NTIA Blog

The space industry would get new tools under recommendations from NTIA and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), further advancing America’s leadership in commercial space. A joint report by NTIA and NASA calls for providing the industry with access to radio frequencies for use in space-to-space communications.

The report recommends expanded spectrum access through a new commercial allocation in the 18 GHz band (18.1-18.6 GHz), which would be paired with an allocation for Federal Government operations. The new, co-primary allocations in this band would provide regulatory certainty for the development of commercial services to meet NASA’s future needs. This aligns with Congress’s direction to NASA to utilize commercial space services whenever possible and to encourage the growth of the commercial space industry. 

The joint report, approved by NTIA’s Interagency Spectrum Advisory Council (ISAC), builds upon actions at the 2023 World Radiocommunications Conference (WRC-23), where the 18 GHz band was allocated for space-to-space links globally.

By Adam Cassady, Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information

Public safety telecommunications professionals are a lifeline for their communities. 

Each and every day, they model the best of public service by answering and dispatching our emergency calls, working 12-hour shifts with frequent overtime, managing multiple emergencies at once, and missing holidays and family events while looking out for their “second families”—the police, fire, and EMS officials who depend on them. 

This week, April 13 to 19, is recognized as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, and NTIA understands the importance of ensuring that 9-1-1 telecommunicators and emergency responders have access to the innovative and emerging technologies they need to perform their lifesaving work. 

Cutting-edge technology can streamline emergency processes and expedite response. By leveraging these tools, telecommunicators are equipped to provide lifesaving information to address every crisis – from providing CPR to someone who has stopped breathing to identifying the exact location of a stranded motorist trapped in rising water. 

Our nation’s telecommunicators make an immeasurable impact on their communities, and NTIA supports giving these professionals access to future technological enhancements like AI, multimedia capabilities, interoperable networks, and more that will keep their focus where it belongs—on connecting with and providing critical information to first responders in our communities.

NTIA is responsible for the contract for .us – the country code Top Level Domain for the United States (usTLD). Through this contract, NTIA sets policy and other requirements for the usTLD, which serves as an online home for American businesses, individuals, and geographical localities. These policies help make .us functional, secure and unique. For example, the .us “nexus” policy requires a connection between a .us registrant and the United States.

NTIA is initiating a Market Research Request for Information (RFI) to inform a modernization of the usTLD Statement of Work. NTIA is searching for cutting-edge approaches to DNS stability and security, the disruption and mitigation of DNS abuse, usTLD nexus policy enforcement, and privacy-respecting registration data access. By requesting industry and community input, we are also promoting evidence-based policy development, which we expect will benefit American consumers and usTLD users. 

The DNS landscape is dynamic, and the security and stability of the usTLD are paramount to our national interests. NTIA last updated the Statement of Work in 2019. In keeping with NTIA’s mission to protect and promote the public interest in the digital landscape, we are seeking to modernize the Statement of Work to meet contemporary challenges.  

Last May NTIA launched a request for comment (RFC) on how U.S. government policies can support the development of next-generation commercial wireless “6G” technology. In this post, we discuss NTIA’s work on 6G and the overarching themes included in the comments received in response to the RFC. 

U.S. economic competitiveness and national security depends on access to secure and reliable communications networks, and the technologies driving those networks continue to evolve rapidly. While the characteristics that will distinguish 6G are still being defined in standards, industry is well on its way to envisioning 6G’s transformative potential and its ability to improve on 5G performance, support new use cases, and leverage intelligent edge services.

By Alan Davidson, Assistant Secretary of Commerce & NTIA Administrator

Every day at NTIA, we work to promote technology in the service of human progress. That has been the throughline of our actions on Internet connectivity, spectrum and tech policy.

As I look ahead to my third anniversary and final days as NTIA Administrator next week, I’m incredibly proud of what we have accomplished to advance technology for people and progress.

Closing the Digital Divide

When I took office three years ago, President Biden had just given us a simple but historic mission: Connect everyone in America to affordable, reliable high-speed Internet service.

Today, NTIA has awarded more than $46 billion in broadband funding and connected thousands of families. That includes:

• More than 40,000 homes with new high-speed Internet access through the Broadband Infrastructure Program.
• $1 billion worth of Middle Mile networks, including building over 3,200 miles of fiber and counting.
• 4,500 homes with either new or subsidized Internet connections on Tribal lands.

These programs – and the billions flowing in from private capital – have contributed to major progress: Over 3 million previously unserved homes and business have been connected to the Internet since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration.

As of last week, the federal government has obligated all $42.45 billion in BEAD funding to states and territories (the “Eligible Entities”). This means that, subject to the terms and conditions of their awards, Eligible Entities can access their BEAD allocation to connect every resident to affordable, reliable high-speed Internet service. With all 56 Eligible Entities having now reached this critical milestone, we know that grantees are eager to begin deployment of new high-speed Internet networks.

That’s why today, NTIA is accelerating construction to households across the country by streamlining the BEAD Final Proposal process and providing resources that will allow states, territories, and service providers to put shovels in the ground more quickly. With these steps, states, territories, and providers can fast-track the important work of connecting unserved and underserved Americans.  

In November, NTIA announced that all 56 states and territories have received approval of their BEAD Initial Proposals.  States are now completing their challenge processes and selecting the service providers who will build BEAD-funded networks to unserved and underserved locations. When that process is completed, they will submit their Final Proposal, which details the results of that process. To date, Louisiana, Delaware, and Nevada have completed both processes. 

Today, NTIA released two documents to streamline the Final Proposal and accelerate BEAD construction. 

By Rafi Goldberg, Acting Deputy Associate Administrator

In September, NTIA and the Census Bureau announced an ambitious new initiative to improve our understanding of Internet use at a local level.

Local Estimates of Internet Adoption (Project LEIA) is aimed at producing more granular Internet adoption estimates using a combination of existing data and statistical modeling techniques known as “small area estimation.”

Improved and more timely estimates of Internet adoption will lead to better tracking of our progress toward closing the digital divide and fuel important research and policy development efforts in the future.

The debut product of this collaboration is the first-ever set of experimental, single-year estimates of household wired Internet adoption for every county in the United States.

By:  Will Arbuckle, Senior Policy Advisor, NTIA  

The $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program aims to connect 25 million Americans currently without high-speed Internet access. Building these broadband networks on time and at scale across 56 states and territories will require tens of thousands of broadband construction workers: from network designers to pole surveyors, from locators to drill operators, from general laborers to fiber splicers. 

Establishing partnerships as well as initiating and administrating education and training that prepares individuals to be effective across this spectrum of jobs can take between 9 months to 1 year. NTIA encourages grantees to act now to ensure workers are on board and trained so that BEAD deployment remains on track. NTIA will continue to support grantees as they move from planning to implementation.

Every state and territory’s BEAD Initial Proposal includes a workforce readiness plan. And so far, more than 30% intend to allocate nearly $350 million in BEAD funding to support broadband workforce development initiatives. For example: