Fiber and fixed wireless are expected to keep eroding the dominant market share of cable in North American broadband in the coming years, Dell'Oro Group's Jeff Heynen said Wednesday at a Fiber Broadband Association webinar. Cable had been dismissive of how resilient fixed-wireless access (FWA) would be as a competitor, but the industry has now accepted that a lot of its subscriber losses are due to FWA, Heynen said.
Most, if not all, of the money left over from BEAD after deployment work is done should go back to the U.S. Treasury, former FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly wrote Tuesday. States' BEAD plans ultimately could come in 30%-50% below budget, said O'Rielly, an adjunct senior fellow at the Free State Foundation. "Even in D.C.," the $20 billion or so that it would save "is real money." By returning the excess money, which resulted from the "Benefit of the Bargain" reforms to BEAD, the Commerce Department would show "that the Trump Administration is indeed giving American taxpayers a real 'Benefit,'" he said. It's also "the most reasonable course," given the national debt. However, O'Rielly added that there's a valid argument that some funds should be held back for inevitable, unforeseen deployment needs, as some BEAD funding winners "will fumble."
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Richard Hudson, R-N.C., said Thursday that he opposes language in the Senate's FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act version (S-2296) that would give the DOD and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman authority to essentially veto commercial use of the 3.1-3.45 and 7.4-8.4 GHz bands. Hudson said during a Punchbowl News event that his next priority as Communications chair will be to enact legislation aimed at easing broadband permitting rules, despite Democrats’ recent criticism of a mostly GOP-led set of proposals during a Sept. 18 hearing (see 2509180069).
President Donald Trump is pushing for Univision's return to the YouTube TV channel lineup. "I hope Univision, a great and very popular Hispanic Network, can get BACK onto the very amazing Google/YouTube," he wrote Saturday on Truth Social. Trump said Univision's removal from the YouTube TV package "is VERY BAD for Republicans in the upcoming Midterms." Univison was "so good to me with their highest rated ever political Special, and I set a Republican Record in Hispanic voting. Google, for the purpose of FAIRNESS, please let Univision back!" Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) said last week that the blackout was "obvious retaliation" for Univision hosting a town hall event during Trump's 2024 campaign (see 2509300037).
The U.S. “got lazy” in the last 15 or so years about participating in standards-setting bodies and paid the price with China dictating standards for 5G, said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., at SCTE’s TechExpo event Tuesday in Washington. “China flooded the zone,” he said, while the U.S. hasn't been sending as many people to standards-setting bodies. China’s 5G success is a “wake-up call,” and industry and government should agree that the U.S. has “got to get back in the game” and invest resources in standards-setting efforts.
FCC commissioners on Tuesday approved 3-0 a Further NPRM seeking comment on whether correctional facilities should be allowed to jam cell signals, with an eye on curbing contraband phones. Commissioners also approved notices seeking comment on revamped wireless and wireline infrastructure rules and a direct final rule deleting other wireline rules.
The Benefit of the Bargain (BoB) version of BEAD is shaping up to be "a tremendous success," with state plans to date coming in $15 billion under what they were allocated, NTIA head Arielle Roth said Monday. Speaking at SCTE's TechExpo event in Washington, Roth said NTIA is also pressing states in some cases to submit cheaper final proposals.
Questionable maps, staff shortages and accountability concerns have pressured states as they participate in NTIA's $42.5 billion BEAD program, broadband experts said during a Broadband Breakfast webinar Wednesday. Flaws in the FCC’s broadband fabric and limited state capacity could leave millions of homes without service, while shrinking eligibility has already cut out up to 60% of locations that were eligible during earlier subgrantee rounds, they said.
Illinois released its revised draft Tuesday for its final BEAD plan under NTIA's "Benefit of the Bargain" round. The state received 66% more applications than previous rounds, with an average cost of about $6,100 per location, wrote Office of Broadband Director Devon Braunstein. That's 21% less per location than the state's previous round, she noted.
NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield warned that changes in the BEAD program could mean that many of the group’s members will sit it out though a good number are well positioned to participate. Departing next year after 25 years at NTCA's helm (see 2509170060), Bloomfield spoke with former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly during a Free State Foundation webcast. “This is a tougher business than people think it is,” she said.