Connecting Every American
Partnering to Expand Broadband Access Nationwide
This year has been pivotal for our country’s broadband expansion efforts as the new Trump Administration took control of the historic $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program.
NCTA continues to position our industry as the best partner to get the job done and advocate for smart policies to connect all Americans. It will be only through a collaborative effort between established ISPs and states that these funds will be effectively distributed to expand broadband access to underserved communities.
As the Trump Administration conducts a rigorous review of the program, NCTA has focused its advocacy on:
- Partnering with state associations and member companies to share resources and amplify success stories highlighting the hard work and expertise required to connect every community.
- Emphasizing the boots-on-the-ground, institutional knowledge, and proven track record that make NCTA members the best partners for federal funding.
- Working with agencies to improve program guidance that would reduce administrative burdens to avoid costly conditions, minimize the risk of subsidized overbuilding, and promote fair competition.
- Advocating that states should heed Congress’s directive to refrain from rate setting.
As a complement to our BEAD advocacy, NCTA has been pushing the FCC for additional pole attachment rules to ensure access when deploying broadband. NCTA has focused its advocacy on the need for timelines for pole attachments for larger orders (over 3,000 poles), and for timely approval of attacher contractors for self-help when utilities are unable to meet deadlines.
Smart Spectrum Policy
Advancing Innovation Through Balanced Spectrum Reform
Wireless connectivity continues to transform how Americans work, learn, and live, making smart spectrum policy more essential than ever. NCTA champions an approach that expands access to unlicensed and shared-use spectrum while reinforcing hard-won progress in key bands.
As Congress prepares a Budget Reconciliation bill this year—with Republicans in control of the White House, Senate, and House—there is strong momentum to include an extension of the FCC’s Spectrum Auction Authority, which expired over two years ago. Lawmakers see the proceeds from new spectrum auctions as a way to help pay for tax cuts and other budget priorities.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX) is expected to play a key role in shaping the bill’s language. Last year, he introduced legislation that would require large portions of spectrum to be auctioned for exclusive, full-power use by the nation’s three largest wireless carriers. Meanwhile, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) and others are insisting that any renewal of the FCC’s auction authority must include protections for critical Department of Defense spectrum.
Adding further pressure, President Trump recently posted his support for auctioning spectrum—specifically mentioning that 600 MHz should be made available. If that amount of spectrum is mandated in the final legislation, alongside protections for military bands, we’re concerned the White House and FCC may target heavily used commercial bands like 6 GHz or CBRS. These bands are vital to our industry’s ability to compete and grow in the wireless market. Losing access would severely impact our future.
Through extensive interaction with Members of Congress, the FCC, NTIA, international bodies, and others, NCTA advocates for a “Smart Spectrum Strategy” that promotes innovation and competition—not just the interests of the largest wireless carriers to:
- Protect the CBRS band. CBRS is a leading example of successful dynamic spectrum sharing and should not be moved or eliminated.
- Recognize cable’s impact on mobile. Cable’s entry into the mobile market has spurred greater competition and saved consumers millions.
- Prioritize and safeguard unlicensed spectrum. Unlicensed spectrum now carries more data than wireline and cellular networks combined and must be a key focus for future spectrum allocation. Additionally, policymakers should explore shared or unlicensed access in the lower 7 GHz band.
A forward-looking spectrum policy should enable innovation, protect existing users, and maintain strong competition in the wireless marketplace. Let’s ensure the next generation of wireless connectivity is built on a foundation that works for all—not just a few.
Tax Cuts and Expensing
Securing Pro-Growth Tax Policies for the Industry
This year Congress has moved to extend expiring tax provisions as part of the Budget Reconciliation legislation. The process is ongoing, but as of early June, the industry was able to secure our priorities in the House-passed tax package, including:
No change
TO THE 21% CORPORATE TAX RATE
Five-year extension
OF FULL BUSINESS EXPENSING
Five-year extension
OF INTEREST DEDUCTION CAP BASED ON EBITDA
Five-year extension
OF FULL R&D EXPENSING
Five-year extension
OF THE FDII RATE
No change
TO THE CORPORATE SALT DEDUCTION CAP
The Senate still needs to pass the Reconciliation bill with these provisions in it but we feel the industry is in a good position to accomplish our goals.
Fighting Title II, FCC Overreach
Defending Light-Touch Regulation and Legal Clarity
In January 2025, NCTA and partner associations won a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit that broadband internet access service is, as a statutory matter, a Title I “Information Service,” not a Title II “telecommunications service.” Although there remains a possibility that opponents will seek Supreme Court review, we believe it is likely that the Court will either deny any such request or, if it takes the case, will reaffirm the Sixth Circuit, decisively ending a decades-long debate on broadband’s legal status and federal “net neutrality” rules. We are awaiting decisions from various courts on other challenges to FCC overreach relating to broadband regulation.
The latest:
- The 8th Circuit heard argument in the industry’s challenge to the FCC’s expansive “Digital Discrimination” rules in September 2024. NCTA and others argued that Congress only authorized the FCC to ban intentional discrimination, not any action that (intentionally or otherwise) has a “disparate impact” on any group.
- The 6th Circuit heard argument with respect to the FCC’s overbroad data breach reporting rules in December 2024. NCTA and others argued that the Communications Act did not authorize the FCC’s expansive requirements, and that Congress’s 2017 invalidation of substantially similar FCC rules blocked the agency from adopting these rules.
- NCTA and other parties filed a brief in June 2024 challenging the Biden FCC’s eleventh-hour order establishing an open-ended network security mandate. We argued that the requirement was not authorized by the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) on which the FCC grounded its decision.
TV for All
Championing Creativity, Competition, and Consumer Choice
Award-winning and inspiring TV is the result of our industry investing billions to create and share shows, news, sports, and more that entertain and inform. NCTA is busy advocating on behalf of member companies for an environment that encourages innovation and fair competition.
Primary focus areas include:
- Assuring that mainstream video services are exempt from regulations and legislation targeting social media platforms that publish harmful user-generated content.
- Working alongside accessibility advocates on a practical way to promote additional closed captioning and audio descriptions.
- Opposing burdensome consumer protection and other regulations and taxes on TV companies to ensure the ability to flourish and produce high-quality content.
- Collaborating with programmers and other industry players to help producers of high-value content exploit the opportunities and minimize the risks of artificial intelligence.
AI Policy Framework
Promoting Responsible, Innovation-Friendly AI Guidelines
As AI technology advances at an unprecedented pace, NCTA advocates for national policies that embrace innovation while ensuring safety, trust, and clarity. With members actively deploying (and in some cases developing) AI tools—from accessibility enhancements to network optimization—NCTA champions a framework that supports responsible use without stifling progress.
In particular, NCTA has:
- Pushed for a uniform, risk-based federal AI framework to replace conflicting state regulations.
- Showcased how members use AI to boost network resilience, enhance customer service, and improve accessibility.
- Supported federal investment in secure, transparent, and interoperable AI systems that reflect U.S. democratic values.
- Urged policymakers to hold off on rewriting copyright laws until courts resolve key questions around generative AI.
- Promoted broadband expansion and digital workforce training as critical enablers of widespread, equitable AI adoption.
Through federal filings and close collaboration with agencies like OSTP, NTIA, and NIST, NCTA is helping shape AI policy that is flexible, technically grounded, and innovation friendly.
Leadership on Cybersecurity
Shaping Policy to Safeguard America’s Networks
Cable ISPs have been leaders in developing and implementing leading-edge technologies and best practices to protect the security, integrity and reliability of their broadband networks. NCTA’s members’ investment in advanced cybersecurity tools and resources, forged through consensus-based, multi-stakeholder processes, has led to government recognition of our industry as a trusted leader on cybersecurity in a fast-changing threat environment.
NCTA’s advocacy has focused on:
- Establishing the template for internet routing security protocols and practices with the White House Office of the National Cyber Director, and other regulatory and policy agencies.
- Working to promote a risk-based, public-private partnership model with the Departments of Homeland Security, Commerce, and the FCC toward a whole-of-government approach to federal cybersecurity policy.
- Participating in key technical committees to launch the U.S Cyber Trust Mark for IoT devices.
- Working to obtain a rewrite of CISA’s overly broad proposed cyber incident reporting rules for critical infrastructure.
- Working with peer associations and their members’ CISOs on the establishment of a privatized Communications Sector Information Sharing Analysis Center (Comm-ISAC).
- Working to achieve reauthorization of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015.
