Vermont's Otter Creek Communications Union District (CUD) completed its fiber broadband construction "ahead of schedule and under budget," the Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB) said Tuesday. The project, which reached 3,626 unserved and underserved areas, was completed with $2.99 million remaining. The CUD and VCBB negotiated an agreement with Consolidated Communications, Fidium and GoNetSpeed on construction, service quality and fair pricing. VCBB Executive Director Christine Hallquist highlighted the project as an "example of a CUD strategically reviewing the current level of service in their area, acknowledging the best course of action was to partner with the existing telecom providers serving most addresses, and then holding them accountable to the community."
The FCC would likely be able to do little to block state laws regulating AI, New Street’s Blair Levin told investors Monday. “Case law suggests that where the FCC does not have authority to regulate, it does not have the authority to preempt the states from regulating,” Levin wrote.
Connecticut is investigating unauthorized charges added to AT&T customers' accounts, state Attorney General William Tong (D) announced Monday. The move comes after former AT&T employee Katie Barnaby of Stafford, Connecticut, was charged with computer crimes associated with adding charges between 2021 and 2022. State police also found similar schemes in Michigan, said a news release, where "multiple store managers allegedly directed employees to add certain unauthorized services to all customer accounts to earn bonuses ranging from $300 to $3,000" to achieve a 90% "close rate” on those services.
The pass-through provision of Maryland's digital ad tax doesn't withstand First Amendment scrutiny, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a Friday opinion, reversing and remanding the case to the U.S. District Court for Maryland for further deliberation (see 2411010020). "The states are free to make controversial policy," wrote Judge Julius Richardson in the unanimous opinion (docket 24-1727): "But with that freedom comes constraint."
Starlink parent SpaceX urged Virginia to reconsider its final BEAD plans, saying the commonwealth failed to comply with NTIA's new program rules. "Simply put, Virginia has put its heavy thumb on the scale in favor of expensive, slow-to-build fiber bias over speedy, low cost, and technology neutral competition," the company said in a letter Thursday. SpaceX accused Virginia of failing to run a competitive process, not being technology neutral, and disregarding program rules.
T-Mobile defended its hiring practices in response to the Center for Accessible Technology's (CforAT) petition for the California Public Utilities Commission to reopen its docket on T-Mobile's 2020 acquisition of Sprint (see 2003110043). The company said in a filing posted Wednesday (docket A1807011) that the group's petition is "procedurally improper," and any compliance issues should be resolved through the CPUC's existing enforcement mechanisms. CforAT petitioned the CPUC in May, saying it "appears" that T-Mobile isn't complying with several "mandatory merger conditions" based on a March letter from the company to the FCC.
The California Public Utilities Commission will consider a resolution to approve four grants totaling nearly $200,000 to fund community technology programs. The digital divide grant program is funded by "an allocation of a percentage of revenues" generated from wireless telecom facilities on state-owned property. Commissioners will consider the awards during a meeting Sept. 18.
A Texas bill would establish the Texas Interoperability Council to address communications gaps between first responders and emergency alert systems. An earlier version of the bill, HB-13, was introduced during the last legislative session in response to the devastating 2023 wildfire in the panhandle region. State Rep. Ken King (R) refiled the new bill, HB-2, last week with no major edits. It would task the council with developing and coordinating a statewide plan for the interoperability of emergency communications systems and incorporating any necessary technologies into the state's emergency communications network. The bill would also create a grant program for local governments to buy or construct emergency communications infrastructure and train employees on how to use the equipment during an emergency. It remains unknown how much funding would be made available for the grant program.
NTIA should consider letting states have the final say about which locations count as community anchor institutions under the BEAD program, the Schools, Health, Libraries & Broadband Coalition and Benton Institute for Broadband & Society said in a letter Monday. The groups raised issue with NTIA's new definition of "community support organizations" because the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act made the definition intentionally broad for states to meet local needs.
The Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB) is launching a new program to subsidize the cost of nonstandard broadband connections, including underground installations, it said Wednesday. The Affordable Long Drop Program will award grants to communications union districts (CUD) and small ISPs to cover installation costs for homes located far from existing fiber lines. It will prioritize manufactured housing communities, low- and moderate-income residents and households already committed to service. “This program is designed to be the final push that turns availability into true accessibility,” said VCBB Digital Equity Officer Britaney Watson. Applications will be accepted from Aug. 29 to Sept. 12. Providers must have a universal service plan and a "viable business plan" to qualify. The VCBB encouraged residents to contact their local CUDs to determine eligibility and sign up. The agency didn't say how much funding will be made available.