More than 90% of U.S. households, by the end of 2025, will have access to at least one broadband provider offering 100/20 Mbps service and at least one offering 25/3 Mbps service, said an ACA Connects white paper Thursday. Citing FCC data and trend lines, it said 84% of households will have access to at least two providers offering 100/20 Mbps service. The paper said increased competition, plus FCC ability to regulate prices and speeds for broadband services it subsidizes, makes moot any supposed need "for common-carrier-style regulatory intervention." It said 7% of U.S. households are in areas served by a subsidized broadband provider, and the number of those households will grow in coming years due to the FCC's broadband equity, access and deployment program spending and other federal stimulus programs. ACA urged that even if there is common-carrier-style regulation on larger broadband providers, smaller operators should be exempt.

A California Assembly panel cleared a broadband bill to extend until Jan. 1, 2028, California High-Cost Fund A and B programs, set to expire Jan. 1. The Communications Committee voted 11-0 Wednesday to refer SB-857 to the Appropriations Committee. It passed in the Senate last month (see 2205240048). Also, the panel voted 11-0 to clear SB-717 requiring a report including sections on barriers to broadband deployment on government-owned structures, private and public lands and buildings and public rights of way. It would also seek recommendations on improving access and speeding deployment for tribes, low-income customers and underserved communities. The bill goes next to the Natural Resources Committee. The Senate Communications Committee voted 13-0 Wednesday to advance AB-2702 to the Appropriations Committee. The Assembly-passed bill would set a goal for the California Advanced Services Fund public housing account to provide internet connectivity to all public housing residents by Dec. 31, 2025 (see 2205260012).

Michigan awarded $3.3 million in grants to three broadband projects under the Connecting Michigan Communities program. The projects aim to extend service to 781 unserved homes and businesses, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) said Tuesday. Upper Peninsula Telephone got about $2.2 million, while Duke Broadband received $858,000 and AcenTek $249,000.

Louisiana’s legislature passed a broadband mapping bill. The Senate voted 35-0 Sunday to concur with House amendments to SB-455. Under the bill, ISPs would have to submit to the state broadband office the same deployment information they give the FCC. House amendments limited the broadband office to hiring no more than one full-time employee for the mapping project, said a summary. A House-Senate conference committee made recommendations Monday to resolve disagreement between the chambers on another broadband bill (HB-1080). The agreed-upon bill would include raising minimum broadband speeds to 100/20 Mbps from 25/3 Mbps and set a procedure to privately fund broadband.

With the FCC’s inaugural broadband data collection approaching, CTIA suggested best practices for mapping in-vehicle mobile broadband coverage, in a filing posted Monday in docket 19-195. “Because the Commission has not sought comment on the adoption of standard parameters, despite CTIA’s request to do so, CTIA recommends that providers use two parameters in their in-vehicle coverage maps: one for in-vehicle attenuation … and one for vehicle speed,” CTIA said: “Including these parameters in propagation models and link budgets will help ensure that in-vehicle maps are consistent across providers. The Commission can encourage broad use of these parameters, either by establishing safe harbors for providers who use them or by issuing guidance recommending” them.

Minnesota will award $95 million in broadband grants through a request for proposals announced Thursday by the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). It’s the highest amount ever for the Border-to-Border Broadband Infrastructure grant program, said DEED. Applications are due Aug. 4.

Multi-gigabit broadband speeds "are the future and any service providers that haven’t already begun offering multi-gigabit speeds should be making plans now for offering them," broadband engineering consultancy Finley said Monday in a white paper looking at the state of cable and telecom 10G initiatives. While 10G "is still in its infancy," standards bodies have defined tech for supporting 25G speeds, it said.

Neither Comcast nor Charter Communications considers fiber overbuilders or fixed wireless significant competitive challenges now, the companies' CEOs said Wednesday during a MoffettNathanson tech conference. Comcast's Brian Roberts said there's increased competitive pressure from fiber and fixed wireless, but Comcast's penetration rate is growing in the areas it serves. He said record-low churn is a mixed blessing because it means fewer customers leaving, but it also means fewer opportunities to get customers who are leaving another provider: "Jump balls will continue to be good for cable." He said about 41% of Comcast's footprint is overbuilt by fiber, and that likely will grow to at least the mid-50s. He said fixed wireless competitors could face congestion problems. "We will see how their services stand up," he said. "They have a lot of trade-offs they will have to sort through." He said Comcast expanded its network by about 813,000 new passings last year, mostly in residential developments, and likely will do about the same in 2022. Comcast is "very confident" in its strategy of DOCSIS 4.0 as a route to multi-gig speeds rather than fiber in most cases, though it will likely use fiber in some areas, said Roberts. While 38% of Charter Communications' footprint has a fiber overbuilder, CEO Tom Rutledge dismissed concerns about fiber being a major competitive threat. "The landscape is littered ... with failed builders" faced with the challenge of getting returns on their investment, he said. He said lack of skilled labor could be a challenge for Charter and other companies considering rural expansions. That labor has to be trained, and rural areas have low population, requiring bringing in crews, he said: "It's challenging. Right now, there is no labor force for any jobs anywhere. We have thousands of unfilled positions."

NTIA said 34 states and territories expressed intent to join the $42.5 billion broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program. NTIA said Wednesday it received letters of intent from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, American Samoa, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Tennessee, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin. States can get up to $5 million in planning funds by submitting the letters, which are due July 18. “It is absolutely critical that states join our efforts to deliver on access to reliable, affordable high-speed internet,” said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. NTIA released BEAD and other Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act notices of funding opportunity Friday (see 2205130054).

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) signed a bill to set up a state broadband office and a council and governing board, and to create a broadband grant program and revolving fund (see 2204290033). Stitt signed HB-3363 Friday.