From 1G to 6G, telecom history shows a shift from analog voices to AI agents, creating a seamless digital and physical world interconnection.

Every generation of mobile networks, from 1G to 5G, has rewritten the rules of how the world lives and works. The coming 6G revolution, by decade’s end, will represent a new direction still, toward a universal data fabric where millions of agents collaborate in real-time across the digital and physical worlds.

The story of wireless connectivity is often told in speeds and standards—megabits per second, latency, and spectrum bands. But these generational shifts in device specs obscure a deeper pattern. Each generation, from 1G to 5G, rewrote the relationships between three elements: the Devices we carry, the Networks that connect them, and the Applications that run on them. We call this connectivity’s DNA. With 6G, that DNA of interconnection is about to change fundamentally.

As with the “7 Phases of the Internet”—an article we published with IEEE Spectrum last October—mobile networks’ 6 generations follow a similar arc toward system-wide intelligence. That arc traces through every generation of wireless, revealing a steady advancement of the reach and scope of connectivity itself.

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2026 – States have continued to prioritize affordable broadband service, with Connecticut passing legislation last year that will likely help close the digital divide. 

A Pew broadband project by Jake Varn applauded Connecticut’s broadband affordability law, which establishes a Net Equality Program. The law will require internet service providers that “contract with the state to offer a low-cost plan of $40 per month or less to eligible households” that receive government assistance. 

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2026 – A new report commissioned by rural broadband trade group NTCA said the $8.5 billion federal Universal Service Fund is critical to maintaining broadband and voice networks in rural communities, where providing service would otherwise be economically challenging.

The 33-slide report released March 11 by NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association and consulting firm Cartesian analyzes the finances of rural network operators and finds that without high-cost USF support many providers would face unsustainable operating margins and negative cash flow, threatening the long-term viability of existing networks.

The interactive data dashboard below summarizes Connect Illinois Round 4  (BEAD) eligibility, classifying locations as served, underserved, unserved, and not BEAD-eligible.

This tool specifically emphasizes past programming from the Illinois Office of Broadband and Illinois Broadband Lab, while providing a detailed breakdown of digitally vulnerable population groups and the latest broadband adoption statistics.

Accompanying maps are included to visualize locations and program hubs for additional context. Page 2 aggregates these population and adoption statistics by the 10 economic regions in Illinois.

USTelecom offered a series of recommendations to the NTIA on the best use of BEAD's $21 billion in non-deployment funds late last week. In a letter to the federal body, USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter called on the NTIA to prioritize funds for modernizing 911 systems, cybersecurity training for the broadband workforce and permitting reform.

Washington, D.C. – Spectrum for the Future applauds Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE) and Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) the bipartisan leaders of the Senate Commerce Committee’s Telecommunications and Media Subcommittee, for urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to preserve the existing rules and power levels governing the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band (3.55–3.70 GHz).

On November 17, 2023, something unprecedented happened in Silicon Valley. The board of directors of the most powerful AI company on the planet fired its CEO. Not for financial mismanagement. Not for a failed product. For lying.

A bipartisan privacy coalition in the United States Congress introduced legislation on Thursday that would impose a strict warrant requirement on the FBI’s backdoor searches of Americans’ communications, aligning federal law with a 2025 federal court ruling that found the warrantless practice unconstitutional.

The bill, the Government Surveillance Reform Act of 2026, repeals controversial expansions of the government's warrantless wiretapping authority while overhauling key aspects of federal surveillance law—setting up a showdown with the US intelligence community and its congressional allies weeks before a sweeping global spy program sunsets on April 20.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Nearly two decades ago, Virginia gave tech companies a tax break on equipment and software, and they began to build. The state became a data center hub, and they kept building. Residents bemoaned the noise while they built some more. Artificial intelligence boomed, and the power grid strained — still, more building.

Over the past 18 years, Virginia became the world's largest data hub. The debate taking place there comes as dozens of communities nationwide are fighting data centers in local zoning meetings.

Now, amid a growing national pushback on data centers, Virginia senators have voted to end a projected $1.6 billion annual tax break, requiring the industry to resume paying a minimum 5.3% sales tax. The proposal has left some opponents warning that it would bring construction of data centers in Virginia to a screeching halt.

More than 30 employees from OpenAI and Google, including Google DeepMind chief scientist Jeff Dean, filed an amicus brief on Monday in support of Anthropic in its legal fight against the US government.

“If allowed to proceed, this effort to punish one of the leading US AI companies will undoubtedly have consequences for the United States’ industrial and scientific competitiveness in the field of artificial intelligence and beyond,” the employees wrote.

The brief was filed just hours after Anthropic sued the Department of Defense and other federal agencies over the Pentagon’s decision to designate the company a “supply-chain risk.” The sanction, which severely limits Anthropic’s ability to work with military contractors, went into effect after Anthropic’s negotiations with the Pentagon fell apart. The AI startup is seeking a temporary restraining order to continue its work with military partners as the lawsuit progresses. This brief specifically supports this motion.

Major US technology companies have been named as potential targets as the war between Iran, Israel, and the United States begins to spill into the digital infrastructure that powers modern economies.

Iranian state-linked media this week published a list of offices and infrastructure run by US companies with Israeli links whose technology has been used for military applications. According to Al Jazeera, the companies include Google, Microsoft, Palantir, IBM, Nvidia, and Oracle.

Many of these companies operate regional offices, cloud infrastructure, or data-center operations across the Gulf, including in the United Arab Emirates. None have released public statements on this development.

The list was published by the semi-official, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps–linked Tasnim News Agency alongside a warning that the scope of the conflict could expand beyond traditional military targets.

A new research report documenting how a new wave of journalism funds work, they impact they’re having and the lessons for others to follow.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/67aa3230fa2ca8177398d0f9/t/69b21ef1d274d57ff87624be/1773281009061/Funding+the+Future+of+Local+News+%E2%80%93+Greater+Community+Media.pdf

What is community-centred media

Community-centred media is an approach to meeting communities’ needs for information and connection. It is different to traditional journalism through being deeply rooted in listening to and understanding the needs of communities, particularly marginalised groups, centring their voices and concerns, and ensuring the media reflects and serves them.

As well as focusing on listening and building strong relationships with communities, it often goes beyond this through co-creation and active participation. It ultimately aims to build community connection, resilience, and power to make positive change in their lives and communities.

The federal government’s big effort to build out broadband is facing a problem you don’t see often in Washington: There’s now more money left over in the program than anyone knows what to do with. 

Almost five years ago, Congress committed approximately $41 billion to connect all Americans to high-speed internet as part of its bipartisan infrastructure bill. But in a rare moment of wisdom, the Trump administration revamped the effort last year by nixing a number of ill-conceived rules that had slowed its progress and added to costs. That included removing most requirements unrelated to broadband deployment and opening up more opportunities for traditional fiber cable alternatives — like fixed wireless and low-Earth orbit satellite constellations — to service households.

In short, the initiative got an abundance-style overhaul with a laser focus on delivering on the core goal of getting all Americans connected.

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2026 – A Maryland-based provider is asking federal regulators to preempt state rules it says prohibit the deployment of telecom services. State agencies say their policies are valid.

The dispute stems from Talkie Communication’s effort to deploy a utility pole with fixed wireless equipment in a right-of-way controlled by the Maryland State Highway Administration. Talkie argued in a Jan. 28 petition to the Federal Communications Commission that it should be exempt from county zoning rules and annual fees charged by the state’s Department of Information Technology.

As we wait for delayed non-deployment guidance from the NTIA, I wanted to revisit the listening sessions. NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth cited the “voluminous and passionate responses to our call for input. Across three listening sessions, we had more than 1,700 attendees and 175 speakers participate. We also received 188 written comments from industry, state officials, and broadband advocates.”

So, in the words of the late, great Marvin Gaye… What’s going on?

When I last examined the public comments, I only focused on session one (closed to SBOs) and session two (public). Since then, there has been a third session, seeking public feedback again. 

So, let’s first take a look at the SBOs/States’ input/direction for non-deployment dollars. I got my hands on the transcripts from three listening sessions (two public sessions and one “SBOs only” session) and broke down the categories of investment mentioned by the 44 states and territories that submitted comments. 

In the race to meet the demands of the energy transition, biodiversity hotspots such as Palawan in the Philippines are being increasingly mined for critical elements

Moharen Tahil Tambiling lowers himself from the fishing boat into the water and gingerly picks his way over the reef circling the bay. At low tide here in Brooke’s Point on Palawan, a long, rugged island in the south-west of the Philippines archipelago, the coral is just under the surface, and it looms suddenly under the waves, scraping at the boat’s wooden hull.

Beneath his feet are brain-like mounds and curling fingers of coral. Leaning over the side of the fishing boat, the men point out different kinds: some which were once vibrant orange and others that should be delicate pink. Now, almost everything is the same dull khaki, covered by a thick film of silt. Another man jumps overboard, stirring the sediment. A cloud rises like thick smoke over the reef.

Plunging his hands into the water, Tambiling, a farmer and Indigenous leader from the nearby village, draws up a thick, viscous clump of goop: grey threaded with orange. “Laterite,” he says, his face set in a grim line against the drizzle.

Tom Wheeler draws lessons from the telephone and internet to argue for proactive policy to ensure open competition in AI.

March 10, 2026, marks the 150th anniversary of Alexander Graham Bell’s first telephone call. His words—“Mr. Watson, come here; I want to see you.”—were simple but launched a revolution in human connectivity.

Ninety-three years later, another revolution began with a far less dramatic message. On Oct. 29, 1969, researchers attempting the first ARPANET connection between UCLA and Stanford tried to type the word “login.” The system crashed after the first two letters, so the first message ever sent across what would become the internet was simply “Lo.”

Those two moments—Bell’s call and ARPANET’s stutter—bookend a critical lesson for the AI era. Each communications revolution builds on the last, but each creates its own economic logic and governance challenges. Policy mistakes happen when we assume the future will behave like the past.

The telephone network evolved into what economists call a “natural monopoly.” The logic was that duplicating wires and switches made little sense, so each area gravitated toward a single network. But in exchange came obligations such as requiring nondiscriminatory access and interconnection.

That principle of open access mattered more than anyone anticipated.

John Solly, a software engineer and former member of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is the DOGE operative reportedly accused in a whistleblower complaint of telling colleagues that he stored sensitive Social Security Administration (SSA) data on a thumb drive and wanted to share the information with his new employer, multiple sources tell WIRED.

Since October, according to a copy of his résumé, Solly has worked as the chief technology officer for the health IT division of a government contractor called Leidos, which has already received millions in SSA contracts and could receive up to $1.5 billion in contracts with SSA based on a five-year deal it signed in 2023. Solly’s personal website and LinkedIn have been taken offline as of this week.

Why universities are valuable AI partners for local governments, and how to build and leverage those relationships.

Introduction: Bridging an AI Divide

As governments and communities across the United States struggle to make sense of artificial intelligence, one of the most capable—and underutilized—partners is often hiding in plain sight: local colleges and universities. Much of the public conversation about AI focuses on big tech companies or federal regulation. Meanwhile, far less attention has been paid to how higher education institutions can help cities and nonprofits deploy AI to serve residents and strengthen public trust.

Across the United States, higher education institutions are already governing AI internally, experimenting with operational use cases, and absorbing unprecedented investment to build technical capacity. And as the appetite for an AI-trained workforce blossoms, local colleges are now a prime pipeline for talent. At the same time, local governments and nonprofits are just beginning to respond to and translate AI’s promise into public value.

This asymmetry presents a clear gap: Colleges and universities are increasingly adept at deploying AI, but the connection between local communities and higher ed remains underdeveloped.

Dario Amodei, co-founder and CEO of the artificial intelligence company Anthropic, says his company refused to allow its AI product, Claude, to be used by the Trump Administration without certain guidelines (such as not using its AI to power fully-autonomous weapons without any human involvement).

That prompted President Trump to announce Friday that he is banning Anthropic's technology from all federal use, while Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth labeled the company "a supply chain risk to national security." Amodei talks with correspondent Jo Ling Kent about why he calls the administration's actions "retaliatory and punitive."