Benton Institute for Broadband & Society does a nice comparison to the current and most recent FCC strategic plans…

Every few years, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) tells Congress and the public what it intends to do with its authority. The agency’s strategic plan is not a rulemaking and creates no legal obligations, but it is the framework around which the FCC builds its annual performance plan and budget request to Congress. The strategic plan also serves as the yardstick against which the agency’s own annual performance reports—and outside overseers like the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)—measure whether the FCC did what it said it would do.

The FCC’s Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2026–2030, issued July 6, 2026, deserves a close read alongside the plan it replaces—the Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2022–2026, which has been pulled down from the FCC’s website. Read side by side, the two documents describe two very different agencies. The 2022 plan, created when Jessica Rosenworcel served as FCC Chairwoman, organized the FCC around bringing “affordable, reliable, high-speed broadband to 100 percent of the country,” with universal service, equity, and consumer protection as pillars. The 2026 plan organizes the FCC around Chairman Brendan Carr’s “Build America Agenda,” with spectrum auctions, deregulation, and national security as pillars—and with affordability, low-income Americans, and digital equity almost entirely absent from the text.

For state broadband officials administering federally funded deployment programs, the new plan signals how the FCC intends to use its maps, its coordination role, and its permitting authority over the next five years. For digital equity practitioners, the plan confirms that the FCC no longer organizes itself around affordability and retains an adoption metric without any strategy behind it. For researchers and policymakers, the plan’s performance metrics—far more specific and quantified than in the prior plan—will define what “success” means in the agency’s own annual reporting through 2030. And for anyone tracking the constitutional status of independent agencies, the new plan contains a quiet but significant change in how the FCC describes itself.

The article goes on to detail specifics, from different perspectives.

A self-reported performance report from the FCC as reported by the Benton Institute for Broadband & SOciety…

Strategic Goal 1: Accelerate High-Speed Internet Builds  

• Launched the FCC’s Build America Agenda.
• Streamlined the process for retiring decades-old copper networks so that providers can transition consumers to new, high-speed networks on a faster timeline.
• Proposed a systematic overhaul of the FCC’s outdated environmental and historic permitting rules that slow down wireless and space infrastructure builds.
• Updated pole attachment rules to make broadband deployment faster and more efficient. The new rules promote collaboration between broadband providers and utility pole owners, reduce delays, and help accelerate high-speed internet access nationwide.
• Eliminated barriers to satellite infrastructure builds, including clarifying the limited scope of current restrictions, opening a new proceeding to delete those antiquated and burdensome restrictions altogether, and adopting reforms to pave the way for neutral-host ground stations. The backlog of pending applications was cut by half in 2025.
• Axed a proposal to increase environmental regulatory burdens on tower builds.
• Waived unnecessary requirements that kicked in whenever a provider stopped offering a legacy service to new customers.
• Waived costly and excessive notice requirements in cases where they provide no demonstrable benefit, such as network change disclosure filings.
• Approved Verizon’s $20 billion acquisition of Frontier, and Metronet’s transfer of five subsidiaries to T-Mobile. These transactions unleash billions of dollars in new infrastructure builds, and deliver significant wins for America’s tower and telecom crews.
• Proposed a range of reforms to preempt unlawful state and local permitting barriers to towers and other wireless infrastructure, including those that will be critical to AI. These reforms build off highly successful initiatives during President Trump’s first term, which paved the way for America’s 5G leadership.
• Kicked off a new inquiry that, for the first time, seeks to identify and preempt illegal state and local regulations that prevent fiber, cable, and other wireline builds.
• Deleted nearly 400 wireline and 400 wireless regulations that are obsolete, unused, or duplicative.
• Advanced 5G and 6G leadership by executing on a massive spectrum pipeline to deliver 800 megahertz of spectrum by 2034 set out in President Trump’s Working Families Tax Cut Act, which also restored the FCC’s auction authority. Page | 11 of 16 Federal Communications Commission
• Proposed to auction up to 180 megahertz of prime, mid-band spectrum in the Upper C-band by July 2027—exceeding the 100 MHz minimum set by Congress.
• Adopted rules and announced the 2026 auction of low-band, AWS-3 spectrum that covers 200 markets and hundreds of millions of Americans.
• Established sharing rules for 600 megahertz in the 37 GHz band, ideal for fixed wireless and the Internet of Things.
• Moved large swaths of underused spectrum into the hands of those who can put it to productive use quickly, including AT&T and SpaceX’s agreement to purchase 110 megahertz of underused spectrum nationwide.
• Approved transactions that will deliver more investment and network capacity, including TMobile and AT&T’s acquisition of US Cellular’s spectrum that covers hundreds of rural markets and at least 12% of the U.S. population.
• Approved cutting-edge multiband radios that will accelerate wireless builds and reduce unnecessary deployment costs.
• Established a framework for automakers to transition to the next generation of wireless technology for connected cars.
• Cleared out satellite infrastructure backlogs and reduced processing times at a record pace. The Space Bureau has cut its pending applications in half in 2025 and processed 3,418 applications, a 21% increase compared with 2024.
• Modernized the FCC’s antiquated licensing processes through an ambitious, root-and-branch proposal that would replace current rules with an entirely new framework that matches the pace of innovation in America’s space economy.
• Teed up more than 20,000 megahertz to deliver satellite spectrum abundance.  This is more than the sum-total of spectrum available for satellite broadband today.
• Reimagining decades-old technical rules that throttle LEO satellite systems and proposing a new framework that could boost broadband capacity by up to 180%.
• Revisited overprotective restrictions in the so-called UMFUS spectrum bands, to give satellite operators far greater flexibility while protecting wireless operations.
• Streamlined satellite licensing rules, including eliminating unnecessary regulatory approvals for a range of routine changes that pose no risk to the public.
• Adopted new rules which streamline processes to accelerate the development of neutral-host ground infrastructure that has proven successful in the wireless industry and reduces filing requirements for satellite operators.
• Streamlined the FCC’s process for approving earth station siting requests to reduce burdens on satellite companies and ensure the agency can move faster.  Page | 12 of 16 Federal Communications Commission
• Enabled faster and more robust direct-to-cell service by allowing providers to operate on spectrum at higher power levels.
• Approved the merger of SES and Intelsat, which promises to boost competition, reduce costs, improve service quality, and bolster investment.
• Worked with communications providers, and America’s tower and telecom crews on facilitating workforce reforms that will result in a more sustainable environment.
• Through merger approval process, secured valuable commitments by all three major U.S. wireless carriers, Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T, to America’s tower and telecom crews, including faster payment cycles and fairer pricing metrics.
• Secured new provider commitments to minimize layers of subcontracting, which will allow for greater oversight of crews, stronger safety protections, and closing loopholes that allowed foreign, fly-by-night groups to swoop in and undercut U.S. crews.

Strategic Goal 2: Promote National Security and Public Safety  

• Stood up a new Council on National Security within the FCC to leverage all of the agency’s authorities, expertise, and relevant workstreams to counter the threats posed by foreign adversaries, including the government of China.
• Cracked down on “Bad Labs”—labs that review and approve electronics for use in the United States, but are owned or controlled by foreign adversary governments.
• Executed ‘Operation Clean Carts’, in which the FCC worked with ecommerce platforms to take down millions of listings of devices on the FCC’s Covered List or otherwise prohibited for sale in the United States.
• Started the process of identifying foreign adversaries that hold licenses or authorizations in the communications sector, in line with the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency (FACT) Act.
• Moved to expel Hong Kong Telecom (an affiliate of China Unicom) from U.S. telecom networks, as a part of the FCC’s work of ensuring that entities identified on the Covered List are excluded from our communications networks.
• Adopted new rules on undersea cable security, following President Trump’s America First Investment Policy Memorandum to accelerate the buildout of undersea cables, while protecting them from foreign adversaries.
• Closed two loopholes that provided no check on old models of covered equipment—potential spy gear—to be imported or sold, as well as allowed devices to be approved that contain covered equipment as module components.
• Worked directly with carriers to ensure that they are adapting their cybersecurity practices and hardening their networks against future attacks, in the wake of Salt Typhoon.  Page | 13 of 16 Federal Communications Commission
• Proposed rules to codify certain foreign ownership requirements and streamline its review processes.
• Launched a proceeding to explore commercial technologies that would complement the Global Positioning System, which plays a key role in our economic and national security.
• Approved a proposal to allow prisons to jam contraband cellphones that have poured into prisons across the country and are being used to call in hits, coordinate violent gang activity, and aid criminal enterprises.
• Fostered network resilience in the face of natural disasters. This included publishing CrossSector Best Practices for Hurricane Season as a result of meetings and roundtables with emergency management and public safety officials, telecom crews, broadcasters, and other government representatives.
• Began the process of a ground-up re-examination of the national alert and warning systems, including the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alerts.
• Moved forward with a proposal that would make the transition from legacy 911 to NG911 effective and reliable without creating new vulnerabilities in critical public safety networks.
• Proposed improvements to wireless 911 location accuracy rules, which reduce emergency response times and ultimately save lives by enabling 911 call centers and first responders to quickly identify the location of people who call 911 from wireless phones.

Strategic Goal 3: Protect Consumers and Promote Free Speech  

• Launched a new campaign to tackle illegal robocalls at every point in the call path. This includes pushing carriers to block more illegal robocalls before they reach consumers, giving consumers better tools to distinguish legitimate calls from scams, stepping up enforcement, and curbing scam calls that originate outside of the United States.
• Removed over 1,200 non-compliant voice service providers from the Robocall Mitigation Database, which functionally disconnects them from the U.S. phone network.
• Proposed rules to ensure consumers are not inundated by excessively loud commercials.
• Adopted rules requiring wireless providers to develop the capability to transmit georouting data when someone sends a text to 988.  Those reaching out for help during a crisis can get the localized help they need.
• Issued an Enforcement Advisory to ensure that radio broadcasters do not violate federal law when they have artists perform at radio station events or festivals—an illegal practice known as “payola.”
• Voted on a notice that would reexamine broadband nutrition labels and ensure consumers get quick and easy access to the information they want and need to compare broadband plans without imposing unnecessary burdens.  Page | 14 of 16 Federal Communications Commission
• Announced nearly $400,000 in proposed fines against pirate radio operations.  Pirate operations break the law, interrupting important licensed radio services.
• Approved Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount CBS.  As specified in the FCC’s record, Skydance made written commitments to ensure that the new company’s programming embodies a diversity of viewpoints from across the political and ideological spectrum.  Skydance also adopted measures that can root out the bias that has undermined trust in the national news media, and committed to enhancing local news and reporting.
• Sought public comment for the first time in more than 15 years on the relationship between the large, national programmers on the one hand and the many local broadcast television stations on the other.
• Opened the airwaves and unleashed new voices through grant of 84 construction permits for new noncommercial TV, FM, and low power radio stations.  Processed over 7,600 other broadcast licensing matters, including 887 license assignments and transfers, plus 714 license renewals.
• Approved the first new ownership combination of two full-power, top-four ranked, same-market television stations in over five years.  Later approved another top-four television station ownership combination.
• Took action to support and accelerate the nation’s ongoing transition to Next Gen TV (also known as ATSC 3.0).  This new technology represents the future of broadcasting and promises to modernize the Nation’s free and local over-the-air television service, which serves as a vital source of local news and information for many Americans.
• Removed 98 broadcast rules and requirements that have been identified as obsolete, outdated, or unnecessary, including rules dating back nearly 50 years ago for technologies that have been far surpassed in the media marketplace.
• Voted to remove 11 outdated and useless rule provisions, including obsolete regulations on telegraph, rabbit-ear broadcast receivers, and telephone booths.
• Held broadcasters accountable to their public interest obligations and empowered them to serve the interests of local communities.

Strategic Goal 4: Enhance Efficiency, Accountability, and Reduce Waste  

• Launched the most massive deregulatory initiative in FCC history, “In Re: Delete, Delete, Delete,” which examines every rule, regulation, or guidance document for unnecessary regulatory burdens.
• Eliminated or proposed elimination of 1,108 rules and regulations, 134,928 words, and 312 pages of the Code of Federal Regulations in 2025.  Page | 15 of 16 Federal Communications Commission
• Ended the FCC’s promotion of DEI by (1) eliminating the FCC’s DEI advisory group and DEI task force, (2) rescinding the FCC’s equity action plan, (3) striking DEI from FCC strategic priorities as well as its annual budget and performance plans.
• Secured the commitment of three major U.S. wireless carriers, Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T, to end DEI-related practices as specified in the FCC’s record and reaffirm their commitment to equal opportunity and nondiscrimination.
• Worked to close out inactive dockets and terminated a record 2,048 inactive proceedings, the largest number of dormant dockets ever terminated in a single proceeding.
• Cut more than $567 million in contract spending, between January and May 2025, generated more than $7.5 million in savings for the remainder of 2025, and produced more than $23.7 million in savings for 2026.
• Rescinded a costly regulatory overreach that could have increased the cost of Internet service for Americans living in apartments by as much as 50 percent.
• Prevented California’s unlawful abuse of federal lifeline program, ensuring that states have safeguards in place to prevent abuse of the federal program and mechanisms that prevent federal dollars from flowing to ineligible people.
• Ended unlawful expansion of COVID spending program to fund school bus Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Hotspots through E-Rate program.
• Led the FCC’s return to full-time in-person work, resulting in 92% of employees required to be back in the office.