the order, which was approved 3-2 in April (see 2404250004).
NTIA awarded more than $276 million in tribal broadband connectivity program support to 44 tribal entities Monday (see 2309270065). The second round of funding will support infrastructure deployment and broadband adoption projects on tribal lands. “There is no one-size-fits-all approach to achieving meaningful, universal Internet access. That’s especially true on tribal lands,” said NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson. “Each grant we announce today reflects a tribe’s own novel approach to bridging the digital divide in their community.”
The FCC broadband data task force’s sixth data collection filing window for facilities-based providers will open Jan. 2, said a public notice in docket 11-10 Monday. Providers will have until March 3 to submit their availability data as of Dec 31. “Providers who are already licensees of the Fabric and all other Fabric licensees (including state, local, and Tribal government and other third-party entities) will receive an email from CostQuest, the FCC’s Fabric contractor, providing them with links to access to the December 2024 Fabric data,” the PN said. Changes from previous versions of the broadband serviceable location fabric include “additional Broadband Serviceable Locations and corrections to addresses, unit counts, building types, land use, and geographic coordinates,” the PN said. “We encourage filers to submit their availability data as of December 31, 2024, as early as possible in the filing window,” the PN said. “Failure to timely file required data in the new BDC system may lead to enforcement action and/or penalties.”