NTIA awarded more than $18.5 million in Connecting Minority Communities Pilot program support to five minority-serving institutions Friday, said a news release. “Minority-serving institutions are driving digital skills education and workforce development programs for communities across the country, and that's why they need resources,” said Kevin Hughes, acting director-Office of Minority Broadband Initiatives. Additional awards will be announced on a rolling basis, the agency said. The grants went to universities in California, Missouri, Louisiana and Alabama.

The FCC's rules for its new consumer broadband labels are effective Jan. 17, said a notice for Friday's Federal Register (see 2211180077). Comments are due by Jan. 17, replies Feb. 14, in docket 22-2 on how to further refine the labels.

Charter Communications must remove any charges racked up by a complainant in the first 30 days after the carrier changed her telecom service provision from Verizon to Charter, the FCC Consumer and Government Affairs Bureau said in an order Wednesday granting the complainant's slamming complaint. Per the order, the complainant ultimately opted not to have service ported over to Charter, but Verizon never received notification about the cancellation.

NTIA awarded more than $40.3 million in additional tribal broadband connectivity program support Wednesday to nine tribal entities. The Ak-Chin Indian Community in Arizona, Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians in California, Fort Independence Indian Reservation in California, Indian Township Tribal Government in Maine, Pueblo of Picuris in New Mexico, Santa Clara Pueblo of New Mexico, Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, Apache Tribe of Oklahoma, and Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs in Oregon received funding for broadband deployment and digital skills training, said a news release.

The U.S. fixed and mobile broadband markets are "competitive" and the "central remaining challenge" is broadband adoption, said the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation's Jessica Dine and Joe Kane in a new report Monday. Promoting adoption "means a better explanation of the benefits and importance of the Internet, widespread education in digital literacy, and better access to both affordable internet plans and the necessary technology," the authors wrote. The report said about 98% of Americans have access to a fixed connection, but only 62% of households subscribe to a connection of at least 25/3 Mbps "despite its wider availability." The report "not only highlights the state of the Internet ecosystem but also the many complexities and shortcomings with data used to evaluate it," Kane said: "That’s why it’s important to steer clear of a myopic focus on a single dataset or aspect of the broadband."

More than eight in 10 consumers served by NTCA members have access to downstream speeds of at least 100 Mbps, the group said in a new report Monday. An average of 60% of customers can receive "a maximum downstream speed for fixed broadband greater than or equal to 1 Gig," compared with about 55% of customers in 2021. The group noted that subscriptions to speeds of at least 100 Mbps were more popular than services between 25 and 100 Mbps. About 38% of the group's members participated in the survey. “At a time when there’s so much focus on how to reach millions of rural Americans still awaiting quality broadband access, this survey highlights how NTCA members have led the charge to date in delivering on this promise for so many and the tremendous work they continue to do to close remaining gaps,” said CEO Shirley Bloomfield.

USDA should establish performance goals, document officials' responsibilities for overseeing fraud risk management activities, and do a fraud risk assessment for the ReConnect program, GAO said in a report released Wednesday. The report said USDA used information from ReConnect and other broadband programs "to inform agency-wide performance goals" but didn't have performance goals specific to the program. GAO said the agency's oversight of the program "aligns with some but not all of the selected leading practices" in its fraud risk framework. USDA agreed with the recommendations, telling GAO its Office of the Chief Risk Officer oversees fraud risk management for ReConnect.

The Treasury Department awarded six states a combined nearly $1 billion through the American Rescue Plan’s Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund support Thursday. Florida received $248 million, Georgia received $250 million, Iowa $152.2 million, Minnesota $44 million, Missouri $196.7 million and Utah $10 million, said a news release. The new funding will connect more than 180,000 homes and businesses.

NTIA awarded more than $73 million in tribal broadband connectivity program grants to nine tribal entities Wednesday. The new funding will connect more than 3,000 unserved households, businesses and anchor institutions, said a news release. "The Biden administration is committed to fostering meaningful partnerships with tribal nations," said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo: "These grants ... highlight the Biden administration’s unprecedented commitment to closing the digital divide in Native communities."

The Rural Utilities Service wants applications by Jan. 30 for its distance learning and telemedicine loan and grant program, said a notice for Thursday's Federal Register. The agency said about $64 million will be available for FY 2023.