The Better Business Bureau National Programs’ National Advertising Division (NAD) is referring T-Mobile to the FTC and state officials for declining to participate in NAD’s inquiry into advertising claims about the carrier's 5G capacity. “T-Mobile informed NAD that although T-Mobile is a strong supporter of the NAD self-regulatory process, it would decline to participate in this inquiry in light of a pending federal lawsuit brought by AT&T against BBB National Programs,” an NAD release said Wednesday. AT&T sued NAD in October after the agency sought to block the carrier from running ads about T-Mobile’s past violations of NAD rules against deceptive advertising (see 2510300031). T-Mobile and AT&T didn’t comment Wednesday. “Because T-Mobile declined to participate, NAD will refer this matter to the FTC and state Attorneys General,” said the release. “NAD will also refer the matter to the platforms on which the advertising appeared and with which NAD has a reporting relationship.”
The uncertainty around the fate of BEAD non-deployment funds keeps Penn State telecommunications professor Chris Ali up at night, he said Wednesday during an online Q&A with Fiber Broadband Association CEO Gary Bolton. “I don’t like it that these funds are being used, a little bit, as ransom in certain situations,” Ali said. Those funds are needed to “fill the gaps” in BEAD funding and should be used for affordability programs and workforce training, he said. “I love, love, love to see more states, more entities fight tooth and nail to keep a hold on this money that is legally and morally theirs.” A host of state legislators from all over the U.S. urged NTIA to release the funds in a letter Tuesday (see 2512090057).
The FCC should retain its current citizens broadband radio service (CBRS) rules, said Cambium Networks in a letter posted in docket 17-258 Monday. “Increases to permitted power in some or all of the band would undermine deployments that are providing vital services to American communities.” Reallocating portions of the CBRS band or increasing the maximum power would require Cambium to replace its equipment “at significant operator and consumer expense,” the company said. “Further, permitting significantly higher power levels would lead to waste in [the] BEAD program, as existing CBRS equipment supporting fixed wireless BEAD deployments would need to be replaced and such costs have not been included in BEAD,” Cambium added. “It is inconsistent for the federal government to make billions of dollars available for broadband deployment and expect recipients to invest their own capital, at the same time that it calls into question the usefulness of the most relied-upon spectrum for broadband deployment.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters Tuesday that a compromise version of the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act still under negotiation won’t include language to preempt states’ AI laws, amid ongoing concerns about proposals tying such a pause to funding from the $42.5 billion BEAD broadband program. President Donald Trump has been eyeing a draft executive order that could force NTIA to deny non-deployment BEAD funding to states with AI laws that the administration deems overly onerous (see 2511200057).
While digital skills are key to people's ability to compete in the current economy, a recent New America survey found that answers vary widely on how many Americans actually have such skills, said Jessica Dine, policy analyst at New America’s Open Technology Institute, during a Fiber Broadband Association webinar Wednesday. Part of the problem is that, at least in the U.S., the term “digital skills” is poorly defined, she said.
Satellite-based internet is unavoidable as part of the BEAD program, speakers agreed Wednesday during a Broadband Breakfast webinar. Steven Hill, president of the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association, and David Zumwalt, president of WISPA, downplayed concerns that BEAD will lead to “two tiers” of broadband, with fiber on top and other alternatives not as good. While most BEAD money is still expected to fund fiber, as much as 15% will pay for fixed wireless and 20% for low earth orbit satellite broadband, speakers said.
The FCC will be expanding its rule deletion efforts in 2026, tackling more items at open meetings and focusing on churning out orders stemming from the many NPRMs it issued in 2025, said Chairman Brendan Carr and bureau and 10th-floor staff at a Practising Law Institute event Wednesday. “I think you’re going to see even more results in getting to orders here in the second year” of his chairmanship, Carr said during a Q&A.
NTIA is going to look into excessive screen use in schools by youths, with an eye toward what federal policies and incentives might be contributing to the problem, NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth said Tuesday at a Free State Foundation event. NTIA will also look at what market dynamics and marketing efforts are driving excessive screen use, she said.
Recon Analytics is finding that the frequency with which consumers access and use AI is tied to how they get online, analyst Roger Entner said last week during a Fiber Broadband Association webinar. Among consumers who use satellite or DSL, only about 10% use AI on a daily basis, compared to 28% for fixed wireless access, 32% for cable and 45% for fiber, he said.
The California Public Utilities Commission voted Thursday to start a rulemaking to update the state's Lifeline program. CPUC had been scheduled to vote that day on submitting the state's final BEAD proposal to NTIA (see 2511180007), but that was delayed until the agency's Dec. 18 meeting.