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Arkansas just launched a first-of-its-kind Broadband Progress Hub, powered by Ready: one live statewide view of every funded broadband project. Residents can search eligible addresses and view exactly what service is available today, what’s planned, and when it’s expected to be delivered. State teams get the same transparent view, with a live map and the ability to track progress across every subgrantee. Congratulations to Glen E. Howie, Jr., MPA and the Arkansas broadband team! Explore the map here: https://lnkd.in/gq3-xAd7

Big moves across broadband, infrastructure, and media this week — Craig Corbin has the full breakdown. Oklahoma is now the 48th state to receive NTIA approval on its BEAD Final Proposal — with broadband projects slated for all 77 counties. The USDA's proposed 2027 budget would eliminate the Reconnect program, cancelling $40M in unobligated funds from prior years. Amazon has acquired Globalstar's satellite infrastructure in an $11B deal, accelerating its push into direct-to-device connectivity ahead of a potential SpaceX IPO. Blue Origin's first commercial rocket launch ran into trouble — the satellite payload was deployed at too low an altitude to sustain operations. Two commercial nuclear power projects have broken ground for the first time in over a decade — one in Wyoming, one in Tennessee — as AI-driven energy demand continues to climb. AT&T posted 584,000 new high-speed internet subscribers in Q1. Charter and Comcast both posted broadband losses, though Charter's broadband subscriber losses have slowed for the first time in five years. T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom are exploring a merger that could create a new telecom holding company valued at over $380B — pending approval from both the U.S. and German governments. All of this and more in this week's edition of Craig Corbin's Broadband Universe.

Leaders in #broadband are tracking closely with advancements here. Hard to overstate the importance of resilient critical infrastructure to 🇺🇸 prosperity & security. Our networks must work, in blue skies or in gray. https://lnkd.in/g-mZc5ym Now is the perfect time for Arielle Roth to issue National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) BEAD II guidance following Success For BEAD Act from Office of Senator Roger F. Wicker, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, mirrored by Reps Barr & Rogers.

Today, NTIA officially approved Oklahoma’s BEAD Final Proposal, a major milestone in the journey to expand broadband access across the Sooner State. 🎉 Under Director Mike Sanders’ leadership, the Oklahoma Broadband Office has been working tirelessly to see that rural, urban and tribal communities across Oklahoma get connected to the broadband they deserve. Congratulations to Mike and his team, and to the entire state of Oklahoma on this milestone! For a closer look, check out Doug Adams’ breakdown of Oklahoma’s Final Proposal: https://lnkd.in/gBJWdUzw

Arizona is managing over $1 billion in broadband investment across one of the most complex deployment landscapes in the country — mountains, desert terrain, tribal lands, and dozens of overlapping jurisdictions. In the latest episode of Ready or Not, Arizona Broadband Director Nicholas Capozzi explains what it actually takes to get everyone connected: working alongside tribal, rural, and urban communities, navigating unique geography, and building a permitting tool that other states are now racing to replicate. Watch the full conversation: https://lnkd.in/eHyVRkDV

Big moves across broadband, media, and AI this week — Craig Corbin has the full breakdown. Maine has passed legislation blocking construction of large data centers while the state assesses environmental risks and grid impact. Utah-based Utopia Fiber — the nation's largest open access fiber network — wrapped up a major operational partnership with the city of Bountiful a full year ahead of schedule. Amazon has acquired Globalstar's satellite infrastructure in an $11B deal, accelerating its push into direct-to-device connectivity. A $50M class action settlement against Disney has been approved over streaming price practices. If you subscribed to YouTube TV or DirecTV between 2019 and 2025, you may be entitled to a portion. U.S. investor-owned utilities are now planning to spend $1.4 trillion over the next five years to keep up with AI-driven power demand — up 20% from last year's estimate. The Nexstar-Tegna merger remains on hold, with a temporary restraining order extended another week as antitrust litigation plays out. Meta is projected to overtake Google as the world's top digital ad platform before the end of the year. And OpenAI is getting into streaming — acquiring tech talk show TBPN to compete with CNBC and Bloomberg. All of this and more in this week's edition of Craig Corbin's Broadband Universe.

State broadband offices are managing hundreds of projects, dozens of deadlines, and a public that wants answers. BEAD Progress Updates gives you the infrastructure to stay on top of all of it. Search any address for live service updates. See every broadband option available — now and on the horizon. Visualize every project across your state on an interactive map. Track it all in one organized table. And residents can use it too — checking coverage in their area and submitting information that helps your office build a more complete picture of what's actually happening on the ground. One tool. Full visibility. From application to deployment. Learn more about ARC: https://ready.net/arc

Big moves across broadband, media, and AI infrastructure this week — Craig Corbin has the full breakdown. Anchorage, Alaska has adopted a new data center ordinance, establishing formal land use categories and performance standards for the city. Nearly 100 members of Congress are urging the FCC to set a firm transition date for NextGen TV (ATSC 3.0) — the commission has yet to commit. The FCC's emergency audible crawl rule has been delayed for the seventh time since its adoption in 2013. Meta has launched Muse Spark, its first major AI model in over a year, and expanded its CoreWeave deal by $21B for additional data center capacity. NATO, the UK, and Taiwan are all stepping up efforts to protect critical subsea infrastructure — and global AI demand is driving the need for 119 new underwater cables. Starlink has teamed with US Mobile on a new discounted bundle ahead of a potential SpaceX IPO. All of this and more in this week's edition of Craig Corbin's Broadband Universe.

Thanks to Glen E. Howie, MPA and the ARConnect team, Arkansas is the first state to fully execute Subgrant Agreements directly within the Ready portal. ARConnect's willingness to build with us, is a big part of what made this possible. The result: a secure, end-to-end signature flow that pulls in subgrantee data automatically, locks it down, and eliminates the manual entry that leads to errors and compliance headaches. This was also a key development for Ready. Embedding SGA execution directly in the portal closes one of the last remaining gaps in a truly end-to-end grant management process — from location eligibility all the way through project closeout. Everything in one place, nothing falling through the cracks. For other states watching, it's a real-world example of what's possible when you invest in the infrastructure early.