The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau denied Virgin Islands Next Generation Network's (VINGN) petition for reconsideration of its final eligibility determination for the affordable connectivity outreach grant program because it met the definition of a "contractor" of a broadband provider, per a letter posted Monday in docket 21-450 (see 2304060064). VINGN also sought a waiver of the eligibility rule, saying it's an "instrumentality of the government of the USVI, a public corporation, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority." The bureau granted the waiver request, awarding VINGN $250,000.

Citing a report that the FCC's USF contribution factor will likely increase to 36.2% during Q4 (see 2309050040), Free State Foundation President Randolph May blogged last week that those numbers show the system must be fixed. “The current Universal Service Fund subsidy regime is unsustainable, and it must be meaningfully reformed,” May said: “This is not to say that there should not be subsidies to support universal service goals, including support for low-income persons and for high-cost areas that otherwise would not be served. It is to say the legacy universal service regime is broken -- and clearly unsustainable.”

ISPs invested about $102.4 billion in communications infrastructure in 2022, said USTelecom in a new report Friday. It's a "21-year high for investment from the communications sector," the group said. Investments included gigabit fiber deployments, fiber and mobile network integrations, and increased rural broadband construction.

The Senate's confirmation of Anna Gomez to the FCC could result in the commission proposing to reclassify broadband as a Communications Act Title II service "soon," wrote Cowen analyst Paul Gallant Friday (see 2309070081). It's "the FCC's highest-profile issue, so we expect it to be voted at the Oct. 19 or Nov. 15 open meeting," Gallant said, estimating final rules could be expected next summer. The "key angle for investors is whether the FCC also preempts states from regulating broadband," he said.

The FCC Wireline Bureau reminded all recipients of Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program funds Friday they must file their next status update Oct. 9. Updates are due at the FCC every 90 days, the bureau said.

NTIA awarded nearly $50 million to organizations in New Hampshire, Tennessee, Virginia and Wyoming to expand middle-mile broadband infrastructure Wednesday (see 2306160038). The new funding will cover 27 counties and support the deployment of more than 500 miles of new fiber, said a news release. It's the last of the Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program, the agency said, noting awards were made to "36 organizations across 40 states and territories."

AT&T said Thursday it’s expanding its use of generative AI, which it announced in June (see 2306200020), with more than 30,000 AT&T employees now having early access to Ask AT&T. “It’s an intuitive, conversational platform that you can interact with in plain English (or just about any other language),” blogged Andy Markus, AT&T chief data officer. “While our initial use case was for software developers to use it to write and refine code, we’re seeing opportunities across every part of our business,” Markus said: “Whether it’s in network engineering or finance, software development or supply chain, or any other part of our business, we’re pushing hard to put this tool in the hands of as many AT&T employees as possible.”

The FCC awarded nearly $7 million in additional Emergency Connectivity Fund support Wednesday. The new funding will support about 110 schools and school districts, nine libraries and library systems, and one consortium, said a news release. "Now that Labor Day has come and gone and schools are back in session, students everywhere need access to broadband connections and digital tools to succeed," said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.

Federal broadband funding could reach 94% of unserved and underserved locations nationwide, blogged Cloudflare Director-Network Strategy Mike Conlow Monday. The FCC's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund and recently adopted enhanced alternative connect America model program could reach 31% of the remaining digital divide, Conlow said, leaving 8.3 million locations that would need to be reached through NTIA's broadband, equity, access and deployment program (see 2308310047). "The two FCC programs are doing a tremendous amount to lower the number of locations that BEAD needs to fund, leaving more BEAD money for the remaining locations," he said. Conlow noted some states will still have "a lot of trouble" reaching all their unserved and underserved locations: It "behooves every state to incorporate ways of generating competition in their grant program."

The USF contribution factor will likely increase to 36.2% during Q4 2023, making it the "highest quarterly contribution factor in the history of the USF," emailed analyst Billy Jack Gregg Friday. Gregg noted total revenue will also be about $362 million less than the previous quarter.