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SpaceX Sends Angry Letter To Virginia, Claims BEAD Final Proposal Should Be Revised
August 13, 2025 – Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) has submitted comments challenging the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program Final Proposal and BEAD grant award decisions. SpaceX applied to serve virtually every BEAD-eligible location in Virginia for a total of $60 million. Virginia awarded SpaceX $3,258,750 to serve 5,579 locations. In total, Virginia awarded $613 million in BEAD grants. In its letter, SpaceX claims, among other things, that “Virginia excluded SpaceX from competing on equal footing with other providers for more than 95% households in the program based on biased third-party analysis championed by SpaceX’s competitors.” Ultimately, SpaceX claims “Virginia must immediately revise its final proposal to appropriately consider applications received in line with program rules,” or in the alternative, “NTIA must deny Virginia’s final proposal.”
ESPN Announces Direct-To-Consumer Streaming Service Launches August 21st; Bundle With FOX One Launching October 2nd
August 6, 2025 – ESPN has announced that its direct-to-consumer streaming service will launch on Thursday August 21, 2025. The new streaming service will provide all of ESPN’s network programming and services, and will be accessible from an enhanced ESPN App containing personalized features and functionality. ESPN is offering two subscription plans for subscribers: the unlimited plan for $29.99 per month or $299.99 per year, and the select plan for $11.99 per month or $119.99 per year. The unlimited plan provides access to all of ESPN’s linear networks and content, while the select plan provides access to all ESPN+ content. Additionally, ESPN has announced an agreement with FOX One, Fox Corporation’s wholly-owned direct to consumer streaming service, that will allow consumers to subscribe to a bundle of the two services starting October 2 for $39.99 per month.
Congressional USF Working Group Seeking Comments On Future Of Universal Service Fund
August 1, 2025 – The Congressional Universal Service Fund (USF) Working Group has invited public input on the future of the USF. The comment portal is open and will close at 11:59 pm eastern on Monday, September 15, 2025. Among other things, the USF Working Group is seeking public input on the current state of the USF, proposals for modernizing the USF, proposals for ensuring reliable support of voice and broadband services into the future, and the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision in Federal Communications Commission v. Consumers’ Research.
The bipartisan, bicameral USF Working Group was reorganized in June. Senate members include Senators Deb Fischer (R-NE), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Gary Peters (D-MI), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), and Jackie Rosen (D-NV). House members include Representatives Richard Hudson (R-NC9) Chair of the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee, and Doris Matsui (D-CA7), Ranking Member of the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee.
All submitted comments will be sent to all Senate and House Member offices of the USF Working Group. Comments that include visual aids, such as charts, tables, or graphics may be sent via email to USFWorkingGroup@fischer.senate.gov.
FCC Releases Updated Interim List Of Locations Eligible For Enhanced A-CAM Support
August 1, 2025 – The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau has released an updated interim list of locations that are eligible for Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM) support. The August 2025 updated interim list replaces the original July 2024 Interim Eligible Locations and Interim Carrier Location Assignments files and the October 2024, January 2025, and June 2025 revision of those files. More specifically, the updated eligible location list incorporates and reflects all of the following: all successful broadband availability challenges that were filed by August 1, 2024; all adjudicated challenges to the broadband fabric; all adjudicated challenges to the broadband fabric unit count totals; and updated funding commitment data from the current version of the Broadband Funding Map. The updated interim list of eligible locations (.csv files) is available online for download as a zip file.
USAC Files Fourth Quarter 2025 Fund Size Projections For Universal Service Support Mechanisms
August 1, 2025 – The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) has filed the Federal Universal Service Support Mechanisms Fund Size Projections for the fourth quarter of 2025. The filing details the universal service fund’s (USF) total projected funding requirements for 4Q 2025, which includes costs that can be directly attributed to the High Cost, Low Income, Rural Health Care, and Schools and Libraries Support Mechanisms, as well as Connected Care Pilot Program costs, and projected administrative expenditures of each mechanism. All of USAC’s filings to the FCC are available here. USAC’s data shows the following total projected 4Q 2025 funding requirements for each USF support mechanism:
High Cost Support Mechanism – $1.17676 billion (3Q 2025 was $1.05065 billion, and 2Q 2025 was $1.1239 billion)
Low Income Support Mechanism – $243.67 million (3Q 2025 was $244.93 million, and 2Q 2025 was $305.12 million)
Rural Health Care Support Mechanism – $181.09 million (3Q 2025 was $179.03 million, and 2Q 2025 was $176.10 million)
Connected Care Pilot Program – USAC collected $100 million to fund the Connected Care Pilot Program. No additional collections are required.
E-Rate Schools and Libraries Support Mechanism – $651.89 million (3Q 2025 was $639.18 million, and 2Q 2025 was $653.04 million)
USAC projects a consolidated budget of $75.59 million for 4Q 2025 ($73.60 million was projected for 3Q 2025). This breaks out to $32.76 million in direct costs for all four support mechanisms, and $42.83 million in joint and common costs which include costs associated with billing, collection, and disbursement of universal service funds. The FCC will use the of the quarterly funding requirements for the four USF Support Mechanisms, the projected administrative expenses, and the USF contribution base amount to calculate the quarterly USF contribution factor. Copies of USAC’s historical USF filings are available on its website.