Brightspeed plans to extend fiber broadband to 70,000 Wisconsin customers in 15 counties by the end of 2023, the company said Wednesday. The company earlier announced initial fiber builds for Pennsylvania, Missouri, Louisiana, Ohio, Alabama, Texas, Virginia and North Carolina, and said it plans to announce more state plans in coming weeks. Brightspeed’s network includes ILEC assets that Apollo purchased from Lumen. The deal recently secured all state regulatory approvals but still needs an FCC greenlight (see 2206290041). AT&T and Louisiana plan a $19 million project to extend fiber to 9,800 homes, farms and businesses in 13 parishes, AT&T said Tuesday. “Extensive design and engineering work will begin immediately following the execution of a final agreement between AT&T and the state.” Louisiana this week announced $130 million total in Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities (GUMBO) awards using federal American Rescue Plan Act funding. The state expects to bring broadband to 66,000 households and small businesses in 50 parishes in the first GUMBO round, the state said. Other big winners included Star Communications ($28.2 million), Swyft Fiber ($25.7 million), Altice subsidiary CSC Holdings ($16.1 million), Charter Communications ($10.1 million) and Comcast ($7.9 million). “We have another $43 million in funds from the ARP we will award by October, and we are expecting an additional significant amount of federal funds from the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that will be awarded next year to continue to address access, affordability and literacy,” said Gov. John Bel Edwards (D).

The California Privacy Protection Agency board will meet Thursday to discuss and possibly take action related to proposed federal privacy legislation, including the American Data Protection and Privacy Act (HR-3152), the CPPA said Tuesday. The federal bill could preempt California's privacy law. The board posted an agenda for the 9 a.m. PDT meeting.

The Washington State Broadband Office delayed a notice of funding opportunity for its infrastructure acceleration grant (IAG) program, the state’s Commerce Department said Tuesday. The broadband office originally planned to release the NOFO in mid-June but now expects it will come out this fall, with award announcements likely in the first quarter of next year, the department said. The office “plans to use the time between now and the NOFO release in the fall to receive critical stakeholder engagement on a set of policy and procedure questions that are critical to the work we’re all doing,” said Commerce: It will send out questions for comment in “the next few weeks” and host a roundtable discussion in early fall.

The Oregon Public Utility Commission agreed to state USF rules updating rules on calculation and disbursements to eligible telecom carriers. Commissioners voted 3-0 Tuesday to adopt a staff recommendation to proceed with adopting a CostQuest model, despite apprehension by some telecom groups in docket AR 649 (see 2207200017). Chair Megan Decker said the action recognizes “the continued uncertainty and the stress … on stakeholders that depend on the OUSF” but added she is sure the commission can “arrive at something reasonable” and flexible. The PUC can make “surgical tweaks” later if needed, Decker said at the livestreamed meeting. Commissioner Letha Tawney likes the transparency that using a cost model will provide, she said. The model will assist but won’t be the final word in setting OUSF benchmarks, she said. Commissioner Mark Thompson doesn’t think the PUC is on the wrong path even with outstanding questions, he said.

Nebraska USF (NUSF) accountability needs improvement, said Nebraska Public Service Commission member Crystal Rhoades at a livestreamed meeting Tuesday. The PSC’s lone Democrat cast the only vote against an order, adopted 4-1, to release a list of qualified bidders for the commission’s reverse auction (docket NUSF-131). With the auction, the PSC seeks to expand 100 Mbps symmetrical broadband using $13 million of redistributed NUSF support. Rhoades said she generally agreed with the proposed order’s recommendations but couldn’t support it because it wasn’t clear to her how evaluations were made, by whom and if they were consistent across applications. “I have a lot of concerns about this agency continuing to issue funding without having concrete processes that are transparent and that are followed every time without exception,” the commissioner said. "We leave ourselves vulnerable to all kinds of gamesmanship.” Rhoades called for overarching changes. “We've got some real process problems and accountability problems with this NUSF fund -- and we have for a long time -- and I think we need to get serious about correcting it."

LTD Broadband won’t appeal an Iowa court decision that affirmed an Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) decision not to grant the company an expanded eligible telecom carrier (ETC) designation. The designation was needed to get about $23.2 million for the state through the FCC's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, but Iowa District Court for Polk County ruled June 15 that the IUB’s decision wasn’t arbitrary or capricious. “We are not pursuing an appeal of the Iowa court ruling,” LTD Broadband CEO Corey Hauer emailed Tuesday. Hauer noted LTD already provides rural broadband to a quarter of Iowa’s geography. “By no means are we done fighting to bring fiber broadband to unserved and underserved Iowans.” Since January, the company “has been rapidly building” fiber-to-the-home services along the Iowa and Minnesota border and aims to have service in seven “small towns and surrounding rural areas by the end of August.” The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission decided last week to rehear its earlier denial of ETC status for LTD, while the Minnesota PUC earlier this month agreed unanimously to open a proceeding on whether it should revoke LTD’s previously granted ETC status (see 2207200037 and 2207140047).

Maryland and U.S. Chamber of Commerce supplemental briefs are due Aug. 12 on the constitutionality of a pass-through prohibition in the state’s digital ad tax law, U.S. District Court in Baltimore Judge Lydia Griggsby said Monday in case 1:21-cv-00410-LKG. Responses are due Aug. 26, said the order. Griggsby at oral argument earlier this month said the ban implicates speech (see 2207120077). Maryland’s Anne Arundel Circuit Court scheduled an Oct. 17 hearing on a parallel state court complaint by Comcast and Verizon (case C-02-CV-21-000509]).

Starlink could get California Public Utilities Commission approval next month to operate as a facilities-based and resold CLEC and resold interexchange services (docket A.21-03-009). The CPUC may vote as soon as Aug. 25 on a proposed decision to grant an eligible telecom carrier designation, which is needed to get Rural Digital Opportunity Fund federal support, the agency said Friday.

Vermont awarded $48.8 million in broadband construction grants through the Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB), the Department of Public Service said Friday. Awardees included CVFiber, DVFiber, Maple Broadband and NEK Broadband, with the cash expected to cover buildout of more than 1,400 miles of fiber in 29 towns, the department said. VCBB has announced $100 million in awards since August 2021.

The Missouri Public Service Commission will continue suspending state USF assessments for the rest of the year, the PSC said Friday. Commissioners agreed 5-0 to the order in docket TO-2019-0346. The USF surcharge will return at a rate of 0.15% Jan. 1, it said. The PSC first suspended the rate Jan. 1, 2020, and the freeze had been set to expire Sept. 30. The commission had considered raising monthly state USF support for voice-only Lifeline services to $24 last year from $18.75 if the FCC stopped paying $5.25, but the FCC paused phasedown until Dec. 1 this year (see 2111050058). Meanwhile, the Wyoming Public Service Commission plans to vote Tuesday on a proposal (docket 90072-49-XO-22) to keep the state USF surcharge at 2.7% for the fiscal year starting July 1, said a Thursday agenda. In an attached May 24 memo, Wyoming USF Manager Melisa Mizel recommended paying monthly distributions of $11,394.70 to All West Communications, Chugwater Telephone, Lumen, Silver Star Telephone and Union Telephone.