Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

Thanks to the generosity of NTCA members, the Foundation for Rural Service creates opportunities for policymakers to experience firsthand the realities of rural America. Last week, 14 staff members from the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate joined FRS for the 2026 Congressional Broadband Tour—an immersive, four-day educational program that this year spanned South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska.

EPB, the Chattanooga, Tennessee, electric utility company has long been a hero in the broadband world because it was the first electric utility to offer 1 Gbps broadband to consumers. These days, it can offer speeds of 25 Gig. EPB has more than 200,000 energy customers and over 130,000 fiber customer. Speaking of heroes, EPB’s CEO David Wade—a soft-spoken Southerner with an intellect as sharp as a tack—will soon retire, and EPB’s President Janet Rehberg will step into the CEO role September 1st.

This week, the Pennsylvania House Communications & Technology Committee held an informational meeting to discuss broadband access and affordability across the Commonwealth. Speakers from community anchor institutions, universities, public-interest organizations, and the private sector came to discuss broadband affordability—what is needed, what's been done, and what the future might look like.

“This is not an option any longer. Maybe it was 30 or 40 years ago when it first began, but today it’s part of our lives.” That was Pennsylvania State Rep.

There has been a lot of talk about how AI is putting stress on broadband networks, and many analysts are claiming that we need faster broadband speeds to accommodate growing AI traffic. I was particularly struck by a comment from NTCA – the Rural Broadband Association in a filing at the Federal Communications Commission in the FCC docket looking at Universal Service Fund reform.

New guidance to help states, school districts, educators, families, and education technology providers make informed decisions about the responsible use of technology in classrooms. The guidance encourages a focus on instructional value over recreational engagement when selecting and using technological tools in the classroom. It also urges states to pair innovation with evidence, educator judgement, transparency for parents, and a relentless focus on student outcomes.

A State Department program that would see defense tech companies Palantir and Anduril provide expertise on digital freedom-of-speech issues is raising eyebrows among some experts—even if it’s unclear specifically what Palantir and other partners involved would actually work on.

On July 30, 2025, Arielle Roth was sworn in as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and National Telecommunications and Information Administrator. Over the past year, NTIA has moved with urgency to deliver results for Americans: ensuring universal broadband availability, freeing spectrum for commercial innovation, advancing American technology leadership, strengthening public safety communications, and demanding greater accountability for taxpayers.

Charter Communications and Cox Communications have completed a $34.5 billion merger that creates the world's largest cable operator, with about 70 million homes and businesses passed and roughly 38 million customers across 45 US states. The deal's closing comes just days after the California Public Utilities Commission approved it with an array of conditions, following months of negotiations that delayed the deal by more than two months.

With plans underway to launch massive constellations of satellites to deliver broadband services and support orbital AI data centers and other applications and services, the space economy is enjoying a boom time. But this growing and evolving sector will also need to adhere to current and coming regulations.