WASHINGTON, Oct. 4, 2026 — Because of the strong monopolistic tendencies of network effects in communication businesses, one key approach to enhancing competition is to require incumbents to interconnect with rivals. _****Breakfast Club Members Watch Panel 2 at****_ America250 / Telecom150 Watch the Video That emerged as a key theme of the final session at Broadband Breakfast’s historical-policy event on Thursday, “250 Years of American Independence and 150 Years of American Telecommunications.” Whether requiring AT&T to interconnect with rivals or using the 1996 Telecom Act to open up new competitive offers, measures to force interconnection was a subject of substantial agreement by the diverse group of panelists. But they split over how far that remedy should reach into technology platforms. A former Federal Trade Commission general counsel warned against extending it to Google's search algorithm or the source code behind ChatGPT. Rules that opened telephone networks supported roughly 7,000 dial-up internet providers, said **Gigi Sohn** , executive director of the American Association for Public Broadband, and a former counselor to then-Federal Communications Commission Chairman **Tom Wheeler**. She tied today's higher U.S. prices to the end of those network-sharing requirements. U.S. households pay an average of $81.16 a month, compared with $31.43 in England, which still requires network sharing ### _Number portability lowered the cost of switching_ Number portability, which lets customers keep their telephone numbers when changing carriers, was a clear success, said **Jonathan Nuechterlein** , the former FTC general counsel. Before it, customers risked losing their numbers when switching providers, a prospect that could deter them even from a better offer. Congress required local telephone companies to offer portability through Section 251 of the Telecom Act of 1996. Sohn counted it among the law's most consequential provisions, particularly for wireless competition. Sign up for Broadband and AI in the Next Congress on Dec 1! Early Bird Registration Until Oct. 16! customers can still face costs and inconvenience when switching technology platforms, Nuechterlein said. He cited difficulties transferring services and information from an Apple iPhone to a phone running Google’s Android operating system. Those obstacles can discourage switching, much as the prospect of losing a telephone number once did. ### _Connecting networks does not guarantee competition_ Interconnection lets customers on different telephone networks call one another. Requiring those connections was necessary during the telephone monopoly era, Nuechterlein said. Internet networks, by contrast, exchange traffic through agreements that do not depend on telephone access rules. Connecting networks does not automatically promote competition, said **Milton Mueller** , a Georgia Institute of Technology professor who studies internet governance, and the author of a book about AT&T’s early bouts with competition, _Universal Service_. Competing telephone systems once operated separately, leaving subscribers unable to call customers on other networks. AT&T president **Theodore Vail** used those disconnected systems to argue for a unified monopoly, Mueller said. ### _The dial-up boom had two competing explanations_ The 1996 Telecom Act required established local telephone companies to connect with rivals, resell service at wholesale rates and open their poles and rights-of-way. It also required them to lease individual network elements, such as the lines connecting customers to telephone exchanges. That practice, called unbundling, let rivals compete without building an entire network. Those open-network policies helped support the dial-up providers that connected customers over ordinary telephone lines, Sohn said. Americans had an average of 13 providers to choose from, she said. Nuechterlein disputed the role of the network-leasing requirements. He attributed the growth to common carrier obligations, which required telephone companies to carry customers' calls on nondiscriminatory terms. Sohn attributed the decline of independent providers to FCC decisions exempting broadband from telephone-style access requirements. In 2002, the agency classified cable modem service as an information service, outside common carrier regulation. The Supreme Court upheld that classification in its 2005 _Brand X_ decision. Satellite service has not resolved the affordability problem, Sohn said. Nuechterlein countered that rivals using different technologies, such as Starlink, the satellite internet service operated by SpaceX, could weaken the case for regulation by loosening the concentration of communications markets. ### _Competition emerged without an AT &T-style breakup elsewhere_ Competition can also develop without breaking up the dominant telephone company, argued **Eli Noam** , a Columbia University professor emeritus and former New York public service commissioner. He pointed to Canada, which he said reached a broadly comparable communications market without a breakup. Local telephone competition was also emerging in New York before the 1996 Act, he said. The 1982 antitrust settlement took effect on January 1, 1984, and separated AT&T's local telephone operations into seven regional companies. Sohn emphasized that the split reduced the opportunity for local telephone companies to favor affiliated services over competing providers. The economics of communications have repeatedly favored large firms, Noam said. Building networks requires substantial upfront investment, while serving an additional customer costs comparatively little, and networks grow more useful as more people join. Those conditions can produce oligopoly, a market of a few major providers. He favored protecting new competitors' ability to enter and connect to existing networks. ### _Tech platforms inherit the traits that justified telephone regulation_ The three conditions that once justified heavy telephone regulation now appear in technology markets, Nuechterlein said. A rival phone network attracted few customers because they could reach only a fraction of the people they wanted to call. It also paid more per customer than the incumbent, and switching costs kept customers from leaving. Social networking platform Facebook holds its position partly because a user's friends are already there, Nuechterlein said. Search engine Google draws data from more users than its rivals, which helps it answer rare queries that smaller competitors handle poorly. Those advantages do not settle how regulators should respond, Mueller argued. He pointed to the European Union's Digital Markets Act, which requires certain large messaging services to let users communicate across platforms. Forcing firms to share what they built could weaken the incentive to innovate, and it raised security concerns, he said. Regulation was more appropriate when competition was unlikely to develop, Nuechterlein said. He cautioned against extending access requirements to a company's core technology, citing Google's search algorithm and the source code for ChatGPT, the AI chatbot developed by the artificial intelligence company OpenAI. ### _Building duplicate networks strains broadband subsidies_ The physical networks that carry broadband pose a separate problem, Sohn said. Building additional wireline networks is costly, and she pointed to deployment difficulties under the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. A shared network open to multiple service providers could serve customers better, she said. Sohn credited the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which created that program and included $2.75 billion through the Digital Equity Act for digital skills and adoption programs. However, the previous administration was slow to distribute broadband funding, and the current administration is "micromanaging it," she said. The Trump administration canceled Digital Equity Act grants in May 2025. Following litigation, the Commerce Department aims to reopen applications for the program in December 2026. Federal research and spectrum decisions have also produced competitors that policymakers did not anticipate, Noam said. Microwave transmission enabled MCI, the long-distance carrier that challenged AT&T, and federally funded research networks helped give rise to the internet. Policymakers should keep protecting emerging competitors but be cautious about attributing every improvement to their own interventions, Noam said.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 4, 2026 (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday tapped **Jay Clayton** , his director of national intelligence, to lead a new government task force on artificial intelligence. Trump is calling it the “Super Intelligence Force,” because he has tried to rebrand AI as “super intelligence.” The announcement comes after Trump hosted top executives of AI companies at the White House last week and said they had signed a voluntary accord that would effectively self-police the development of the technology. Sign up for Broadband and AI in the Next Congress on Dec 1! Early Bird Registration Until Oct. 16! The task force will coordinate the federal effort "to ensure that America continues to lead the World in Super Intelligence, which many say is bigger than the Industrial Revolution, and the Internet, and will protect the interests, and improve the lives, of all Americans,” Trump in a post on social media Sunday. The task force will reach out to consumers, public interest groups, religious organizations, critical infrastructure providers and AI companies, the Republican president said. Others on the task force include the Federal Trade Commission's chairman, **Andrew Ferguson** ; **Emil Michael** , the Pentagon’s chief technology officer; and **Scott Kupor** , the director of the Office of Personnel Management. The group will report to Trump and his chief of staff, **Susie Wiles**. _This article was written by the Associated Press._

BALTIMORE, Oct. 2, 2026 (AP) — Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland is forming a bipartisan group of governors to respond to mounting concerns about the threats posed by artificial intelligence as he argued that states need to fill a void left by the federal government's inaction on the issue. In an interview, Moore, a Democrat, criticized President Donald Trump's meeting with AI executives at the White House this week as a “billionaire boys club." He was also critical of Congress for leaving Washington until after next month's midterms without addressing the rapidly evolving technology. Sign up for Broadband and AI in the Next Congress on Dec 1! Early Bird Registration Until Oct. 16! “The federal government has a unique leadership role that they have to play and that includes both the White House and Congress,” Moore said after speaking at an innovation conference in Baltimore. “In the absence of that, the governors cannot just sit on our hands.” Moore is the chair of the National Governors Association this year and said his co-chair, Republican Gov. **Mike Braun** of Indiana, would partner with him in developing an AI framework. Other governors from both parties are planning to participate, Moore said. Increasingly dire warnings from tech executives that AI could pose an existential threat to humanity have tested the ability of governments at all levels to respond nimbly to fast-moving developments. So far, states have been more active than the federal government, but their power is limited when it comes to dealing with a technology that spans the country and the globe. In the past month, governors in Maryland, California, Illinois, Oregon and Virginia have issued executive orders or taken other steps intended to create some standards for the technology. Republicans have been among those taking action at the state level with governors including Spencer Cox of Utah and Greg Abbott of Texas cracking down on data center development. However, the action has been much slower in Washington. Sen. **Bernie Sanders** , I-Vt., hosted a briefing with lawmakers and experts last month and Sen. **Josh Hawley** , R-Mo., has launched an investigation into OpenAI. There has been little agreement, however, on a legislative response. At the White House, Trump has dismissed AI fears as a “hoax” and emphasized the need to remain competitive with technology developed in China. He is one of the few prominent leaders who continues to boost data centers. Trump and tech leaders signed a voluntary accord this week that he called “morally binding” and will include internal and external reviews. After meeting with the leaders, the president praised the industry for engaging in “tremendous self-policing.” “Who in the room was advocating for more transparency or more regulatory guardrails?” Moore said of the White House meeting. “What the president did in no way, shape or form made me feel like what the governors are now doing was now unnecessary.” The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The debate over responding to artificial intelligence could play an important role in the early stages of the next presidential campaign. Moore has said he's not running for president and is focused on this year's midterms, when he is on the ballot for reelection in Maryland. Whoever enters the field could face scrutiny for past moves including support for data centers, which were once seen as economic booms for states but have since become broadly unpopular. Moore is among the governors who has become more critical of data centers, signing an executive order last month establishing new rules to govern them. He has also called on state lawmakers to repeal a tax exemption that was passed before he took office. In the interview, Moore acknowledged the “speed of this technology that is moving at such a rapid clip.” He said that elements of an AI executive order he signed in 2024 are “antiquated now.” “The operations might move,” he said. “But my values will never move.” _This article was written by Steven Sloan of the Associated Press._

NEW YORK, Oct. 2, 2026 (AP) — Amazon is investing more than $1 billion over the next five years into communities where it operates data centers for education, job training, water and energy preservation projects and other local priorities as it reacts to a growing backlash from politicians and consumers to the tech industry's rollout of the massive buildings. According to a blog post on Friday by **Matt Garman** , Amazon’s CEO of its cloud computing arm, Amazon has already spent more than $1 billion in communities with a large data center presence over the past three years. Sign up for Broadband and AI in the Next Congress on Dec 1! Early Bird Registration Until Oct. 16! Garman also said that Amazon is no longer using nondisclosure agreements with government agencies it works with on its projects, and it said it hosts open houses in communities where it operates to share information about what it's doing. He also warned against the spread of what he believes is misinformation about data centers' impact on the environment and energy rates — and he cited the dangers of over 100 moratoriums against these centers being considered across the country. “If these measures are enacted, the U.S. could be writing its own losing ticket to this race, and the consequences would last generations,” he wrote. “As a country, we can’t afford to find ourselves in that position. There is urgency to this data center build out because we aren’t the only country that sees the benefits of AI for the economy and national security.” Garman's pledge comes as data centers, which power artificial intelligence and cloud computing, have become a hot political issue heading into the midterms as tech giants race to invest more money in expanding these infrastructures. Small, under-the-radar data centers have been around for decades. But the explosion of artificial intelligence chatbots has resulted in data centers that are bigger than anything just about any town has ever seen. Some of them dwarf football stadiums and factories and consume more energy than small cities. By 2030, data centers will account for nearly 3% of the world’s projected electricity use, with 935 trillion watt-hours, according to a United Nations University report released in June on these buildings' environmental footprint. Amazon said in July that it now expects to spend $220 billion in capital expenditures in 2026, including on data centers and other technology investments. That’s up from its prior estimate of $200 billion. President**Donald Trump** has embraced the building of more data centers, but there is growing wariness from voters. About 6 in 10 Americans support limiting the number of new data centers that can be built, including most Democrats and Republicans. And a majority of Americans are “extremely” or “very” concerned about the impact of data centers on electricity prices or the water supply in the communities where they are built. _This article was written by Anne D'Innocenzio_ _of the Associated Press._

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2, 2026 — Permissionless innovation has driven American communications from the transistor to the smartphone, according to a group of esteemed historical and policymakers speaking Thursday at "250 Years of American Independence and 150 Years of American Telecommunications." _****Breakfast Club Members Watch Panel 1 at****_ America250 / Telecom150 Watch the Video That freedom to launch a new product or service without first securing a regulator's or a network owner's approval, has been a critical ingredient in American success across the generations, agreed each of the panelists. For online platforms, that freedom was written into federal law in the form of Section 230 of the Telecom Act of 1996, said **Chris Lewis** , president of Public Knowledge, speaking at the Broadband Breakfast event. That section provides the federal shield that protects websites from lawsuits over users' posts. It has spurred a generation of online platforms by reducing the legal exposure of hosting third-party content. The platforms that followed enabled Americans to publish information and answer one another, extending communication beyond broadcast television's one-way distribution. But the 1996 law included no guardrails against those platforms consolidating into a few dominant companies, Lewis said. Nor did Congress pass comprehensive privacy protections for their users, he added. ### _Open protocols freed developers from seeking approval_ Section 230 was just one manifestation of permissionless innovation, said Lewis, responding to moderator **Drew Clark’s** request for panelists to identify overarching sources of American innovation. Clark is CEO of this publication. In addition to developers being enabled to build on the Internet without seeking approval from a regulator or a network owner, the Internet's underlying protocols – the technical rules governing how computers exchange data – were also open to anyone. Sign up for Broadband and AI in the Next Congress on Dec 1! Early Bird Registration Until Oct. 16! Podcasting is another example of something that grew directly out of that freedom of permissionless innovation, said **Shane Greenstein** , a Harvard Business School economist who studies digital markets. Podcasters distribute episodes through RSS feeds, an open web format for syndicating new content. A firm with a new idea could "get access to distribution without restriction," Greenstein said. ### _Breaking AT &T's grip spurred new waves of invention_ American networks innovated most when they partnered with the nation's research scientists and independent entrepreneurs, Greenstein said. During the AT&T telephone monopoly, that partner was the company's research arm, Bell Laboratories. The lab invented the transistor in 1947, and the component, which controls electrical signals, became the basis of modern electronics. AT&T’s willingness to share the invention reflected antitrust pressure, Greenstein said. The company licensed the transistor to competing manufacturers in the early 1950s while the Justice Department was suing it. The 1956 settlement required AT&T to license its existing U.S. patents royalty-free. A second wave of innovation followed once entrepreneurs gained access to the company's discoveries, Greenstein said. But the same lab also held discoveries back, Lewis countered. The push to break up AT&T exposed inventions Bell Labs had chosen not to sell, along with lines of research it had never pursued, he said. The 1984 breakup, which separated AT&T from its local telephone companies, spurred greater innovation, said both Greenstein and Lewis. Lewis said he saw similar competitive pressure in artificial intelligence. The release of ChatGPT, the chatbot from the AI company OpenAI, forced the search giant Google to launch language models it had already been developing, he said. ### _The force of the 1914 FTC Act_ The 1996 law that created Section 230 also prescribed how established local telephone companies would open their networks to competitors and enter long-distance markets, said **Matt DelNero** , a former federal telecommunications regulator. DelNero previously led the Wireline Competition Bureau, the Federal Communications Commission division overseeing telephone and broadband rules. Changes in the industry left those provisions largely obsolete within a few years, DelNero said. Laws written around broad goals fared better, he said. Online privacy enforcement, by comparison, relied heavily on an older law with broader reach, DelNero said. The Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 created the nation's consumer protection agency. The law's prohibitions on unfair and deceptive business practices continue to apply across different media. Those prohibitions give the FTC a basis to act when online companies mislead users about how they collect or share personal information, or engage in unfair data practices. That authority has remained a principal enforcement tool while Congress has not enacted a comprehensive federal privacy law, DelNero said. ### _Flexible spectrum rules paved the way for the smartphone era_ Greenstein traced the commercial internet to a 1992 change in federal law. Congress that year expanded federal authority to support networks carrying traffic beyond research and education, which allowed commercial traffic onto the Internet backbone, the high-capacity lines linking networks. Greenstein called the change "the first step towards the commercial internet." Equipment approval opened up later in the decade, Greenstein said. In the late 1990s, new electronics could wait one to three months for FCC employees to approve them. The commission then shifted that work to private certification bodies. The approach mirrored Underwriters Laboratories, the private safety certifier whose mark appears on toasters and microwaves. Tens of thousands of products a year now move through the FCC's version, Greenstein said. Faster approval paid off most in unlicensed spectrum, bands where qualifying devices can operate without individual licenses, Greenstein said. Wireless earbuds and hotel key cards were among the products that benefited. The FCC also stopped dictating what each wireless band could be used for in the 1990s, Greenstein said. He credited that flexibility with helping support the smartphone era, now dominated by Apple's iPhone and Google's Android operating system. Earlier leaders, including Finnish phone maker Nokia and Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry, had been less supportive of independent application developers, he said. ### _‘Covered List’ expansion tests 40 years of open innovation_ Permission requirements were returning in the name of national security, DelNero warned. The FCC's covered list names equipment and services the agency deems an unacceptable security risk. It initially targeted manufacturers including Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei and has expanded to foreign-produced routers, drones and certain power inverters. "Now you do have to go to the government," DelNero said, "and say, I want permission." Policymakers had not weighed that shift against 40 years of permissionless innovation, he said. But DelNero also offered Section 230 as a case for caution, since its effects proved difficult to anticipate. The liability shield drew little attention when Congress wrote the 1996 law. Other provisions of the Communications Decency Act sought to restrict indecent material online. The Supreme Court struck down the challenged indecency provisions in the 1997 case _Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union_ , finding that they violated the First Amendment. Section 230 survived. That history argued for restraint, DelNero said. Government worked best when it acted with humility and did not "prejudge where the technology is going to go," he said. Lewis argued that consumers also needed privacy law and competition policy, along with public options such as municipal broadband, networks owned by local governments. Consumers wanted technology that "works for them, it doesn't use them or exploit them," he said. Public polling showed both fear and excitement about AI, Lewis said, alongside a backlash against the social media platforms that rose in the mid-2000s. He did not cite a specific survey. A June poll by the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan research organization, put numbers to that mix. Fifty-two percent of U.S. adults said they were more concerned than excited about AI's growing role in daily life, and 37 percent said they felt both equally. Those concerns could become more visible in the November midterm elections, Lewis said.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2, 2026 – The major wireless carriers have each been buying up fiber providers in recent years, and more are likely to be rolled up as larger ISPs seek to expand their footprints. Ookla has some ideas about which providers are likely targets. Sign up for Broadband and AI in the Next Congress on Dec 1! Early Bird Registration Until Oct. 16! ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2, 2026 – More than 100 companies and trade associations asked senior Trump administration officials to weigh in against a navigation company’s spectrum plan. In Thursday letters to Transportation Secretary **Sean Duffy** and National Economic Council Director **Kevin Hassett** , the companies said they feared a forthcoming Federal Communications Commission proposal on GPs backups “may incorporate elements of NextNav's proposal.” Sign up for Broadband and AI in the Next Congress on Dec 1! Early Bird Registration Until Oct. 16! ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

💡 ■ AT&T, T‑Mobile, and Verizon Finalize Mobile ‘Dead Zone’ JV ■ Report: Starlink Mobile Revenue Soars to $25 Billion by 2031 ■ Maryland’s New Law Targeting Copper Theft Takes Effect ■ WISPA Urging FCC To Tighten USAC Governance Rules ■ CAR President Daniel Suhr: AG Bonta Gets a Pass from Carr Critics on First Amendment ■ Trump Expected to Sign WEA Law Adding Satellite after Texas Flood Killed 135 ■ BBC Wants Netflix-Type Button on TV Remotes as UK Legal Mandate ■ Adriana Rios Welton Joins Optimum as General Counsel ■ Rightfiber Completes Acquisition of Fastwyre Nebraska **USF: Consumers’ Research wants the FCC** to shut down the **$4.5 billion High Cost Fund** , echoing a position also taken by **Starlink parent SpaceX**. In a Sept. 30 letter to the agency, **CR** **Executive Director Will Hild** said consumers are being taxed to support broadband networks that already exist. “Consumers’ Research therefore urges the FCC to discontinue High‑Cost spending on redundant infrastructure,” Hild wrote. “The FCC should not create a new long‑term High‑Cost mechanism that would lock in another decade of the same tax for duplicative networks. It should not extend legacy support to locations that unsubsidized providers already serve.” **_(More after paywall)_** ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2, 2026 – Initially planned for Oct. 1, Cable One’s acquisition of Mega Broadband Investment has been pushed back to Oct. 9. Cable One said in a release Friday it was also in “advanced discussions” on securing financing from investment firm GTCR, the company from which Cable One was going to acquire the 55 percent of MBI it does not already own. Sign up for Broadband and AI in the Next Congress on Dec 1! Early Bird Registration Until Oct. 16! ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2026 – ISPs often say local permitting rules can hold up projects. A new analysis commissioned by a broadband trade group says it found the most detrimental policy. That would be fees charged per foot of fiber laid, according to the report. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2026 – The Federal Trade Commission is investigating OpenAI, Anthropic, and other artificial intelligence companies over potential risks their technologies pose to consumers. An FTC spokesperson confirmed the investigation Wednesday but declined to provide further details. The New York Post first reported the probe and said it has been underway for months, according to The Associated Press. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON Oct. 1, 2026 – A new Maryland law aimed at making stolen telecommunications equipment harder to sell took effect today as two U.S. senators introduced bipartisan legislation to strengthen federal penalties for vandalizing broadband networks. The new requirements come as copper theft has become a recurring problem in Cecil County, Maryland. Verizon crews told WMAR-TV that thieves have been cutting telecommunications cables multiple times a week, disrupting phone and internet service. Thieves can cut cables and leave the area in an hour or less, while repairs can take considerably longer. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2026 – The head of the Federal Communications Commission defended Wednesday the agency’s sweeping import bans on foreign-made tech. FCC Chairman **Brendan Carr** said at a press conference the agency’s Covered List process was “working exceptionally well.” Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2026 - A Senate subcommittee hearing on Wednesday focused on the risks of autonomous AI agents acting beyond human control, with Sen. **Josh Hawley,** R-Mo.**,** pushing for strict developer liability and AI safety expert **Chris Painter** calling for more public disclosure about frontier model capabilities and incidents. The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s Disaster Management subcommittee held the hearing, titled “Rogue AI: Securing the Homeland Against AI Agent Attacks,” focusing in part on a July incident in which hundreds of AI agents created by OpenAI breached the infrastructure of Hugging Face, a platform widely used by developers to store and share code. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2025 – Nearly five months after announcing plans to pool their spectrum resources for direct-to-device satellite use, the big three mobile carriers have finalized their joint venture. The JV will be led by **Paul Roth** , a longtime AT&T executive, while the companies search for a permanent CEO, they said in a release Thursday. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON, Oct.1, 2026 – Verizon added businessman **Charles Pillips** as the 10th member to its Board of Directors on Sept. 25. Currently, Phillips is serving as Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Recognize Partners LP, a New York City based firm that partners with tech companies to make private equity investments. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

💡 ■ Indiana Awards $400 million in BEAD funds to 24 ISPs ■ DISH Applauds FCC’s Decision in Must Carry Case ■ New FBA/Cartesian Study Warns about Permitting Delays ■ Senate Democrats Use Filibuster to Block Ratepayer Protection Act ■ Japan’s SoftBank Now Owns U.S. ISP WideOpenWest (WOW!) ■ NCTA Salutes New Senate Bill Criminalizing Network Vandalism ■ FTC Opens Safety Probe into AI’s Anthropic and OpenAI ■ Carr FCC Opens More Spectrum for Starlink, Amazon Leo ■ Sen. Blackburn: Unlike Verizon, AT&T Resisted Jack Smith’s Demands for Her Call Records ■ Carr Honors FCC Staff Members for Engineering and Economic Achievements ■ WOW! Names Christopher Sikora as Chief Commercial Officer Disney: Disney’s challenge to the FCC’s early ABC license‑renewal order drew sharp criticism on Sept. 30 from FCC Chairman**Brendan Carr,** who said the company is pursuing its case in the wrong venue. Carr said Disney’s filing “doesn’t fit within the norms of the Communications Act” and ignores the statute’s required review path. He later mocked Disney’s approach at an agency press conference in Washington, D.C. “Look, when it comes to this particular Disney litigation, it’s very clear we’ve made the case in our pleadings that Disney has filed at the wrong time in the wrong court, making meritless arguments. But other than that, I think they’re doing pretty well in their litigation,” Carr said. ** _(More after paywall)_** | | ---|---|--- ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2026 - Better internet access is on the way for thousands of homes and businesses across Indiana. More than 122,000 homes and businesses across Indiana are set to receive high-speed broadband service after the state awarded more than $400 million in federal broadband contracts to 24 internet providers, Gov. **Mike Braun** announced Wednesday. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2026 – As this anniversary year enters its final quarter tomorrow, Broadband Breakfast takes stock of “250 Years of American Independence and 150 Years of American Telecommunications.” That’s the title of the online conference, hosted at 12 Noon ET October 1 for Broadband Breakfast Club Members. Sign up to join the Breakfast Club and attend. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A You’ve heard a lot about this theme from us over the past four months, as we hosted three events, each covering a distinct 50-year arc of American communications history, in June and July. ### _**June 17: 1876** –**1926, The Telephone and the Transatlantic Cable.**_ Read the article ### _**June 24: 1927–1976, Broadcasting, Cable and the Creation of the** Media_ Read the article ### _July 1: 1977–2026, Computing, the Internet and Artificial Intelligence_ Read the article Then, in August, we released the first lessons of a 35-lesson course specifically devoted to “150 Years of American Telecommunications.” Sign up for Free and Join Section A of the course_****!****_ Sign up for Free! I previewed each of six sections in a special BroadbandLive session: Broadband Breakfast Course Traces 150 Years of American TelecommunicationsBroadband Breakfast CEO previews the 35-lesson course tracing American telecom from Bell’s patent to AI. The course launches MondayBroadband BreakfastBroadband Breakfast * **_Section A: An American Invention and an American Telecom Network_** * ** _Section B: The New Deal for American Communications_** * ** _Section C: Early Cable, Wireless and Satellite_** * ** _Section D: The Internet_** * ** _Section D: The Internet_** * ** _Section F: Broadband and AI_** And we’ve been releasing these every Monday since then, and have now completed Section A and are half-way into Section B. The four lessons in Section A are available for free, to any member of the broadband community. The remaining 35 lessons are available, at no additional cost, to Breakfast Club Members. ### _Commemorating history and technology_ Now – tomorrow – our commemoration event comes together in an online event beginning at 12 Noon ET. Sen. **Deb Fischer** , R-Neb., will offer keynote remarks to begin the celebration. Fischer, who serves as chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, focuses on America’s nuclear triad and associated delivery systems, the emergence of space as a warfighting domain, and defending the nation against increasingly sophisticated missile threats. She’ll bring a unique perspective that the broadband community need to focus on. Fischer’s subcommittee directly oversees two unified combatant commands: U.S. Strategic Command, headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, and U.S. Space Command. But Fischer’s remarks are on the beginning of more than two-and-a-half hours of history-plus-technology. Her remarks will be followed by three historical recaps: One for each of three periods covered in our early-summer BroadbandLive sessions. Two of the presentations will be joined by the scholars who participated previously. **Claude Fischer** , distinguished professor of the Graduate School in Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, and who spoke on June 17, will speak to “The Telephone and the Telegraph.” He’ll be followed by **Thomas Hazlett,** with whom I have co-authored a law review article (with **Sarah Oh Lam**) on the Fairness Doctrine, “spectrum scarcity” and public interest obligations. Hazlett will reprise and build upon many of the points he made in our Jun 24 session on “Broadcasting, Cable and the Creation of the Media.” The third historical recap will be focused on the last 50 years, the era of “Computing and the Internet,” and will be presented by **Christopher S. Yoo,** the Imasogie Professor in Law and Technology at the University of Pennsylvania and founding director of its Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition. ### _Here’s the rest of the program_ * Noon–12:05 p.m. | Welcome: **Drew Clark** , CEO, Broadband Breakfast * 12:05–12:20 p.m. | Keynote: Sen. **Deb Fischer** * 12:20–12:35 p.m. | 1876–1926: The Telephone and the Telegraph: **Claude Fischer** * 12:35–12:50 p.m. | 1927–1976: Broadcasting, Cable and the Creation of the Media: **Thomas Hazlett** * 12:50–1:35 p.m. | Innovation: **Matt DelNero** , partner, Covington and Burling; **Shane Greenstein,** Martin Marshall Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School; and **Chris Lewis** , president and CEO, Public Knowledge. * 1:35–1:50 p.m. | 1977–2026: Computing and the Internet: **Christopher Yoo** * 1:50–2:35 p.m. | Competition: **Milton Mueller** , author of seven books, including _Universal Service: Competition, Interconnection, and Monopoly in the Making of the American Telephone System,_ as well as being the founder co-director of the Internet Governance Project; **Eli Noam** , Professor of Economics and Garrett Professor of Public Policy and Business Responsibility, emeritus, at Columbia University; **Jonathan Nuechterlein,** distinguished scholar at George Washington University’s Competition Law Center and who teaches antitrust and telecommunications law at Georgetown and the University of Virginia; and **Gigi Sohn** , Executive Director, American Association for Public Broadband; and the cofounder of Public Knowledge; as well as being senior fellow and public advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, and distinguished fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy ### _Innovation and Competition_ As we noted in Lesson 1: The Telephone and the Telephone Network, the Patent Office granted **Alexander Graham Bell’s** patent on March 7, 1876, three days before he transmitted speech in a Boston laboratory. At a March 2026 ceremony marking 150 years on the occasion of Bell's patent, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director **John Squires** , also the under secretary of Commerce for intellectual property called the event the first of the agency's programs for the nation's 250th, also noting that invention and independence share a birth year. (The Patent Office, of course, is not the only entity intellectual property-promoting agency to make much of an anniversary year. The Copyright Office last week celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Copyright Act’s 1976 passage. And, of course, many telecom-and-tech focused entities have pondered 250 years of innovation – or the 30 years since the passage of the Telecom Act of 1976, including AEI, the Benton Institute, Public Knowledge, the Federal Communications Commission, Congress, and Broadband Breakfast.) ### _Innovation was never enough, on its own_ While an American didn’t invent the telegraph, the telephone offered a technology that the United States commercialized and deployed far more than other nations. Invention alone was never enough. What built Bell's market was the breadth of that patent and the litigation that defended it. Other forces besides innovation were equally true for **Edwin Armstrong‘s** invention of frequency modulation, the static-free FM broadcasting still in use – although its arrival was delayed by entrenched AM incumbents. **Philo Farnsworth** won the fundamental television patent but then lost the story to RCA's publicity machine under **David Sarnoff** , which crowned its own engineers at the 1939 World's Fair. Each breakthrough traveled a similar road: A working invention, a fight over patent scope, and a verdict decided less by the lab than by who held the rights and the airwaves. ### _Competition was always the harder achievement_ But if, as the adage runs, “necessity is the mother of invention”, who then is the father of competition? **Adam Smith** wrote that “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.” The butcher, the brewer and the baker are not necessarily in competition with each other. But it must needs be that when there is money to be made, competition will come! Are telecommunication and technology – for all their innovative glory – destined to fall pray to “network effects” in which the first to consolidate gains market control? Competition in American communications has swung like a pendulum for these 150 years. The telegraph consolidated first, as Western Union absorbed its rivals into a single national monopoly. The telephone traveled a rougher road. The Kingsbury Commitment of 1913, a deal AT&T struck with the government to head off antitrust action, promised competition yet left the company with roughly 98 percent of long-distance traffic. And – we discussed in Lesson 3 – Washington even tried public ownership. For one year, from 1918 to 1919, the Post Office ran the phone system. Most nations made that arrangement permanent, whereas the U.S. handed the wires back to private hands. The Telecommunications Act of 1996, the first law written for the Internet age – yet without mentioning the Internet – made the boldest attempt to open local networks to new entrants in the hope that rivals would bloom. Exactly 30 years later, the results are decidedly mixed. These are among the themes that we’ll be discussing on Oct 1. Join us for the full conversation! ## Register for the Online Event on October 1, 2026 Get 3 Months of Breakfast Club Membership! Register for $150 ###

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2026 (AP) — A bill that attempts to address voter worries about data centers and their impact on energy costs failed to advance in the Senate on Wednesday, falling victim to an election-year clash on how best to address a growing concern. Before leaving Washington to campaign, Senate Republicans reserved one of the chamber's final votes for a bill they hoped would underscore efforts to address the impact data centers have on voters' monthly energy bills. The bill needed 60 votes to advance, but fell short, 57—43. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A The bill is a modest one. It requires utility regulators to consider adopting a federal standard that charges large power customers a rate that covers the cost of the system upgrades needed to serve them. Democrats say it amounts to a suggestion and that more is needed. Republicans say the bill sends a message to regulators to act. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. **Jon Husted** , a Republican from Ohio, is in a tough reelection battle and has been labeled in campaign ads as the “face of data centers” by his Democratic challenger, former Sen. **Sherrod Brown**. “You all know this is the only game in town,” Husted told reporters in advocating for his bill. “This bill passing is the only way to get a chance to prove to the American people before the midterm elections whose side you're on.” #### _Senate Democrats say the bill isn't tough enough_ The measure passed the House by a vote of 417-3. It needed support from at least seven Democratic senators to proceed to a final vote, but that didn't happen given the criticism from within their ranks that it doesn't go far enough and knowing that passage could give Husted's reelection prospects a lift. “The bill is a fraud, plain and simple,” Senate Democratic Leader **Chuck Schumer** said. Democrats have offered competing proposals. Sen. **Martin Heinrich** , D-N.M. sponsored legislation that would direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue rules for large electricity customers that requires them to pay for necessary grid upgrades. “They want it optional, which means zero. We want it mandatory,” Schumer said. Republicans are looking to position Democrats as obstructionists who are blocking progress on key voter concerns. Husted's bill is one example. Another would be the bill from Sen. **Pete Ricketts** , R-Neb., that would bar members of Congress from purchasing individual stocks. The issue is a popular one with candidates running for office this election cycle, but also includes voter identification requirements that Democrats have called a poison pill. Thune teed up both bills for procedural votes and both failed to meet the 60-vote threshold for advancing. “Both pieces of legislation strike at the very heart of issues that the American people care deeply about, passionately about, and we'll see if the Democrats are willing to take yes for an answer," Thune said. #### _Data centers have become a top campaign issue_ The House and Senate are both expected to be out of session for all of October. The House left in mid-September, canceling nearly two weeks of votes as Republicans were anxious to get on the campaign trail in a bid to keep their majority in the next Congress. President**Donald Trump** has embraced the building of more data centers, but there is growing wariness from voters. About 6 in 10 Americans support limiting the number of new data centers that can be built, including most Democrats and Republicans. And a majority of Americans are “extremely” or “very” concerned about the impact of data centers on electricity prices or the water supply in the communities where they are built. In Ohio, a data center hot spot with closely contested races for governor and U.S. Senate, the National Republican Senatorial Committee warned in a recent memo that Husted is vulnerable to losing his seat because of the centers. Husted helped promote Ohio as a destination for data centers while serving as lieutenant governor. The Ohio race is seen as vital to determining control of the Senate, helping explain why the data center bill has generated so much scrutiny and is so hotly contested despite the overwhelming vote it received in the House. Speaking on the Senate floor before the vote, Husted said that the bill requires states to at least confront the issue of data centers paying their own way for their power and the grid improvements needed to serve them. He said the bill could hardly get broader support than it did in the House, but by blocking the bill in the Senate, Democrats would be showing they don’t care about the issue of affordability. “Let’s hold data centers accountable and let’s stop blocking a path to affordability,” Husted said. _This article was written by Kevin Freking of the Associated Press._

_This article summarizes several of the key points in_ Lesson 6: The Fairness Doctrine and Public Media_, which is part of Broadband Breakfast's online course, "_ 150 Years of American Telecommunications_." A new lesson will be released every Monday._ A person whose character was attacked during a radio discussion of a public issue could once demand free airtime to answer, and the station was obligated to provide it. That requirement grew out of the Fairness Doctrine, which the Federal Communications Commission established in 1949. The FCC repealed the doctrine in 1987, but the rule requiring reply time after personal attacks remained in force until 2000. _****For more on the history of broadcasting, join '250 Years of American Independence, 150 Years of Telecommunications,' This pathbreaking online-only event will:****_ * _****Celebrate the uniqueness of American contributions to communications****_ * _****Survey the history of American telecommunications with recaps from 3 separate 50-year periods****_ * _****Engage with the themes of innovation and competition across the 150-year arc.****_ Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A The Fairness Doctrine applied to every radio and television station holding a federal broadcast license. It required stations to do two things: cover controversial issues of public importance and air contrasting views on those issues. An hour of one-sided argument was permitted so long as the station aired contrasting views in other programs on the same station. ### _The FCC approved a network sale in 2025 with no fairness rule on the books_ Repealing the doctrine did not end the government’s influence over what American broadcasters air. The FCC must approve transfers of broadcast licenses, and on July 24, 2025, it approved Skydance Media’s acquisition of Paramount Global, CBS’s parent company. Skydance had promised to appoint an ombudsman to review complaints of bias at CBS, though no FCC rule in 2025 required broadcasters to employ one. The Communications Act of 1934 requires the FCC to determine whether granting or transferring a broadcast license serves the “public interest, convenience, and necessity.” That mandate was also the legal basis for the Fairness Doctrine. The doctrine’s repeal left the mandate intact, allowing the FCC to apply the same standard when reviewing the license transfers involved in the Skydance merger. ### _The Supreme Court upheld reply time on radio and rejected it in print_ Broadcasters challenged the Fairness Doctrine as a violation of their First Amendment rights. In 1969, the Supreme Court upheld the FCC’s requirements 8–0 in Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, a case involving a Pennsylvania radio station that aired an attack on journalist Fred J. Cook in 1964 and refused his request for free reply time. The court held that limited broadcast frequencies justified giving the public’s right to hear competing views precedence over a broadcaster’s control of its airtime. (Read the full Lesson 6 to see some of the problem with this reasoning.) In 1974, the high court unanimously struck down a Florida law requiring newspapers to publish replies from political candidates they had criticized in Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo. The Court held that compelling those replies violated a newspaper’s editorial freedom. Together, _Red Lion_ and _Tornillo_ upheld a right of reply to personal attacks on broadcast stations but rejected a mandatory right of reply for political candidates criticized in newspapers. For broadcasters, the Court justified different First Amendment protections on the grounds that frequencies were limited, but economist Ronald Coase argued in 1959 that scarcity affected all economic goods and did not make radio unique. In 1986, federal appeals court Judge Robert Bork rejected scarcity as a meaningful basis for treating broadcasters differently from newspapers, calling it “a distinction without a difference.” Radio stations numbered 10,128 by 1987, compared with 1,657 daily newspapers nationwide. ### _Courts upheld the repeal without ruling on the first amendment_ The Supreme Court had left open the possibility of reconsidering the Fairness Doctrine in _Red Lion_. In 1969, the Court said that if the doctrine inhibited coverage, “there will be time enough to reconsider the constitutional implications.” The FCC’s 1985 Fairness Report concluded that the doctrine discouraged coverage of controversial issues, and the commission voted 4-0 to repeal it in August 1987. The courts upheld the repeal but did not decide whether the Fairness Doctrine violated the First Amendment. In 1989, the D.C. Circuit affirmed the FCC’s finding that the doctrine no longer served the public interest, stating, “We uphold that determination without reaching the constitutional issue.” The Supreme Court denied review in 1990, leaving its decision upholding the doctrine in _Red Lion_ intact. ### _Congress funded public broadcasting_ Congress also sought to broaden the programming available to Americans by appropriating funds for public broadcasting. The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or CPB, a nonprofit that distributed federal funding to public radio and television stations. The Rescissions Act of 2025 canceled $1.1 billion already appropriated to the nonprofit for fiscal years 2026 and 2027. The law was signed on July 24, the same day the FCC approved the Skydance transaction. On Aug. 1, CPB announced that it would wind down its operations. The Fairness Doctrine debate centered on whether government requirements expanded public debate or interfered with editorial freedom. Skydance’s promise to appoint an ombudsman showed that repealing those requirements did not remove newsroom commitments from FCC merger reviews. Repealing the Fairness Doctrine removed a rule governing broadcast coverage but preserved the FCC’s authority to judge whether license transfers serve what is referred to as the "public interest." Broadcasters seeking approval still have reason to accommodate the FCC. Meanwhile, public broadcasting depended on a different exercise of government power. Its funding could also be withdrawn by the officials who controlled it.

WASHINGTON Sept. 30, 2026 – McDonald’s serves yummy french fries. Its Wi-Fi is pretty tasty, too. McDonald’s Wi-Fi service offers the fastest reliable, high-speed internet among major quick‑service restaurants, QSRs, according to a Sept. 30 report from Ookla. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON Sept. 30, 2026 — Billions of dollars in federal broadband funding are moving from the planning stage to construction, but some homes and businesses could still be left without a connection. The approval of all 50 states’ the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program plans marks the end of the program’s planning phase, but broadband providers and state officials still face a lengthy process to get the networks built and fill remaining coverage gaps. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2026 – After more than a year of deliberation, Senate lawmakers released Wednesday the draft text of a sweeping permitting reform package. A major broadband trade group was optimistic the bill would ultimately ease broadband deployments. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON Sept. 30, 2026 – A bipartisan group of senators is pressing the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to release long-delayed guidance on how states can use billions of dollars in Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment funds for activities beyond broadband construction. Sens. **Jeanne Shaheen** , D-N.H., and **Susan Collins** , R-Maine, led a letter to Commerce Secretary **Howard Lutnick** and NTIA Assistant Secretary **Arielle Roth** urging the agency to provide guidance on BEAD’s non-deployment funding. The letter was also signed by Sens. **Angus King** , I-Maine, **Bill Cassidy** , R-La., **Catherine Cortez Masto** , D-Nev., and **Mark Warner** , D-Va. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2026 — Tribal broadband is not simply a faster connection. For tribal nations, panelists said Wednesday, durable infrastructure can preserve language, extend health care and education, support economic development and strengthen sovereignty, but only when tribes control the choices shaping their networks. That connection between culture and infrastructure emerged during a Broadband Breakfast Live Online discussion on tribal broadband and adoption. The conversation ranged from fiber and satellites to open-access networks, spectrum rights, data sovereignty and the cost of helping residents get online. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A “We want our members to learn the language. We want other people to learn the language,” said **Rob Griffin** , tribal broadband director for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. “But to do so, we have to have good infrastructure.” The Choctaw Nation began pursuing fiber after encountering a school limited to satellite internet, Griffin said. It has since received $110 million in grants and is building 1,000 miles of fiber alongside fixed wireless connections. Such networks can support language programs, remote work, testing and telehealth for decades. ### _Infrastructure and sovereignty_ Federal investment has helped accelerate tribal deployments. **Christopher Mitchell** , director of the Community Broadband Networks initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, said his organization is tracking about 190 tribal networks, including roughly 100 already operating. Yet funding programs have not always respected tribes’ political status or practical needs. Mapping remains incomplete, applications require expertise many nations lack and federal rules can change after tribes invest time and money. Trust can evaporate when promised awards are later withdrawn. Mitchell also criticized pressure on tribes to accept Starlink service in exchange for access to other broadband resources. “That decision needs to be made by the tribe and not by the federal government trying to force them,” Mitchell said. Satellite service may work for remote homes that fiber or terrestrial wireless cannot reach, panelists said, but it does not offer the same permanence or local control. Griffin noted that satellites have limited lifespans and can be repositioned, degraded or withdrawn, leaving communities dependent on decisions made elsewhere. From the operating side, **Adam Puckett** , vice president of sales for North America at software company COS Systems, drew a distinction between temporary access and assets communities can build upon. “Starlink is not infrastructure. It is connectivity,” Puckett said. “We want a long-term asset on the back of which we can build economic development. We can build educational opportunities. We can build health care opportunities.” ### _Partnerships that preserve control_ Owning infrastructure does not require a tribe to operate every service itself. Open-access models can allow a tribal nation to retain its fiber while outside providers compete to deliver retail internet service, he said. That arrangement can lower entry costs, reduce duplicate construction and bring technical support to small networks. The approach is especially useful where a few hundred or thousand subscribers cannot support separate billing, customer service and network operations systems. Neighboring communities may also benefit by connecting through tribal projects, while tribes gain regional routes, redundancy and negotiating power. Those partnerships work only when providers approach tribes as governments and long-term collaborators, Griffin said. “Don’t walk in like a salesperson. Walk in like a partner,” he said. “Be very transparent. Be open.” Adoption remains the final test. Puckett said outreach must begin before construction so residents understand that broadband can deliver more than entertainment. Mitchell said affordability, devices and digital skills are persistent barriers, particularly because new users can face scams and fraud. At the household level, Griffin said families still must choose among internet, mobile service and other necessities. Sustainable tribal broadband therefore requires both reliable infrastructure and support that makes service usable. No single technology or business model fits every tribe, the panelists said. Fiber, wireless, satellites, shared networks and outside partnerships each have roles. The measure of success is whether tribes retain authority over the infrastructure, data and relationships that will shape their communities for generations.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2026 – The Federal Communications Commission voted Wednesday to roll back its environmental review requirements, open up additional spectrum for satellite broadband, and update rules for some ultra-wideband devices. The National Environmental Policy Act requires federal agencies to consider environmental effects before beginning infrastructure projects, and the review process can take months. The FCC has interpreted NEPA to apply to wireless equipment and towers deployed under one of its spectrum licenses. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2026 – Federal telecom regulators don’t want judges to further second-guess massive fines they issued to the national wireless carriers in 2024. In a Friday filing the Federal Communications Commission asked the Supreme Court not to tee the issue up for additional review, either by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit or by the Supreme Court itself. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

💡 ■ Is Cable One Going to Close on Mega Broadband Deal Today? ■ Professor Daniel Lyons: FCC Needs to Learn If E-Rate Harms Student Achievement ■ PE Giants Sue Billionaire Patrick Drahi over Optimum Debt ■ ITIF’s Joe Kane: Stop Underestimating Starlink, Especially after V3 Deployment ■ AT&T Signs $3 Billion Fiber Deal with Corning ■ Handful of Senators Presses NTIA on BEAD Non-Deployment Money ■ Verizon Responds to FCC’s Decision to Pause Copper Shutdown ■ Does Capito’s Energy Permitting Deal Include Broadband? ■ McDonald’s Has the Fastest Wi-Fi Among Major Fast-Food Chains: Ookla ■ Baldwin Punts on Challenge to NFL Deals with Streamers ■ People: Charles Phillips Elected to Verizon’s Board of Directors Must Carry: The FCC ruled that a Georgia television station cannot claim satellite carriage rights throughout two media markets at once, setting aside a 2024 precedent established under Democratic FCC Chairwoman**Jessica Rosenworcel**. In a decision released Sept. 29, the three voting FCC Commissioners granted DISH Network’s appeal and reversed an earlier Media Bureau order involving WGBP‑TV. The station is licensed to Opelika, Ala., which is located inside the Columbus, Ga., Designated Market Area (DMA). The Nielsen Company later assigned WGBP to the Atlanta DMA following WGBP’s conversion to a distributed transmission system. The FCC said the law defines a station’s “local market” as a single Nielsen‑determined DMA plus the county where the station is licensed, which may be in a different DMA. “There is nothing in the statute that suggests that a station may demand carriage throughout more than one DMA simultaneously,” the order said. ** _(More after paywall)_** Echostar Corp. CEO Charlie Ergen, who founded EchoStar subsidiary DISH Network in 1980 ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29, 2026 (AP) — President **Donald Trump** on Tuesday said that he and a large group of leaders of artificial intelligence companies had signed a voluntary accord that will include internal and external reviews of the technology during a meeting at the White House. Broadband and AI in the Next CongressArtificial Intelligence is now driving infrastructure investment and public policy.Broadband BreakfastBroadband Breakfast “I think I’m seeing tremendous self-policing. And they understand that they have to self-police,” Trump told reporters outside the West Wing. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON Sept. 29,2026 – Congress, an institution that dates to the founding of the republic, is struggling to keep pace with an artificial intelligence revolution that is moving faster than its laws and oversight structures, according to one Senate Democrat. Sen. **Ben Ray Luján** , D-N.M., is calling for a bipartisan Senate Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence, saying Congress needs a dedicated institution to keep pace with the rapidly advancing technology. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29, 2026 – Several investment firms sued Optimum Communications Monday, alleging the ISP and its owner **Patrick Drahi** fraudulently sought to avoid paying its lenders what they were owed. Optimum owes about $21 billion in debt, more than $6 billion of which comes due next year. The company has been working to restructure that debt with its lenders to avoid going bankrupt. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29, 2026 - Optimum announced a $14 million network investment to deploy a 100% fiber-to-the-home network in East Brunswick and South River, New Jersey, promising symmetrical internet speeds of up to 8 Gbps for residents and businesses. The company said on Sept. 22, the upgrade will enable thousands of households and local businesses in the two towns to access its fastest internet, TV, and phone services for the first time, with fiber internet expected to be available by early 2027. Optimum Mobile services are already available to customers across both markets and the wider New Jersey footprint. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON Sept. 29, 2026 – Walmart is not planning to use personalized pricing. Walmart, a multinational company that annually makes over $700 billion in revenue, has since its founding in 1962 been committed to an Every Day Low Prices model. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29, 2026 – Federal regulators are taking more time to review a Verizon application to discontinue copper service after local governments and subscribers raised concerns. The wireless carrier had asked last month to discontinue legacy telephone service in nine states. The swathe of network covered by the application could serve 12 million locations, Verizon said in the filing, but only 277,000 actually subscribed. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29, 2026 – AT&T and Corning have reached a $3 billion fiber supply deal, the companies said Tuesday. In a release, the companies said Corning would provide AT&T with fiber and cable for multiple years in exchange for more than $3 billion. More specific terms of the deal were not disclosed. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

Sept. 28, 2026 (AP) – Nvidia on Monday unveiled a new security platform designed to stop artificial intelligence agents from going rogue, saying it sets “boundaries” that could have stopped previous breaches. The announcement of the company's Open Agent Safety Platform follows a series of revelations from top AI companies about their models escaping and breaking into other organizations. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A The disclosures sparked furious debate about the safety of advanced artificial intelligence systems, including self-improving models that some fear could race out of human control. Nvidia executives said in a media briefing the new, open-source system could have prevented a recent incident involving a swarm of OpenAI agents that autonomously hacked into AI company Hugging Face. “From what we know, this new security platform could have stopped the breach if it was being used in frontier labs for model evaluation early on," said the company’s vice president of enterprise AI, **Justin Boitano** , referring to companies at the forefront of AI. The Hugging Face incident was a high-profile breach that inflamed the safety concerns about AI, which was followed by similar rogue actions involving OpenAI's models including breaching an Australian health department website. Anthropic and Meta have also disclosed that their AI systems hacked into other organizations on their own. **Earlence Fernandes** , an associate professor at the University of California, San Diego's computer science and engineering department, called Nvidia's security platform a “step in the right direction.” “We need more work that seeks to build protections around the model. I’ve been talking about how traditional cybersecurity ideas are necessary to help control and secure AI agents for a while now," he said in an email. “There are however, several challenges that traditional cyber security approaches still cannot currently solve. For example, what is a good security policy to configure the system with? An agent needs access to real resources to be useful, but giving it the minimum amount of access is tricky and non-trivial.” Fernandes added that to solve the AI security problem, both sides need to cooperate, with companies continuing to invest in alignment efforts and the open source community and academia "creating systems-level solutions to account for when a model does engage in unwanted behavior.” Nvidia, based in Santa Clara, California, makes high-end chips that have emerged as the leading building blocks for AI. The company's board has cleared the way for the company to spend $150 billion more in share buybacks, bringing its stock repurchase program to $235 billion, the company said Monday. Nvidia's security software, called OpenShell, lets developers “formally verify an agent has enough authority to do its job and no more,” Boitano said. Because it's open source, it can be “extended” to run on rival computing platforms including those from Arm and Intel. The platform also includes a separate security layer called Sentry that runs onboard chips to continuously monitor AI agent activity and can "intervene instantly" if the agent starts trying to move beyond its target, the company said. “It can quarantine a suspicious agent in milliseconds,” Boitano said. “OpenShell governs the agent’s actions, and then Sentry independently monitors and contains suspicious behavior,” he said. Nvidia said more than 100 organizations are using the platform at its launch, including Microsoft, Perplexity, Accenture and JPMorgan Chase. The AI safety debate has divided the industry, with the heads of Anthropic and OpenAI championing a coordinated slowdown of AI development to let safety efforts catch up. But others including Nvidia CEO **Jensen Huang** say it should be up to individual companies to make sure their models are safe for release. Huang, during the annual Salesforce technology conference held earlier this month, characterized AI safety, including the danger of rogue agents, as an engineering problem that software developers can address. _This article was written by Kelvin Chan and Anne D'Innocenzio of the Associated Press._

WASHINGTON Sept. 28, 2026 – The British government is weighing a plan to tax broadband to support its main free TV service. The UK’s Labour Party is currently evaluating replacing the British Broadcasting Corporation current annual £180 fee – about $238 – with a monthly £11 broadband surcharge, roughly $15 a month. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON Sept. 28, 2026 – Sen. **Ron Wyden** , D-Ore., is questioning whether the Federal Communications Commission could legally operate with three Republicans and no Democrats, as President Donald Trump seeks to confirm Republican nominee **Danielle Thumann Severs**. In a Sept. 24 letter, the senator did not ask the FCC to take any action. Instead, he asked FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez for her legal assessment of whether the agency could lawfully function with an all-Republican, three-member panel. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28, 2026 - Some state governors want to see tighter oversight of data centers, responding to public concerns about noise and high energy bills. Maryland Gov. **Wes Moore** , D, signed an executive order last week establishing a statewide review process and public dashboard for large data center projects, joining Virginia in a regional push to rein in the rapid expansion of AI-era server farms. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

💡 ■ Did Democratic Sen. Wyden Find a Way to Save Gomez’s FCC Job?} ■ Cable One’s Credit Score Lowered by S&P Global ■ Barron’s: Fiber, FWA Competition Pushing Cable Broadband Prices Way Down ■ Sen. Baldwin Plans NFL TV Fight on Senate Floor Today ■ Wiley Team Looks Ahead to 2027 Policy Battles ■ Kremlin Warns Against Expanded Use of Starlink in the Ukraine War ■ UK Might Fund BBC with a New Monthly Broadband Tax ■ Walmart Rules Out ‘Surveillance Pricing’ Amid FTC Oversight ■ Japan’s SoftBank Group Just Days Away from Owing U.S. ISP WOW! ■ Free State Backs FCC on NEPA Reforms ■ Alabama Reaches $100 Million Settlement with TikTok ■ Maine to Unveil Resilience Grant Winners on Oct.2 ■ Grain Management Names Amran Hussein as General Counsel POTS: Verizon’s copper phone retirement plan has been put on hold. The FCC said Sept. 25 Verizon’s bid to shut off legacy TDM landline service across nine states “will not be automatically granted,” citing the need for more review. “Our removal of Verizon’s application from the automatic grant process is not a final determination on the merits,” the agency added. By contrast, the FCC in June granted AT&T’s request to discontinue copper voice services at more than 184,000 locations in California – a decision the California Public Utilities Commission has appealed to the three voting FCC Commissioners. ** _(More after paywall)_** Verizon CEO Dan Schulman ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 27, 2026 (AP) — As tech titans warned an AI-weary world that their own advanced systems could endanger humanity, the question emerged: What do they have to gain? Broadband and AI in the Next CongressArtificial Intelligence is now driving infrastructure investment and public policy.Broadband BreakfastBroadband Breakfast The answer may lie in the companies’ efforts to score political goals ahead of the U.S. midterm elections and the money top artificial intelligence labs and their investors stand to make in much-anticipated listings on a jittery stock market. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A The CEOs of Anthropic and OpenAI recently declared America’s cutting-edge models are so powerful, they’re dangerous, and need to be regulated and independently tested before being released. In a rare instance of unity, they have sketched alarming scenarios in essays, social media posts and speeches to the United Nations. Along the way, they are shaping the conversation around how their technology should be controlled. With their rhetoric, the companies appear to be seeking public favor and to set the terms for their own safety protocols in the unregulated market, experts, analysts and former government evaluators told The Associated Press. Those aims may not exactly align with what Anthropic engineer Jacob Coxon sought when he quit via a post on X this month, calling for a pause on tech development to keep “superhuman” systems from eluding their makers' control. But the companies saw his post as an opportunity to highlight their own safety efforts and position themselves as cautious market leaders, just when they need fresh capital before going public on Wall Street. President Donald Trump has shunned the need for new AI regulations, dismissing talk of risks to humanity as a “HOAX” designed to help China. An Anthropic spokesperson said in response to questions for this story that the company has been calling for regulation for several years. An OpenAI spokesperson,**Liz Bourgeois** , noted the company recently paused training of its most advanced models. “People want to know AI is being developed safely, and that starts with what companies like ours do ourselves," Bourgeois said. ### _Calls for slowdown shift the conversation on AI risks_ Turning the conversation toward unproven threats — and away from polarizing issues such as data centers’ environmental impacts, uncontrolled hacking incidents, mass AI-powered surveillance and the AI systems' use in warfare — puts Silicon Valley in a more comfortable position, said **Sarah Shoker** , who previously led OpenAI’s geopolitics team. “Once again we’re talking about existential risk, while deprioritizing a number of other safety-critical risks that exist today. If you look at the use of AI in military tech, you can see that these systems are already used to kill people,” said Shoker, a senior non-resident fellow at University of California, **Berkeley Risk & Security Lab**. As AI companies have gone from building chatbots to advanced AI “ world models ” with 3D awareness, debate has raged over how their technologies should be tested. Problematic incidents have shown leading AI companies failing to police themselves or design safe experiments. In recent months, leading labs’ AI agents have hacked into external websites after being allowed to escape company training sandboxes, interacted with U.S. government websites in unexpected ways, and appeared to achieve a mathematical breakthrough only to face accusations of stealing mathematicians' work. OpenAI representatives told reporters recently that they have talked with AI companies including Anthropic and Google about pausing development. They also argue they need independent auditors to check the labs’ progress, if the government won’t regulate. ### _Leading labs press their oversight vision_ Trump has shown little interest in regulating AI, which has been a major driver of recent U.S. economic growth. The Republican president himself has struck deals with Silicon Valley firms that more closely tie the economy to their successes. San Francisco venture capitalist **David Sacks** , who co-chairs Trump’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, has dismissed calls for an AI slowdown as fearmongering from the “Doomer Industrial Complex.” The reality is the Trump administration already evaluates some of the tech giants’ models through a little-known federal agency, the U.S. Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI). Democratic President **Joe Biden** created the agency in 2023, when it was heralded as a clearinghouse for labs to voluntarily submit advanced AI models for testing. The agency still exists, but the field has since expanded to include an array of independent evaluation firms, such as Berkeley, California-based nonprofit METR, which Anthropic CEO **Dario Amodei** suggested in a recent essay could help vet his company's safety practices. But unlike regulated sectors like restaurants, financial services or aviation, there are no universal standards for how to test the safety and security of AI systems, said **Andrew Strait** , who recently left the United Kingdom’s AI Security Institute, which worked with CAISI. Notably, the companies aren’t calling for more oversight from the government agency equipped to handle such requests, said **Conrad Stosz** , who previously led CAISI. Instead, they’re vowing to create their own auditing parameters and choose particular evaluators to grade them. Stosz now works at one such evaluation lab that has worked with Anthropic, OpenAI and Google to test their systems, and also chairs the AI Evaluator Forum, which is drafting best practices for the field. He said even the forum has questions about what Amodei and OpenAI CEO **Sam Altman** want. “Lots of evaluators are interested in embedding with labs and getting greater access, but it’s a little ambiguous what embedded evaluators means,” said Stosz, now head of governance at Transluce, which revealed last week that OpenAI agents hacked U.S. and Australian government websites. “Will evaluators be able to thoroughly investigate, assuming that access is granted in a way that does not undermine their independence and credibility?” ### _Companies position themselves as safe bets_ For **Harrison Rolfes** , a PitchBook senior research analyst, AI companies’ calls for caution seem meant to curry favor with investors ahead of public offerings and the midterms, when the political winds could shift. Democratic governors already are rushing to show they’re taking the warnings seriously. Meanwhile, the AI giants can block smaller competitors' growth by positioning themselves as the safest bet for investors, as well as for AI chipmakers and tech companies such as Nvidia and Google, which in turn can benefit from deals that provide the giant AI companies compute power, Rolfes said. “They’re creating a wall or a moat within this sector. … It’s genius and they’re all going to make a lot of money,” Rolfes said. “That’s where I see this heading, having the top companies in the world just creating their own wall, and then using the safety as the reason.” Not all AI companies endorse a slowdown. Chipmaker Nvidia’s CEO **Jensen Huang** said in a phone conversation with Trump — a call he took onstage at a conference — that he agrees there has been excessive AI alarmism and companies can choose to pace themselves. **Daniel Kokotajlo** , who left OpenAI in 2024 over concerns similar to Coxon's, said he continues to worry that AI systems are advancing faster than companies can control, and fears existential scenarios such as AI’s potential to supercharge the creation of bioweapons, nuclear war or other catastrophes. “All of this talk is actually a way to sort of dissipate and redirect this political will that has built up, rather than actually channeling that political will to do something good,” said Kokotajlo, who now leads an AI safety advocacy organization and said he counseled Coxon before he resigned. “Just please don’t do the thing that’s going to get us all killed.” _This article was written by Garance Burke of the Associated Press. Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report._

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 2026 – After years of prep work, federal broadband subsidies are beginning to flow in Washington State. Washington's broadband office signed contracts with seven ISPs under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program, the state announced Thursday. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 2026 – The Universal Service Fund needs updating to advance its goal, but it's not the only avenue for achieving universal service, experts said Thursday. **Brian Vo** , CEO of broadband financing nonprofit Connect Humanity, said providers could look to loans provided under a law called the Community Reinvestment Act. He spoke at an event hosted by the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

Broadband Breakfast reported this week that AI data-center builders increasingly see electricity, grid capacity, and community trust as the constraints that will determine whether infrastructure can scale. Earlier this month, its Global AI Regulation discussion highlighted another constraint: evaluators are struggling to keep up with frontier capabilities. The next infrastructure question follows from both stories. As AI shifts from chatbots to agents that can act through networks and software, we need clear limits on what those agents are allowed to do. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A This concern is not confined to critics of AI. Jacob Coxon, resigning from Anthropic after roughly three years doing pretraining research across OpenAI and Anthropic, warned that leading labs are “racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives.” Evan Hubinger, Anthropic’s Alignment Science Lead, responding to Coxon’s resignation statement, offered an even starker warning: “Jacob is correct here - we really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans! I personally think it is >10% within the next decade.” These very alarming statements gain real-world weight from the underlying control problem, as present systems already show autonomous cyber capability and surprising coordination behavior. OpenAI disclosed that its systems broke out of a sandboxed testing environment, reached the internet, and autonomously hacked Hugging Face. OpenAI’s own incident report says the models circumvented isolation controls and accessed third-party systems, while the Associated Press described it as an unprecedented cyber incident. METR later reported that roughly 1,200 agents meant to be isolated found and used an unsanctioned shared message board, exchanged more than 70,000 messages and files, and roughly 700 participated in the attack. The central lesson for broadband and data-center operators is the unintended coordination channel. A system that can combine credentials, tools, and information across agents can create more effective authority than any one permission screen suggests. The stakes rise sharply around critical infrastructure. If more capable successors can discover vulnerabilities, obtain credentials, move laterally, coordinate, and evade controls, similar failures against communications networks, grids, financial institutions, health infrastructure, or defense systems could be far more severe. Broadband providers and data-center operators sit directly in that chain of dependence. I’m no AI skeptic. I love what AI can do, I help organizations adopt it for a living, and I want adoption to move faster. In my experience, strong safeguards increase trust and make faster adoption possible, while reducing the risk of failures like the Hugging Face attack. That is a central theme of my book, The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work: From Resistance to Results. For operators, the practical tool is an authority budget: the maximum delegated power an AI agent can exercise before human approval. A network-management agent might be allowed to read telemetry and recommend changes, but not alter routing, reset credentials, provision services, communicate externally, change billing records, deploy code, or spend money without an explicit approval gate. Least privilege should be the default. Permissions should expire. Higher-risk actions should be logged and monitored. Every deployment should have a fast pause or kill mechanism. The same principle should govern frontier developers. Anthropic CEO **Dario Amodei** argued in his September essay that stronger regulation is needed and committed Anthropic to embedded third-party evaluators with ongoing, employee-like access to verify safety practices and report incidents. Binding rules matter because not every frontier company will cooperate voluntarily. OpenAI has also called for mandatory capability-based national safety requirements, common testing and independent assessment, stronger cybersecurity protections, and clear incident-reporting rules. Those are important announced commitments. They should become a regulatory floor rather than optional advantages available only at better-governed companies. Customers also have leverage. Enterprises, broadband operators, and data-center companies can choose more ethical and secure AI vendors, including Anthropic, based on observable safety commitments, independent evaluation, incident transparency, and willingness to accept enforceable limits. Procurement can reward the companies building a race to the top. Broadband Breakfast’s reporting is right that AI infrastructure needs power, fiber, and public trust. Trust will also depend on whether the intelligence moving across that infrastructure has bounded authority. The industry should build those authority budgets now, before agents become another critical load that grows faster than the rules around it. Dr. Gleb Tsipursky**_, called the “_** Office Whisperer”**_by The New York Times, helps tech-forward leaders stop overpaying for AI while boosting engagement and innovation. He serves as the CEO of the future-of-work consultancy_** Disaster Avoidance Experts**_. Dr. Tsipursky authored seven books in total, and his forthcoming book with Georgetown University Press is_** The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work: From Resistance to Results**_(2026). His most recent best-seller is_** ChatGPT for Leaders and Content Creators: Unlocking the Potential of Generative AI**_(Intentional Insights, 2023), which helps guide leaders in adapting generative AI to achieve their business goals. This Expert Opinion is exclusive to Broadband Breakfast._** **_Broadband Breakfast accepts commentary from informed observers of the broadband scene. Please send pieces to_**** _commentary@breakfast.media_**** _. The views expressed in Expert Opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of Broadband Breakfast and Breakfast Media LLC._**

Sept. 25, 2026 (AP) – In the latest twist in Anthropic's dispute with the Pentagon, a federal appeals court on Friday rejected the artificial intelligence lab's challenge to the government's labeling of it as a supply chain risk. The decision allows the Pentagon to continue to remove Anthropic’s Claude models from its systems and bar the use of its products for Defense Department work. Judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 in the Pentagon's favor. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

Broadband is fast becoming as essential to healthcare as the stethoscope, powering telehealth visits, remote patient monitoring, and real-time data sharing between providers. Join Broadband Breakfast Live Online as experts in medicine, technology, and policy examine how connectivity is reshaping patient care, and where gaps in access still leave rural and underserved communities behind. We'll explore what networks, funding, and regulatory frameworks are needed to make connected care work for every patient. ### _Other upcoming Events:_ Broadband Breakfast on September 30, 2026 – Tribal Broadband and AdoptionWhat’s working, where momentum is building, and how federal agencies, ISPs, and industry partners can strengthen support for tribal initiatives.Broadband BreakfastBroadband Breakfast ### _Thursday, October 1, 2026_ America250/Telecom150250 Years of American Independence & 150 Years of American Telecommunications The event will take place online at 12 Noon ET on Thursday, October 1, 2026 Register for $150! This pathbreaking online-only event will: * Celebrate the uniqueness of American contributions to communications * Survey the history of American telecommunications with recapsBroadband BreakfastBroadband Breakfast ### _Tuesday, December 1, 2026_ Broadband and AI in the Next CongressArtificial Intelligence is now driving infrastructure investment and public policy.Broadband BreakfastBroadband Breakfast ## Sign up for FREE for 'Connectivity and Medicine' Once you log in, click this link to watch the BroadbandLive program Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. Better Broadband, Better Lives ### _Panelists_ * _Panelists have been invited._ * _**Drew Clark** (moderator), CEO and Publisher, Broadband Breakfast_ Breakfast Media LLC CEO **Drew Clark** has led the Broadband Breakfast community since 2008. An early proponent of better broadband, better lives, he initially founded the Broadband Census crowdsourcing tool to collect and verify broadband data left unpublished by the Federal Communications Commission. As CEO and Publisher, Clark presides over the leading media community advocating for higher-capacity internet everywhere through topical, timely and intelligent coverage. Clark also served as head of the Partnership for a Connected Illinois, a state broadband initiative.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 2026 – The 1996 Telecom Act is in need of an update, experts said Wednesday at a Benton Institute for Broadband & Society event. The law’s more comprehensive regulatory regimes don’t cover broadband, which is now much more widely used than the services the Telecom Act was aimed at, said **Scott Jordan** , a computer science professor at UC Irvine and former technology chief at the Federal Communications Commission. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 2026 (AP) — A tech-heavy guest list, the fashion choices of those on it, who sat where and what was on the menu marked the softer — often and glitzier — details of diplomacy as Donald Trump threw a Thursday night state dinner honoring China’s leader Xi Jinping. The event featured a cavalcade of billionaires, Washington powerbrokers, business leaders and the type of festivities that most excite Trump, who has a reputation for reveling in hosting parties. Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications' Sign up for FREE for Section A ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

💡 ■ Unlike BEAD Program, Netanyahu Is Not Technology Neutral ■ Ruddy to __Policyband__ : Fox-Roku Deal Violates the Clayton Act ■ Washington State Signs BEAD Deal with Seven ISPs ■ Columnist Jon Decker to Congress: Shut Down the $8.5 Billion USF ■ Judge Tosses Trump Suit Against Iowa Paper’s Dubious Pre-Election Poll ■ Polish Leader: Russia May Have Destroyed Starlink Ground Station ■ NYT Tech Reporter: Google’s Space-Based Data Center Test Could Fail ■ KeyBanc Analyst Downgrades Comcast on ‘Worse Than Expected’ Results ■ Analyst Supino Calls Starlink’s Mobile Plan ‘A Very Long Putt’ ■ SHLB to Unveil New E-Rate Study by Brattle Group Economist ■ AT&T, T-Mobile Declare Cash Dividends TV Ratings: FCC Chairman**Brendan Carr** is escalating his fight with dozens of House Democrats over LGBTQ content slipped into children’s TV shows. Carr sent a Sept. 22 letter to 68 Democrats who oppose adding gender identity descriptors to the TV Parental Guidelines, arguing that parents should be told when shows rated for young audiences include transgender or nonbinary themes. “Keeping parents in the dark about the nature of these programs is a feature not a bug of the effort,” Carr said. “This is an extreme position, and one that comes on the heels of a sudden surge in children’s television programming secretly promoting gender ideology to young kids without the knowledge or consent of their parents,” Carr said in his three-page letter. ** _(More after paywall)_** ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now