Daily Digest 6/11/2025 (Sylvester Stewart)
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
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Fixed Wireless Technologies and Their Suitability for Broadband Delivery
Letter to Secretary Lutnick Regarding Digital Equity Act Funding
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As state and local governments and their partners plan to invest billions of dollars in federal funding to build broadband infrastructure, choosing the best technology will have significant long-term implications. Federal policymakers have addressed this subject to some degree: For example, the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program’s notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) preferences fiber over fixed wireless. To aid state and local policymakers, this report offers an engineering analysis of fixed-wireless technologies and their suitability for delivering broadband service in various environments. The report addresses a range of critical technology and cost considerations related to fixed-wireless networks—and, as a point of comparison, to fiber-to-the-premises networks. While the cost analysis illustrates that fiber’s upfront capital costs are higher than those of fixed wireless in many circumstances, the total cost of ownership over 30 years is comparable for fiber and fixed wireless. Given the above analysis, fiber offers the greater long-term value as compared to fixed-wireless technologies because of fiber’s long life, capabilities, scalability, and flexibility. In the event that a state funds technologies other than fiber, such as in circumstances where the capital cost to build fiber is cost-prohibitive or the need for service cannot wait for fiber construction, the state should take steps to protect its investment—such as by requiring grantees to guarantee the long-term maintenance and operations of the fixed wireless network. This could be accomplished by requiring a 20-year performance and budget roadmap, and a viable strategy for full service where line-of-sight is a challenge.

Figuring out how to provide high-speed internet to all Americans has been an important public-policy goal for decades. As the coronavirus pandemic made painfully clear, broadband is crucial to full participation in society. And multiple empirical studies have shown that increased broadband access is correlated with stronger economic growth. Yet more than 7 million homes and businesses still do not have access. But the current political debate misunderstands the nature of the problem at almost every level. When it comes to broadband, procedural simplicity on its own hasn’t worked in the past and won’t work in the future. The deeper issue is that the United States government has abandoned the full range of policy tools that would actually get the job done. Any effort to achieve “abundance” must start by recognizing that red tape isn’t the only reason America can’t seem to build anymore.
[Asad Ramzanali is the director of artificial intelligence and technology policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator. Benjamin Dinovelli is an academic fellow at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator.]

AT&T said its fiber network buildout has reached more than 30 million locations, putting it roughly halfway toward its new, end-of-2030 fiber buildout goal. AT&T reached the 30 million milestone about half a year ahead of schedule; the company originally expected to reach it by the end of 2025. AT&T will now pursue its longer-term goal of 60 million fiber locations by 2030. AT&T intends to reach that goal via a mix of approaches, including its ongoing in-footprint buildout, the Gigapower joint venture with BlackRock focused on fiber builds outside of AT&T's traditional wireline footprint, open access deals with a handful of partners, and AT&T's proposed acquisition of Lumen's Mass Markets fiber business.

A group of representatives from Illinois, led by Sen Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), wrote to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick regarding the termination of the Digital Equity Act. The group objected to the cancellation of the funding and urged Secretary Lutnick to reinstate the funding immediately. "Congress recognized that broadband access and digital literacy are increasingly critical for employment, education, healthcare and participation in the broader economy. Accordingly, in a bipartisan manner, Congress provided $2.75 billion for the states to help ensure that all households have the technology, skills and capacity to access and benefit from the digital economy. Illinois has been awarded $23.7 million through the Digital Equity Capacity Grant, and organizations working throughout our State have also been awarded grant funds for multi-state Digital Equity Competitive Grant projects ... Without these funds, programs that help job seekers create a resume to apply for jobs, help farmers use data to optimize crop and livestock production, help seniors pay their bills online and speak with their healthcare providers and help entrepreneurs to develop a website would be slashed ... We urge you to reverse course and reinstate this critical funding."

County officials understand better than anybody that better broadband is economic development. They understand that fiber means people will have enough upload speeds to work from home and how higher-paying jobs uplift a local economy. They were looking at the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program as a tool that would bolster the future of their County. The most disheartening thing about the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Notice is seeing all of the effort local folks have made to get better broadband fall by the wayside. I was disappointed the day the BEAD grants were announced because Congress made it too complicated. But I never complained about the BEAD goals—because this was the chance to bring fiber infrastructure to thousands of rural counties. To rub salt in the wound, the NTIA Notice also eliminates the local preference where local governments could give their favorite internet service provider extra grant points with an exclusive letter of support, and even more points by awarding a local grant. I hope that a large number of rural elected officials are voicing their unhappiness to federal politicians. Congress created the BEAD rules, and at this point, they are the only ones who can insist that the NTIA let the BEAD grant program play out as planned.

EchoStar said it has made multiple attempts to set up a meeting between company executives and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr. "All of these requests ... have gone unanswered," the company said. According to one analyst, that's not a good sign. "There can be multiple explanations for Chairman Carr turning down the meeting request, but the most likely explanation reflects a negative sign for EchoStar in terms of the outcome of the proceedings," wrote Blair Levin, a policy adviser to New Street Research and a former high-level FCC official, in a recent note to investors. The situation highlights the growing complexities surrounding the FCC's inquiry into EchoStar, an investigation focusing mainly on the Boost Mobile 5G network that EchoStar's Dish Network built across the US.

The complexities of telecom regulation can bewilder even seasoned professionals. Thus, a headline like “FCC to Investigate EchoStar's 5G” may seem too boring and technical to look into. This would be a mistake: this action by the Federal Communications Commission has the potential to be seriously market-disruptive, and even to impair American national security. Among the major national carriers, EchoStar is a technological leader in areas most relevant to competition with China and to national priorities in trade and advanced manufacturing. That makes it a national strategic asset. As a true fourth national network, it protects consumer choice and lower consumer prices. The FCC threatens such severe sanctions that they put EchoStar’s financial viability in question and threaten to kill the company. This places every holder of a spectrum license in a riskier position and will raise consumer prices by forcing every licensee, not just EchoStar, to charge higher risk premiums. Here’s how we got here.
[Nathan Simington was nominated to serve as a Commissioner of the FCC by President Donald J. Trump. He was confirmed by the United States Senate in 2020 and served in his position until June 6, 2025.]

SpaceX’s low-Earth orbit satellite provider Starlink is making inroads in the U.S. broadband market and trying to attract more subscribers by offering free equipment to new customers in states where it says it has excess capacity. Ookla Speedtest data on Starlink indicates that the satellite company’s network performance has been on the uptick over the past couple of years and as of Q1 2025, 17.42 percent of U.S. Starlink Speedtest users were able to get speeds consistent with the Federal Communications Commission’s minimum requirement for fixed broadband of 100 Mbps download speeds and 20 Mbps upload speeds. Starlink is positioned to benefit from recent changes to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced June 6 that it had reviewed the BEAD program and, as expected, it adopted a technology-neutral stance instead of prioritizing fiber deployments, making way for LEO satellite systems like Starlink to get BEAD funding. In addition, some states such as Maine have launched state-funded programs that subsidize Starlink for some rural addresses, and more are likely to follow.

Sal Khan tightly controls his children’s screen time and their access to social media, but the founder and chief executive of the Khan Academy, an online education organisation, is a big believer in the power of the digital world and artificial intelligence to help students get ahead. Like many executives in Silicon Valley, he is well aware of the dangers of technology and how far apps have been designed to drive usage and harvest personal information. But he also sees the value of new tools to support more personalised and effective learning, ironing out differences in access to resources and boosting education more broadly. There is a need to be vigilant about the risks of a decline in critical thinking as we outsource work to AI, just as Google has displaced much memorisation of facts. But Khan, who recently wrote the book Brave New Words about AI and education, suggests technology still works best when supplementing human effort. “It’s still very important to learn basic skills,” he says, adding that the people who have the highest understanding “are getting the most out of it.”

The tug of war over Hulu is over. Disney agreed to pay Comcast an additional $439 million for full control of the streaming service, ending a year and a half dispute over the amount. Disney had argued that it owed Comcast nothing beyond the $8.6 billion it already paid for Comcast’s 33 percent stake — and Comcast countered that Disney owed another $5 billion. Eventually, a third-party appraiser was brought in. The deal is expected to close by July 24. Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, said that full ownership of Hulu would allow for “a deeper and more seamless integration of Hulu’s general entertainment content with Disney+” and for bundled sales with a new ESPN streaming service that is planned for introduction in 2025. Comcast called Hulu “a great start for us in streaming,” adding, “We wish Disney well.” Comcast’s primary streaming service is now Peacock, which it has been loading with sports content as it seeks to expand advertising sales and subscriber counts. Peacock, which has been unprofitable, has about 41 million subscribers.

The AI armageddon is here for online news publishers. Chatbots are replacing Google searches, eliminating the need to click on blue links and tanking referrals to news sites. As a result, traffic that publishers relied on for years is plummeting. Google’s introduction of AI Overviews, which summarize search results at the top of the page, dented traffic to features like vacation guides and health tips, as well as to product review sites. Its U.S. rollout of AI Mode, an effort to compete directly with the likes of ChatGPT, is expected to deliver a stronger blow. AI Mode responds to user queries in a chatbot-style conversation, with far fewer links. The rapid development of click-free answers in search “is a serious threat to journalism that should not be underestimated,” said William Lewis, the Washington Post’s publisher and chief executive.

The five-member Federal Communications Commission has just two commissioners—Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioner Anna Gomez. Which means, for the first time since anyone can remember (perhaps ever), the FCC lacks a legal quorum to do business. So what happens? Does that mean the FCC just shuts down? Does the agency proceed on autopilot? Turns out, like so much these days, the answer is both complicated and unclear. Section 154(h) of the Communications Act says: “Three members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum thereof.” That seems fairly straightforward. If you don’t have a quorum, you can’t do business. Two is less than three, so the Commission has no quorum and can’t do any business. Simple, right? But Section 155(c) gives the Commission the authority to delegate most of the routine functions (and some non-routine functions) to a variety of employees, individual commissioners, or a “panel of Commissioners.” The Commission has therefore delegated a good deal of authority – particularly on technical and routine stuff, which is actually the bulk of what the FCC does – to the various bureaus and offices that make up the agency. In addition, Rule 0.212 allows the Chair (or acting Chair) to create a “Board of Commissioners” of all the Commissioners present and able to act (here, Chairman Carr and Commissioner Gomez).

New Mexico is still without a permanent director for its Office of Broadband Access and Expansion following the departure of former acting director Drew Lovelace. Lovelace, who had served as acting director since September 2023, left the department on May 30, and seemed set to return to his prior position as the department’s operations manager. Instead, it appears that Lovelace has left the OBAE altogether, and no one has been appointed to take his place. In the interim, Department of Information Technology Cabinet Secretary Manny Barreras is serving as the office’s acting director.
Defend institutions. It is institutions that help us to preserve decency. They need our help as well. Do not speak of "our institutions" unless you make them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions do not protect themselves. They fall one after the other unless each is defended from the beginning. So choose an institution you care about -- a court, a newspaper, a law, a labor union -- and take its side.
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