A lawsuit against NTIA regarding use of the BEAD program's non-deployment funding "might be inevitable," wrote CCG Consulting President Doug Dawson in a blog post Friday. "It's hard not to imagine a coalition of State Attorneys General from red and blue states together suing NTIA" to get those funds, he said, citing Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry's (R) letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick emphasizing that how non-deployment funding is spent is up to the states.
With NTIA in the 90-day curing stage for states that submitted their revised final BEAD proposals by the Sept. 4 deadline, some broadband access advocates are claiming that the agency is requiring states to conduct another "Best and Final Offer" round based on price caps. They said a spreadsheet obtained by BroadbandMarketer's Doug Adams containing excessive cost thresholds suggests that NTIA will require states to reengage with subgrantees with overly high project costs.
Michael Powell is leaving NCTA on a high note, with net neutrality -- an issue he has dealt with and opposed for decades -- seemingly dead. "It was going to be really dispiriting to me if I retired, and we were now in a Title II environment, and I'm super excited that no, I can say that we slayed that dragon," the group's outgoing leader told us.
NTIA may require states to conduct an additional round of subgrantee selections for the BEAD program, warned Christopher Mitchell, director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance's community broadband networks initiative. In a blog Tuesday, Mitchell said NTIA added a "new step in the BEAD process to further reduce new investment in the areas that currently only have access from satellite providers."
Competitive Carriers Association membership is shrinking, but the remainder are hopeful about future spectrum auctions and policy calls that could mean the difference between life and death for many small players, CEO Tim Donovan said in an interview Thursday.
The House Appropriations Committee voted 35-28 early Wednesday morning to advance the Labor, Health and Human Services Subcommittee’s FY 2026 funding bill after turning back Democrats’ bid to attach $535 million in advance CPB funding for FY 2028. The measure lacks language to restore any of the $1.1 billion in federal money for CPB that Congress clawed back in July via the 2025 Rescissions Act (see 2509030065). Meanwhile, House Appropriations appeared on track Wednesday afternoon to advance the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee’s FY26 bill, which would cut NTIA’s annual funding (see 2507150086). The panel was still considering amendments at our deadline.
Twenty states and territories have received extensions from NTIA to file their revised final proposals for the $42.5 billion BEAD program, with deadlines now staggered through late October after 36 of 56 eligible entities submitted plans by the Sept. 4 cutoff (see 2509050028).
Dish Network disagrees with, but will comply with, a Better Business Bureau National Advertising Division recommendation about ad claims challenged by DirecTV, NAD said Tuesday. It said the Dish ad claims about customers' savings when switching from Dish to DirecTV didn't make clear enough that the price comparisons were between specific plans and not DirecTV's entire line of offerings. The ads also didn't disclose material differences between the plans that were being compared, NAD said. Dish indicated it would follow NAD's recommendation to modify its ad claims, the organization added.
State broadband leaders outlined Wednesday the hurdles they have faced and the progress made in adapting to NTIA’s revised BEAD guidelines. During a Broadband Breakfast webinar, just one day before new final proposals are due, officials acknowledged the difficulties but emphasized that the process is advancing states toward universal coverage.
While 5G network slicing has gotten the most attention, it hasn’t proved to be successful in most cases, and fiber slicing may have more promise, said Nick Saporito, executive director at GFiber Labs, during a Fiber Broadband Association webinar Wednesday. Also at the event, FBA CEO Gary Bolton said early indications show that fiber will play an important role in the restructured BEAD program.