The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) continues to forge ahead with eliminating outdated regulations and streamlining processes that will make it easier and faster to enable new telecommunications and network capabilities. The September 30, 2025, monthly meeting included several items that will help achieve those objectives, some of which were included in Citizens Against Government Waste’s […]
Europe’s Privacy Rules Should Not Shape America’s
By Roslyn Layton, Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Strand Consult and Deborah Collier, Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs, Citizens Against Government Waste The United States is currently operating under a fragmented system of privacy regulations because Congress has not yet enacted a national framework to regulate consumer data privacy and security. States have sought […]
FCC and Congress Work to Reduce Barriers to Broadband Deployment
The deployment of broadband to connect businesses and families to the internet requires every level of government to avoid imposing burdensome rules and regulations that impede that process. Ensuring that projects move forward expeditiously is critical as the $42.45 billion Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding will be released to the states from the […]
First Responder Communications Remain Vital on the 24th Anniversary of 9/11
The anniversary of September 11, 2001, is always difficult for the millions of Americans who lived in New York and Washington, D.C. and saw the terrorist attacks firsthand, and everyone else who watched the attacks and heard about the crash of the fourth plane in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Thousands of first responders were involved in the […]
Improved Permitting Processes will Streamline Broadband Deployment
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) deadline for final proposals for the $42.45 billion in Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) is September 3, 2025. Funding is supposed to be distributed by December 31, 2025. Like other broadband programs, BEAD projects must go through a state and local permitting process, which should expedite rather […]
State BEAD Expected to Show Taxpayer Savings
States across the country are working to finalize their final Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment funding proposals to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration by the September 4, 2025, deadline. The state of Louisiana is leading the charge to close the digital divide as the first state in the nation to release its final draft […]
GAO Reconfirms Federal IT Must Be Modernized
The federal government annually spends more than $100 billion for information technology (IT), 80 percent of which is used to operate and maintain existing systems, some of which are more than 50 years old. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) first placed IT modernization on its High Risk List in 2015, and Citizens Against Government Waste […]
States Should Refrain from Bulk Billing Bans
Providing broadband service at the lowest price to the largest possible number of Americans should be a bipartisan effort, and laws or regulations that impede that objective should be avoided. In one of his first decisions as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Brendan Carr withdrew a March 5, 2024, notice of proposed rulemaking […]
NTIA’s New Administrator Will Connect More Americans
After Arielle Roth was confirmed by the Senate as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), closing the digital divide may be closer than ever. Her confirmation comes at a critical time for the agency, as it begins to send out funding to states […]
FCC Proposes Accelerating Copper Wire Retirement
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) continues to move ahead with its plans to delete and modernize regulations. It was therefore encouraging to see among the items listed for the agency’s July 24, 2025 monthly meeting, an item entitled “Accelerating Upgrade Away from Old Copper Line Networks,” Continued reliance on aging infrastructure is a significant impediment […]