Tim Wu on Network Neutrality

In November of 2022, the FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking detailing how the broadband nutrition label will be implemented. Industry and consumer advocates alike submitted nearly 250 filings during the public comment period. The FCC recently responded to three petitions it received from coalitions pushing back on the rules outlined in the proposed rulemaking.

The key for states to unlock their portion of the $42.5 billion in federal BEAD funds is the submission and approval of their Five Year Action Plans and Final Proposal. Today, we will look at two states (Maine and Louisiana) and follow up with the others as we are getting a clearer picture of how each state intends to put this historic infusion of federal funds to use.

The farm bill may soon play a key role in maintaining the $14 billion Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) currently overseen by the FCC. However, the farm bill doesn’t represent the only shot of extending and funding the ACP. A bipartisan coalition of 45 lawmakers are simultaneously pushing for the ACP to be funded by other appropriation measures currently winding their way through the halls of Congress. Both the appropriations and farm bills face a looming September 30 deadline Congress seems unlikely to meet.

In this week’s round-up of broadband news, we culled three stories we think are worth reading. As always we look to separate the signal from the noise.

Concerns are mounting that over $2.8 billion in potential broadband grants doled out by the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) could be wasted, further eroding the already well-criticized program’s disjointed effort to expand broadband access across rural America. These issues have not only imperiled RDOF program funding, but have thrown a wrench in the works of numerous additional government efforts to shore up broadband access, from the FCC’s long-criticized quest to accurately map U.S. broadband access, to the implementation of newer grant programs overseen by other agencies.

South Carolina’s innovative state broadband map can accurately identify areas of over-reporting by Internet service providers (ISPs). The South Carolina State Broadband Office now performs audits on the ISPs to ensure they are submitting accurate data. The office partnered with broadband data collection company Ookla and integrated speed test data directly into the mapping system