The White House announced that more than 200 additional utilities, data center developers, cooperatives and states committed to the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, expanding the commitments pledged by AI companies and hyperscalers on March 4, 2026.

The Ratepayer Protection Pledge now covers 80% of all power delivered to U.S. homes and businesses, according to the press release.

The NARUC board of directors adopted several resolutions at its July 2026 summer policy summit, including a resolution to support preservation of state authority over pole attachments under Section 224(c) of the Communications Act.

Sens. John Thune (R-SD), John Fetterman (D-PA) and Deb Fischer (R- NE) introduced bipartisan legislation that would direct the FCC to evaluate and improve its broadband mapping and challenge procedures.

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing on protecting communications networks and improving connectivity. The committee considered a number of bills, including:

• PLAN for Broadband Act (H.R. 2805)
• Data BRIDGE Act (H.R. 4950)
• Foreign Robocall Elimination Act (H.R. 6152). 
  

Watch the hearing on-demand.

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation held an executive session on July 22, where it approved nominations and legislation, including Accelerating Broadband Permits Act of 2026 (S. 4448), which would require NTIA to create tools for tracking the progress of grant recipients under the BEAD Program.

The SIP Forum has announced that the conference agenda has been published for the 15th Annual SIP Network Operators Conference (SIPNOC 2026), which will take place September 15-17, 2026, at the Hyatt Regency Dulles Hotel in Herndon, Va.

SIPNOC 2026 features a primary focus on issues critical to the reliable and successful deployment and operation of STIR/SHAKEN and other call authentication solutions, along with a variety of related topics, including the impact of regulatory, legislative and enforcement actions, as well as critical security issues.

In addition, SIPNOC 2026 will include special coverage of renewed efforts to accelerate the national transition to an all-IP network infrastructure due to its foundational importance for the reliable delivery of call authentication, branded calling, and a wide range of communications services and applications. This coverage will include key regulatory actions and a new industry standard—the "Agreement-Less IP Interconnection over the Internet" (ALIII) standard—designed to help accelerate the transition.

The SIP Forum, together with the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), has been at the forefront of the call authentication effort since forming the Network-to-Network Interface (IP-NNI) Joint Task Force to address unwanted and illegal robocalls and caller ID spoofing, and to develop standards for verifying and authenticating caller identification for calls using the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). The result of this collaboration has been the SHAKEN Call Authentication Framework.

View the full SIPNOC 2026 agenda.